Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 54, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 March 1899 — GREAT UMBRELLA AT OMAHA. [ARTICLE]

GREAT UMBRELLA AT OMAHA.

Novel Mechanical Device at the TranimiiiiMippl Exposition. The last Paris exposition had its Eiffel tower, Chicago had it* Ferris wheel, Nashville has it* gigantic seesaw. The department of concessions of the Omaha trans-Mississippi exposition of 1898 has also received application for space for the erection of a novel mechanical device. It resembles the framework of a gigantic umbrella more than anything else which might bo mentioned. The part corresponding to the stick of the umbrella in an immense cylinder, 30 feet in diameter, constructed of steel plates firmly riveted, making a standpipe which rears its bead 250 feet above the level of the ground. At the extreme top of this cylinder are fastened 12 long arms, resembling the ribs of an umbrella. These are steel trusses, reaching almost to the ground. At the lower end of each of these ribs is suspended a car for carrying passengers, each car having a capacity for 20 persons.

These monster ribs are raised by hydraulic power, acting by means of steel cables operating through the cylinder, aided by a mechpnism greatly resembling that portion of an umbrella which comes into action when the umbrella is opened. By means of this mechanism the gigantic arms are raised until they are horizontal, the cars in the meanwhile being carried outward and upward until they reach a point 250 feet above the ground. The diameter of the huge circle formed by the suspended cars is also 250 feet. When the highest point has been reached another mechanism comes into play and the suspended cars are swung slowly around in a circle, after which they are lowered to the ground. The sides of the cars are of glass, so that the passengers may secure an extensive view of the surrounding country-. —Manufacturer.