Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 88.djvu/674

 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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