Joseffy

Joseffy
Born	Joseph Freud March 3, 1872 Budapest, Hungary
Died	May 26, 1946 (age 74) San Antonio, Texas

Joseffy (b.1872-d.1946) built is own illusions and performed for many years in the Chautauqua circuit. He was also a musician, electrician and machinist. Joseffy was, according to his official birth certificate, born March 3, 1872 in Budapest, Hungary. He himself stated he was born March 3, 1873 in Vienna, (similar as others did, Houdini for example).

Biography

Joseffy, a distant relative of Sigmund Freud, started in magic in 1900, working as a mechanic for the Chicago magic dealer H. J. Burlingame.

He performed on the Lyceum circuit starting around 1903, billing himself as Joseffy, a "Necromancer". He eventually stopped performing and became an electrical engineer.

One of his mechanical creations was the talking Skull of Balsamo.

Being very secretive about his inventions, it's been stated that in his book, The Marvelous Creations of Joseffy by David P. Abbott (1908), he either faked the photographs or showed apparatus that he did not actually use in the tricks to mislead the readers to the genuine secrets.

He was also an accomplished musician, his instrument being a violin.

Books

• The Marvelous Creations of Joseffy by David P. Abbott (1908)
• Joseffy by Carl Sandburg (promotional booklet) (1910)

Patents

• 1913: Patent 1,056,786 Mechanical parachute, an early version of "Japonette"
• 1914: Patent 1,121,178 Focusing bellows for camera (tension springs on lazytong joints)
• 1915: Patent 1,143,045 Focusing hood on camera
• 1916: Patent 1,200,602 Cleaning brush with scraping edge
• 1920: Patent 1,330,524 Conveying machine, conveyor belt for packaging bottles, boxes
• 1926: Patent 1,582,922 Rotary Pump
• 1929: Patent 1,699,058 Electric cigar lighter with coil
• 1932: Patent 1,870,246 Motor operated switch for high tension lines
• 1934: Patent 1,978,192 Squeegee blade, especially for car windshields
• 1939: Patent 2,184,687 Cigar capping device to keep cigar dry
• 1943: Patent 2,307,882 Food and beverage server, wire holder for plate and cup

References

This page incorporated content from Joseffy, a page hosted on Wikipedia. Please consult the history of the original page to see a list of its authors. Therefor, this article is also available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

• The Marvelous Creations of Joseffy
• Mahatma, Vol. 9, No. 8, February 1906, In Joseffy’s Laboratory, page 92
• Who's who in the lyceum By Alfred Augustus Wright (1906)
• The Marvelous Creations of Joseffy by David Phelps Abbott (1911)
• Chautauqua & Lyceum Magicians
• The Sphinx, Vol. 42, No. 12, February 1944, You Should Know Joseffy, page 284
• The Linking Ring, Vol. 25, No. 6, August 1945, JOSEFFY AND HIS MAGIC by M. S. Mahendra, page 17
• The Sphinx, Vol. 45, No. 4, June 1946, Joseffy Dies - March 3, 1873 - May 26, 1946, page 127
• The Linking Ring, Vol. 26, No. 4, June 1946, JOSEFFY DIES, page 64
• The Linking Ring, Vol. 26, No. 5, July 1946, The Great Joseffy Passes by M. S. Mahendra, page 23
• Tops Magazine, Vol. 11, No. 7, July 1946, JOSEFFY DIES, page 24
• INSIGHTS INTO JOSEFFY by Jim Steinmeyer, Magicol May 1997 No. 123

• House of Mystery, Vol. 2 (2005), THE MARVELOUS CREATIONS OF JOSEFFY (Reprint), pages 805, Postscript - JOSEFFY: AN APPRECIATION, by Carl Sandburg, page 837, INSIGHTS INTO JOSEFFY, by Jim Steinmeyer (Reprint), page 841
• Genii, Vol. 74, No.10, October 2011, THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS by JOHN GAUGHAN AS TOLD TO DUSTIN STINETT, BALSAMO, THE LIVING SKULL, page 26
• Genii Magazine, Vol. 74, No.11, November 2011, THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS by JOHN GAUGHAN AS TOLD TO DUSTIN STINETT, Joseffy’s Rapping Hand, page 32