Fig. 1,026.—Betts' script breaker (brush type). This flasher is especially designed for spelling out signs one letter at a time, or work of a similar nature, The brushes for the revolving cam contacts are of copper, several leaves thick and provided with special brush holder to prevent loose contact and abnormal burning.
Script breakers are also used for fancy border signs of other kinds, and in order to produce these results, it is necessary that the return wire of every lamp go back to the flashers independently, which means a wire for each lamp.
Chaser Flashers.—This class of flasher is designed to operate signs whose lamps are arranged to give the effect of snakes chasing each other around the border. This peculiar effect is produced by having a separate wire and a separate switch on the flasher for each two lamps in the border, and the mechanism so arranged that when the tenth lamp is lighted (assuming the snake to be ten lamps long) the first lamp goes out; when the eleventh is lighted, the second goes out, etc., progressing in this way around the entire border.
Fig. 1,027.—Reynolds chaser type of flasher, as used on electric signs whose lamps are arranged to give the effect of snakes chasing each other around the border of a sign.
In operation, the lamps are turned on and off so rapidly that it produces the effect of snakes.
It is not advisable to build these signs small nor cheaply, as in order to produce the desired effect, the curved path taken by the snake should cover at least 10 inches width, which would mean a total of 20 inches lateral space for the snake in addition to the electric letters in the center. In order to get the proper effect, the sign should be at least ten feet long.
Ques. Why are chaser signs expensive?