0tte<? by y/iomas Stan/&y Gtr&s 



The Preparation of an Electrical Act 

 in Vaudeville* 



" A Million Volts Through the Body " 



F 



OR several months past there has ap- 

 peared in this department a series of 

 articles describing the construction and 

 use of electrical apparatus designed for 

 the production of spectacular experi- 

 ments with the electric current. The 

 assembly of the entire apparatus as de- 

 scribed would entail a considerable ex- 

 penditure of time and money and there 

 are cases where this outlay would scarce- 

 ly be justified. For instance, the plat- 

 form lecturer would scarcely care to bur- 

 den himself with the cumbersome and 

 expensive equipment so essential to the 

 performer on the stage. For the benefit 

 of the readers to whom the elaborate 

 outfit does not appeal, the present article 

 will give a summary of the various in- 

 struments necessary for the successful 

 presentation of both the big vaudeville 

 act and the modest lecture as well, point- 

 ing out how the cost or weight may be 

 cut down here and there. 



The one big feature of any electrical 

 act is the high-frequency work. This 

 fact is admitted by dozens of perform- 

 ers and lecturers alike. The very idea 

 of taking thousands of volts of electricity 



*This article is one of a series that has appeared in 

 past issues of Modern Mechanics and THE WORLD'S 

 ADVANCE since September, 1914. Previous instalments 

 have covered the construction of the apparatus re- 

 ferred ^to in this article. The series is com- 

 pleted in the present issue. The demand for the 

 back numbers has been so great that several issues 

 are now out of print and can no longer be supplied. 

 The author has in preparation, however, a very com- 

 plete book dealing with this subject in a thorough 

 manner and interested readers may. obtain informa- 

 tion relative to the work through our Book Depart- 

 ment. 



through the body and still living to tell 

 the tale is theatrical in the extreme, and 

 it is no wonder that so many so-called 

 electrical kings separated a gullible pub- 

 lic from their dollars for years on the 

 sole claim that a supernatural or other 

 unusual power made it possible for them 

 to take the enormous voltage through 

 their bodies. The high-frequency coil 

 may therefore be regarded as the one 

 essential part of the outfit, and the other 

 instruments more in the light of acces- 

 sories. 



The coil described in recent articles 

 will deliver a spark several feet in length. 

 That this is spectacular and impressive 

 no one will deny, but the outfit weighs 

 hundreds of pounds and requires for its 

 operation several kilowatts of electrical 

 energy. The utter uselessness of such 

 apparatus for the small lecturer is at 

 once apparent. Far better it is for him 

 to make or purchase a small coil capable 

 of giving an eight or ten inch spark and 

 taking its current from the nearest lamp 

 socket. Furthermore, the large apparatus 

 requires for its operation an alternating 

 current, and this is not always obtain- 

 able. The only practical alternative is a 

 rotary converter which in this large size 

 is heavy and expensive. The small coil 

 may be made on the "kick-back" princi- 

 ple, and in such event its operation is 

 equally satisfactory on either direct or 

 alternating current through the change 

 of a simple connection. 



The question of the high-frequency 



239 



