Saturday, December 01, 2007

RBBB 1932 #2


Scan000010519, originally uploaded by bucklesw1.

Taken in Madison, Wisconsin.

The same ticket wagon as #2 above from Mr. Strong.

Posted by Buckles at 12/01/2007 06:15:00 AM

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Forgive a bit of ignorance here -- but when did the raised roof ventilation system become a part of the wagon design, and what was the mechanism for raising those heavy roofs?

01 December, 2007 11:03
Anonymous said...

You can see "clerestory" style roof construction on circus ticket wagons back into the 1870s. A lack of photography limits knowing how much further back they were used. It's based on the principle that hot air rises, thus the vents at the higher positions.

The roofs were not moving. There were little windows that could be moved on their hinges.

The earliest wagons with some sort of elevating mechanism date to 1864 or thereabouts. There's tertiary mention of "windlass" operation, but most evidence points to a geared operation, bevel gears and jackscrews.

01 December, 2007 15:24
Anonymous said...

Richard Reynolds says - - -

There is a color photo of this tix wagon in the classic October 1931 issue of National Geographic magazine. That issue featured photo stories of the circus and has what I believe are the first color photos of circuses ever taken.

This tix wagon is shown on the RBBB midway. It is painted what appears to be a light yellow with a greenish tinge - -certainly not red or orange.

I’m sure the wagon was painted the same in 1932. When the 1931 show closed it was in such bad financial shape that it went out in 1932 without re-painting a lot of the equipment.

02 December, 2007 13:31
Anonymous said...

It always amazed me that it took the Ringling show 50 years to figure that if heat rises, maybe we should put a tennis net at the top of the tent with canvas flaps to let the hot air out. Also as to the question of canvas versis vinyl, I have spent many hours under both and the canvas was definately cooler. Also the canvas served as a speaker, so that the sounds of the show could be heard outside. The vinyl only reflects sound down to the audience and gets lots of complaints about how loud the announcer and music are.
Bob Kitto

02 December, 2007 20:17
Anonymous said...

Sometime back about the '70s, Beatty-Cole had netting installed at the top of their canvas. I guess it worked because the concessionaires complained enough that they kept the netting covered for the remainder of the season and never had netting installed on their tent again. Lemonade and coke sales picked up, I assume.
Dick Flint
Baltimore

02 December, 2007 22:50

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