Technical Design Solutions for Theatre

A Butane Torch for Use Onstage

Rod Hickey

 

For a Yale School of Drama production of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure the director asked if we could build a set of torches for the actors to carry. Because of the strict fire laws in Connecticut we discussed the possibilities with the Fire Marshal and came to the conclusion that it would be safer to build torches that used a butane canister than it would be to use Sterio® Early on we decided that we should be able to control the flame height and that the torches should go out if put down or dropped. The technical design of the torch was in part determined by the intended look, but can be adapted for other applications.

The part numbers in Figure 1, which illustrates the mechanism, are Clippard ...