There seems to be no finality in the art of invention, whether it be
in commerce, technology, science, art, or even in connection with
the variety-stage. In the last-named case the struggle for supremacy
is exceedingly keen, and requires, more than in other professions,
untiring perseverance, courage, and intelligence if one wishes to
obtain a place on the "roll of fame."
In the theatre or in the music-hall the public only see the glittering
outside appearance, and applaud the attractive items of an artist
without thinking of how much work and trouble it has cost him to be
able to execute his performance without apparent effort and with
extreme perfection. Such a sensational performance will soon be seen
in a Berlin circus--a new kind of "Looping the Loop"--"The ride on the
Salto Monocycle Track," as the audacious artist calls it, and with whom
we are going to make our readers acquainted.
[Illustration: MR. ECLAIR FASTENED BY THE WAIST, ANKLES, AND HEAD
INSIDE THE WHEEL WHICH LOOPS THE LOOP.
_From a Photo. by Rochlitz._]
This sensational act consists in the artist being rolled in a wheel,
measuring six and a half feet in diameter and eighteen inches wide,
along a track in the form of a loop. Our first two illustrations give
a clearer idea than can be given in words.
Mr. Eclair--the artist's name--has had his track made by Mr. A. Klose,
Schiffbauerdamm, and practised in the so-called training-wheel for
the past fifteen weeks before he undertook his first journey. In
this training-wheel he accustomed himself to the revolutions of the
wheel. This was all the more necessary, as he found on practising that,
in consequence of the rapid revolutions, the small veins and other
blood-vessels in the neck and head became swollen--so much so that a
journey in the "loop" without previous experience would certainly, in
his opinion, have been fatal.
[Illustration: PRACTISING IN THE TRAINING-WHEEL.
_From a Photo. by Rochlitz._]
After the perfect construction of the track had been ascertained by
thorough tests--amongst which heavy waggon-wheels were caused to be
rolled along the track--Mr. Eclair at length took his first ride. It
was a ride for life or death. Nobody could foresee what the result
would be. Luck favoured the venturesome artist, and his success was
acclaimed with joy and satisfaction by all the interested beholders, so
smoothly and faultlessly did the performance end. Such was the birth of
a new sensational circus feat! And a second ride which Mr. Eclair soon
afterwards took turned out equally successful.
The track slopes from a platform about fifteen yards high down into
the "loop." It must be understood that this is not a real loop, such
as, for example, Mündner uses, but is so constructed that the fearless
rider rushes in his wheel down the slope, entering the ring by a
trap-door, so that the wheel rolls round it. This heavy wheel, which
weighs five hundredweight, flies up the track with a terrific momentum,
and, in consequence of its centrifugal force, presses against the track
with a force of seventeen times its own weight.
When the wheel has passed the highest point of the loop it flies
down the other side, and leaves the loop again by another trap-door
which has in the meantime been opened. The downward movement, being
still very rapid at the point of exit, is then retarded by means of
outlet-rails which adjust themselves exactly to the wheel, and the mad
ride ends at length in a net.
The track has a total length of about sixty-five yards, inclusive of
loop and exit. The loop is about twenty-four feet high. The wheel rolls
in a mould-shaped groove. The slightest mistake in the construction
of the track, which is an extremely ingenious one, would result in
an unsuccessful performance and a dangerous, if not deadly, fall.
Especially ingenious is the mechanism of the trap-doors at the entrance
and exit. These are in charge of the artist's colleague, and form the
most important part of the track, as any failure in this part would end
in dire catastrophe.