THE CLOCK MOTOR.
This is not very strong, but is capable of running simple and evenly balanced mechanical displays.
Procure a common wooden weight clock, such as is called a “Columbus Clock.” Any jeweler can purchase it for you at a small price, if he has not one in stock. Run a wire through the highest geared wheel, sharp on one end, to run on a pivot acting below. Connect your fixture to this pivot wheel. Pull up the weight, and the mechanism will run very easily. It needs to be rewound every three hours. To increase speed, add to the weight. If your mechanism is nicely adjusted, it will require no more power to run it than may be obtained from one of these clock motors.
CHAPTER XV.
MECHANICAL DISPLAYS.
Mechanical window dressing has made great strides during the past few years, and has become an important factor in successful displays. When you hear a decorator sneer at mechanical features you may be sure he has himself no mechanical genius or he would not endeavor to belittle so genuine an attraction. Not that mechanical displays are suitable for all occasions, but there are times in every decorator’s experience when a “motion window” is really a necessity, and many other times when mechanism is a desirable adjunct to a display that otherwise would be commonplace. People are naturally curious. They will always stop to examine anything that moves, and will enjoy studying out the mechanism or wondering how the effect has been obtained. Any decorator is capable of figuring out for himself diverse attractive mechanical displays, but for the benefit of those who may require preliminary instructions, or need on occasion a device already planned, I shall describe several effects that have been used by prominent decorators during the past few months, as well as the staple mechanical appliances. One of the simplest centerpieces is the
REVOLVING STAND.
To make this fixture use four solid wheels five and one-half, four and one-half, three and one-half and two and one-half feet in diameter. Fasten them three feet apart to a 3 × 3 in. post extending from the floor to the ceiling; the post to have bearings at each end. The largest wheel to be attached at the bottom 6 in. from the floor. Under this wheel, and fastened to the post, a large pulley is used.
