THE MECHANICAL BUTTERFLY.
This is a very novel and easily constructed device.
DESIGN SHOWING “THE MECHANICAL FAN.”—Walker.
DESIGN SHOWING THE MECHANICAL BUTTERFLY.—Lundy.
The window was put in to show a line of black ostrich tips, and the butterfly was mechanical, opening and closing its wings in a natural manner. The background is figured cotton crepe, put on plain. The groundwork is crepe, a rich cream base with figures of heliotrope and green. In the center is placed the butterfly. It has eyes of bright green and a body of black and green. The long feelers were made of large black plumes, the ends being tipped with white plumes. The wings were made of black tips, the marking in the upper wings being of yellow, while in the lower wings are two marks, one of white and one of red. To the right is a pillar with black velvet base and a green column, and to the left a pillar with black velvet base and blue column, both pillars supporting palms. The festoon drapery is of black velvet. In front of the butterfly is a square pedestal, covered with red with a line of black velvet “lovers knots” down the center of each side. Palms and trimmed hats make up the floor decorations. We show a drawing of the mechanism used to open and close the butterfly’s wings. As the butterfly was tipped forward at the top the wings closed of their own weight. The motor is connected with a reduction gear and then with a pulley with a cam, instead of connecting direct.
The butterfly itself is 9 feet wide at the extremes and 6 feet high and is raised about two feet from the floor.
The wings of the butterfly are but the thickness of heavy pasteboard at the edge and ¾ inch towards where the wings join the body. The two one-inch rods which open the wings run through the floor to basement and are covered with same goods as background and are barely visible. On the ends of these two rods (see cut) are two levers at right angles with rod and are placed in opposition to each other. On the end of each lever is attached a cord running to a common point about 3 feet back of levers. They then go through two pulleys and combine in a single cord which is attached to a cam placed 7 inches from center of pulley. The levers being shorter than the width of a single wing, this gives the outer edge of wing a stroke of about three feet.
