Sunday 20th October 2013

Original notes  

The High Backed 'Lumisonic' Healing Chair

A ceramic chair with a half-moon back that rises straight up behind the head.

The ornate curved top is set with eight silver bells, semi-spheres with four downward spikes or legs which nestle into shaped hollows. Inside each bell is a silver hammer on a Z-wire spring fastened to a cross-point at the base. Below the central cross point a mechanical rod or pin lifts the bell when a string is plucked at the front of each arm rest. The four resting or supporting pins each set down onto a different material: silver, gold, quartz, gemstone. These four plinths are supported by tiny opposing magnets to ensure there is no direct physical contact with the chair itself. The magnets also ensure equal pressure on each of the four pins. The magnets are conical or domed, bulge against concave, to ensure a perfect fit & no sliding off-centre. Each bell gives a different note from DOH to DOH.

Four strings beneath where one's hand naturally rests trigger the bells, eight altogether, four on each side.

To either side, from shoulder to crown height, there are two round windows fitted with a kaleidoscope of four revolving stained glass discs. The discs are designed to create patterns of light and can be aligned to give a single, uniform colour.

On the outside, behind the windows, two oil lamps provide heat and light (can these be fed bicarbonate soda? Too old fashioned? Electric? Don't like electric.) How's this: around the oil lamp wick there are recesses where candles or night lights can be set in to increase the brightness.

Below the windows inside, there are two recesses, one for a jug shaped to fit, the other for a goblet. Water is always to hand (useful if there's a fire too).

The oil lamps are enclosed with a reflective silvered glass bowl to focus the light through the windows, the bowl can be rotated to allow the lamps to light up the surrounding room.

Above the oil lamps a rotor spins with the heat and turns the kaleidoscope windows. Adjustment knobs can stop or slow the rotor.

Above the rotor is a ceramic onion top, ornamented like an Eastern cathedral. Inside, the air enters, heats up and is driven through a small pipe to a tank around the base of the chair at the back. As more and more air heats, flows and cools, the tank gradually build up pressure. A ball valve ensures air can enter the onion but can only escape by passing down through the pipe.

Air holes at the front of the chair below the arm-rests draw cold air into a pipe up to the oil lamp via the ball valve. The back of the ceramic chair is relatively cool and therefore draws the hot air from the onion.

It may be possible to include a water feature whereby water flows down the back and is pumped back up again producing musical sounds as it does so. Magnets might be used to circulate the water (which is also available in the event of fire).

The back of the chair is fluted with ceramic organ pipes.

When the air stored in the base reaches a certain pressure, the ball valves rise and air plays through the narrow pipes, whistling as they leave. A pea as in a whistle could add to the effect. The ball valve could roll away and roll back into place, always giving several seconds of varied 'organ music'.

Between the pipes, slender rods set upon a steel base rise up to a ceramic ring, inside the ring there is a small row of four magnets and at the top of each rod there is an opposing strip of three or four magnets.

At the ends of the arm-rests are two rows of four wooden hexagons or octagonal wheels, each segment is carved with a different symbol to show the position of the hammer they operate. It may be better if these were set back into the arm-rests where they can be controlled by the wrists and forearms at the same time as the strings are plucked with one's fingers.

When the hexagons are turned, a rod connects to a hexagonal cam below each wire or rod, causing it to vibrate when it hits the base. When the wire vibrates, the magnets at the tip interact, giving additional complexity to the movement. Each wire rod is of a different thickness and could be a different material, thus each one produces a different, tuned, note.

The seat itself is made of carved wood, rising from the back is a column with a groove in the centre to accommodate the vertebrae and two ridged flanges to give a kind of massage effect on either side of the spine. The wood is warmer to sit on than the ceramic and vibrates to the musical notes. The best design can be found through experimentation.

There could perhaps be a dome or canopy over the top.

Cabinet

As a bulky item intended to remain in the family for generations, the chair comes with its own travel case, a resilient wooden cabinet lined inside with several layers of leather, soft leather coated with tough leather.

A drawer either in the chair or the cabinet (chair is better) contains the tools and rules for assembly and dismantling, repair and maintenance. A box shaped to carry the bells without letting them ring is included.

Bottles of oil for the lamp, a section for candles and a place for matches including a match striker.

The ceramic chair is ornamented on the outside like Andalusian, Portuguese or Babylonian tiles.

The strings that operate the bells give off notes like a tiny harp.

The effect of sounds and light on the body are intended to be rejuvenating and healing.

The base of the chair has five ceramic spheres, two on either side and one at the back. The cabinet has three steel runners for them to slide on.

The chair is dotted with sequins, when not sat upon it sparkles. A dearer version is studded with diamonds.

There could be a series, the most advanced include water features driven by syphon action, heat and compressed air. The act of sitting down could initiate the water flow? Maybe.

It needs a dome with an ornamental fringe, colourful inlaid ceramic. The dome itself is onion shaped with a crown around it. There is a small hole at the top, or not? A lid which, when removed, allows air to flow up thereby cooling the seated subject.

How does the dome add to the sounds?

Amplification?

Maybe.

What if there were a tray around the base and water dripped from the dome, the water is drawn up from the tray via suction created by heat from the oil lamps.

(♕)

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