1 review for Sand and Sugar (Sugar and Sand) by Davenport’s, Louis Histed
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Andy Martin –
This wonderful effect was invented by Louis Histed c. 1932. The sole manufacturing rights were granted to Davenport’s c. 1941 but this has not stopped other manufacturers building this over the years. It is often called Sugar and Sand so be wary when doing searches since both titles seem to be used quite freely even in the same instructions 🙂
This Davenport’s version most closely follows Histed’s original designs and is very different from the Abbott’s version shown here. Abbott’s uses a much simpler method but until I had seen the Davenport’s version I had no idea of the differences. Apart from taking the idea without permission Abbott’s were criticized for their “mighty poor imitation” but to be honest the Abbott’s version is the more practical to use for repeat performances. The clean-up is much easier, though at first glance you would think that the Davenport’s version would be easier – the main issue is friction, the sand, salt or sugar (whichever you use) gets in the way and makes it trickier to separate the pieces for clean-up. With the Abbott’s version there are a lot less moving parts, which means less to get jammed up with sand 🙂 Another nice feature of the Abbott’s version is reuse is easier though if you are careful it is still quite possible with the Davenport’s version. Finally, the pouring with the Abbott’s one is more regulated so it appears there is more sand from the small container as you can pour for longer.
That being said the Davenport’s version does permit a cleaner more hands off performance which I hope to show you in a video soon … Also, if you watch the Abbott’s video you’ll notice I have to do some “strange moves” a couple of times to ensure that the mechanism is activated. This is not an issue with the Davenport’s version.
You rarely see effects these days with this much thought and with props built so well. Instead of the plain red of the original version issued by Davenport’s (see final photo) these have been repainted in the style of Voisin and look amazing. Another really fine effect from almost eighty years ago – they certainly don’t make them like this anymore 🙂