The mechanical pieces worked by the agency of these pistons vary greatly in construction, but they are alike in one particular, viz., that they are set in motion by one or more vertical rods passing up the shaft or column on which they stand, and each terminating in a flat metal disc, or pedal, which receives the upward pressure of the piston. [Fig. 280] shows the arrangement of the foot of a mechanical piece worked by one such rod only. Another specimen will have been observed in the case of the pedestal for the animated money. (See page [186].) Where three or four pedals are necessary, they are generally enclosed in a square wooden base, as in the case of the “Demon’s Head,” described at page [458].
Before quitting the subject of the tables used upon the stage, we must not omit to say a few words as to what is called the “bellows” table, though it is now comparatively little used. It was formerly (say forty or fifty years ago) the fashion among conjurors to use tables with drapery hanging to within a few inches of the floor. The table being, say, two feet seven inches high, this gave room for a box-like arrangement, of two feet deep, or thereabouts, within the body of the table. In this box, which was open at the back, was hidden an assistant, who worked the pistons, managed the traps, effected necessary substitutions, etc., etc. Conjuring under such circumstances was very easy work. In 1845, however, Robert-Houdin gave his first public performance, and one of the earliest of his reforms in the magic art was the suppression of the too suggestive drapery, and the substitution of tables of light and elegant form, allowing no possible room for the concealment of an assistant. A reaction set in in favour of the new fashion, which has ever since maintained its ground. The “bellows” table combines the apparent simplicity of the undraped table with the internal capacity of the old-fashioned draped article. There is a trick, formerly very popular as the wind-up of an entertainment, which consists of the magical disappearance of a youthful assistant, male or female. The subject of the trick, generally dressed in a page’s costume, is made to mount upon a table, and is covered by a wicker cone, which being almost instantly removed, he or she has vanished. The table in this case is draped to within a few inches of the ground, but to show that no hidden receptacle is thereby concealed, the performer before commencing the trick lifts up the table-cloth, and shows that the top of the table is at most not more than two or three inches in thickness. The drapery is then again allowed to fall into position, and the trick proceeds. The table used in this trick is a bellows table; i.e., it has a double top, or rather two tops, one above the other. The upper one is a fixture, with a large wooden trap (opening upwards) in it, to allow of the passage of the person to be conjured away. The under top is moveable, being in its normal condition pressed against the upper one by the action of four spiral springs (one in each leg of the table), but sinking down to nearly the depth of the cover under the weight of a person stepping upon it, and thus affording the requisite hiding-place, in which the person remains until the fall of the curtain enables him or her to come forth with safety. Cloth is nailed round three sides of the upper and lower boards, folding between the two when closed, after the manner of the leather of a bellows; and from this circumstance the table derives its name.
Fig. 281.
Small round tables (for the disappearance of a rabbit, or the like) are sometimes made on the same principle. The following will be found a simple and convenient arrangement:—Let the table be of the form shown in [Fig. 281], and two feet seven inches high. Let the uppermost eight inches of the pillar be a plain cylinder a a, an inch and a half in diameter. Below this the pillar may increase in size, and may be of an ornamental character. Take two circular boards of deal or mahogany, each eighteen to twenty inches in diameter, and five-eighths of an inch thick. In the centre of one of them, b, cut a circular hole an inch and three-quarters in diameter. This will form the under side of the “bellows,” the object being to allow the board to slide freely up and down on a a. The other board, which we will call c, is screwed firmly on to the pillar, to form the top of the table. Next take a strip of black alpaca, ten inches in width, and nail its opposite edges round b and c, leaving a small space at one side to give access to the interior. Tie a piece of cord elastic round the centre of the alpaca, tightly enough to exercise a considerable degree of tension. Fix such traps as may be desired in c, and glue over it a fancy-patterned cloth, with a fringe or border hanging down nine or ten inches round the sides. The performer, before executing any trick with this table, may pointedly draw attention to the fact that it contains no drawer or other place of concealment. In doing this (see [Fig. 282]) he with one hand raises the lower board level with the upper (the action of the elastic drawing in the alpaca between the two), while with the other hand he raises the fringe, and shows, apparently, that the top of the table is but a single board.
Fig. 282.
The top of every conjuring table should be covered with woollen cloth, not only to prevent the clatter which would be occasioned by the placing of objects upon the bare wood, but to conceal the presence of the traps and pistons. The cloth used should, for this latter reason, be of two colours, and of a tolerably intricate pattern, as the outline of the traps will be thereby rendered much less perceptible; indeed, if the pattern of the cloth be a favourable one for the purpose, the traps should be, by gas-light, absolutely invisible. The cloth should be glued over the top of the table after the manner of a card-table; the upper surface of the traps being first roughed slightly, to make the glue adhere to the metal. When the glue is thoroughly dry (but not until then) the cloth may be cut along the outline of the traps with a very sharp penknife, and small holes bored to allow of the upward passage of the piston rods. As it is necessary in placing a mechanical piece upon the table, to do so exactly over the pistons, it is well to have a couple of wire points projecting upwards a quarter of an inch or so from the surface of the table, in such positions that if the piece of apparatus rests firmly against these (which the performer can tell instantly by feel) it must necessarily be in proper position.
Where “wrist” traps are used, the cloth need not be cut out round the little oblong slab marked c in [Figs. 263, 264], but the cloth should be without glue over this particular spot, and for half an inch round it on either side. The cloth will by this arrangement be found, without cutting, to stretch sufficiently over c to allow of the proper working of the trap.
Assuming that our stage appliances are complete, we will proceed to—