Charg, Monster

1

Note: In describing the remarkable adhesive power of his rubber suction cups, The Shadow mentioned certain facts concerning the history of these pneumatic contrivances. Some forty years ago, an acrobatic act was staged in Paris, wherein the performer walked upside down along a board suspended from the dome of a theater. This feat was accomplished with the aid of suction disks that gripped and released automatically by pressure of the performer’s foot.

Each disk measured four and one half inches in diameter, with a thickness of five-eighths of an inch. One disk proved sufficient to sustain the performer’s weight while the other was being moved to a new position. Short steps were necessary in the accomplishment of this act.

The Shadow’s suction cups are similar in principle to the original devices used by the Parisian acrobats.

Though approximately the same in size, they have been improved for use on vertical as well as horizontal surfaces.

In the acrobatic performances, a net was stretched beneath the performer in case of a fall. This is a hazard against which The Shadow has no protection. His improved suction cups have, however, stood the most exacting tests to which he has submitted them.

MAXWELL GRANT.