The Optical Magic Lantern Journal (December 1900)

156 The Optical Magic Lantern Journai and Photographic Entarger. most of his efforts were devoted to popularising it for lantern work. Gunn’s Federation limelight jet is much employed by lanternists. This jet is provided with a large mixing chamber, the part connecting the nipple with the mixing chamber being of a peculiar trumpet-shaped formation. This jet, although held on a tray pin in the usual manner, has also means provided near the mixing chamber whereby it can be further steadied. A special feature has been made of keeping a good supply of animated picture projectors, and as for ordinary slides every subject one can think of can be obtained practically at a moment’s notice. In fact, Mr. Gunn is a wideawake man who never lets grass grow under his feet. Next year it is bis intention to take a holiday and visit this country. We have pleasure in submitting a portrait of this prominent Australian lantern worker. hits Hee Spowes: s Brfigs x in the mechanical silhouette slides, the construction and action of which have been described in this series, to take as subjects things of common every-day occurrence, or to give representations of actions and incidents with which everybody is, more or less, familiar. It is better to do this than to attempt to represent some elaborate scene in a necessarily imperfect manner, and a scene or incident that is, moreover, rather out of the way. At all events, experience of various audiences endorses this fact, that they appreciate the exhibition of a_ slide that deals with a simple theme and deals 1 ; be made very effective in its working. j a thin but strong thread. with it in a fairly perfect manner much more | than the exhibition of one whose subject, whilst being more pretentious in its nature, is less familiar and imperfectly worked out. The present mechanical slide, then, deals with a simple, well-known subject, but it ae t represents two acrobats or tumblers, one of whom turns a double somersault over the other in the air. He then turns a double somersault backwards, and lands in his original position. By a little manipulation on the part of the operator he may be made to alight on the back of the second tumbler, and very life-like effects are thus produced. With regard to the framework. This is very similar to that used in the other slides described in this series, and in fact, in most mechanical _ slides, so it will not be necessary to give a | description of it. Two glasses are used, one fixed and the other movable. The method of preparing the fixed glass will be described first, | as this is the simplest part of the work. On its interior surface are painted in black, or any desired colour, the form of the stooping acrobat P (Fig. IV.), and the background of applauding spectators. Itis specially important that the rail of the balcony should be painted in dead-black, as it serves to hide from the view of the audience a string which is stretched across the fixed glass. A mask is fastened to the interior surface of the fixed glass, as shown in Fig. IV. Two small blocks, 3, J (Fig. 1V.), are glued to the framework between the two glasses (as Between them is stretched This thread is hidden from sight by the rail of the balcony, on a level with which it extends. shown in Fig. IV.). We come now to the fitting up of the movable ' or sliding glass c (Fig. III.). Inasmuch as it bears \