Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 5, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 February 1893 — RUN WITH THE HORSES. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

RUN WITH THE HORSES.

An lowan Invents a Race-Track Btractor* That Will Revolve. P. P. Cuplin, of West Bead, lowa, Is a genius of inventive turn of mind, who lays before the racing public a device which he is certain will save the investor in pool tickets the irksome labor of craning his neck and straining his vision in the effort to learn and see how his money is being carried through the race by the horse he has backed. His idea is a revolving, grand stand. It’s the very simplest thing in the world. The crowd is seated in the grand stand, which revolves as the racers go, and the occupants are always facing the horses in their journey from post to wire. The conveniences of the revolving grand stand are many, according to the inventor, but summed up broadly they become resolved to the main fact that an entire race is viewed at half the average distance, whereas now half the race is seen from twice the distance. The stand, of course, must Be in the center of the course. The judges’ stand is constructed in the style of an ordinary elevator. Its cage is gradually raised when the horses start un-

til such a height is reached that the officials may see the racers passing behind the stand through the open space between the main portion of the stand and the roof, or between the upper and lower s*ections of the stand if the latter is one of two stories. The same obstacle is overcome successfully on tracks of queer shape by the aid of mirrors placed at the right points and at the correct angles. In mechanical construction Inventor Ouplin’s idea for the revolving stan3 is to have it rest in a shallow basin filled with water. He discreetly v/ithholds, however, particulars as •to ‘ihe application of power, but says: “Tiere is scarcely any limit to the

size and seating capacity. A stand with 50,000 chairs is just as practicable as one that seats 5,000 persons. As the base is correspondingly large, the stand does not sink into the water any deeper. The power necessary to revolye the stand in the required time for mile tracks is one horse power for every 250 persons. The cost of constructing such a revolvingstand is about 50 per cent more than that required for the ordinary structure.

CIRCULAR AND KITE-SHAPED TRACK. [Showing revolving grand stand in center.]

THE REVOLVING GRAND STAND.