Dancing on a Revolving Floor: 

 New York's Latest Cabaret Fad 



IN order to provide its patrons with sensations that are 

 somewhat out of the ordinary, a well-known New York 

 restaurant has installed a revolving dancing-floor. This 

 circular floor, which is about thirty-five feet in diameter, 

 occupies the center of the main dining-room. The greater 

 part of it is left clear for dancing, but a circle of tables is 

 generally arranged around the circumference. Seated at 

 one of these tables, the diner is conveyed slowly around to 

 survey and to be surveyed by all present. 



One can readily imagine the shock a stranger must feel 

 when, having been escorted unknowingly to one of 

 these tables and subconsciously noting his proximity 

 to a certain pillar or mirror, he looks around after his 

 study of the menu 

 card and finds him- 



self in a totally 

 different position. 



The ordinary 

 speed of the floor 

 is one revolution 

 in eighty minutes. 

 The motion is 

 hardly perceptible 

 as one steps on to 

 the floor, but is 

 sufficient to swing 

 one all the way 

 around during the 

 course of a dinner. 

 The original inten- 

 tion was to re\'olve 

 the floor rapidly 

 enough to give a 

 kind of a merry- 

 go-round effect, 

 but a polished floor 

 is slippery and cen- 

 trifugal force is 

 constantly on the 

 watch for the un- 

 wary. Upset ta- 

 bles, broken mirrors, and indignant pas- 

 sengers soon convinced the management 

 that there was such a thing as too much 

 speed even in a New York restaurant. 

 Hence a regulator was installed. 



The manner in which the floor is 

 driven is very simple. It is pivoted at 

 the center and is supported on rollers. A 

 small motor, mounted on the ceiling of 

 the room below, provides the motive 

 power. It drives a small pinion which 

 meshes with a rack running entirely 



around the edge 

 of theundersur- 

 face of the floor. 

 One-half horse- 

 power is suf- 

 ficient to turn 



the heavy floor, though it is often loaded 

 with a hundred people. 



In the center of the floor is a large cir- 

 cle of glass through which colored light 

 is thrown. A fancy dancer can thus 

 obtain beautiful effects. 



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