Modern Magic: A Practical Treatise on the Art of Conjuring

The third or right-hand set of levers is a little more complex in its operation, inasmuch as it has to perform a double office, the expulsion of two cards from the mouth, and the elevation of two others at the top of the head. The cards to be shot from the mouth are placed beforehand (from the front) in the receptacle indicated in Fig. 289 by the letters m m, and a “plan” of which is given in Fig. 290, and a back view in Fig. 291. m m is a flat piece of tin, its edges folded over so as to form a receptacle or platform just capable of holding easily a couple of cards; n is a spring, which, when the cards are put in position, is “set” by being drawn back into the notch of the catch o. When an upward pressure is exerted by the shaft p p on the elbow-piece q q q, the latter pressing against r draws back this catch, and releases the spring, which forthwith shoots out the two cards from the mouth. The other two cards are inserted in the clip s (see Fig. 291), consisting of two small pieces of sheet brass soldered to the end of the rod t, which works up and down piston-wise in the tube u u. Within the tube is a spiral spring which impels s upwards level with the top of the head, across which a slit or opening is made to allow of the passage of the cards. This portion of the apparatus is set by placing the two cards in the clip, and then drawing down the piston-rod by the cross-piece v, which is riveted thereto, and hitching such cross-piece under the catch w. The upward movement of the shaft p, at the same time that it draws back the catch o, also draws back the catch w, thereby releasing v, and allowing the clip s and the two cards therein to spring upward, and appear at the top of the head.