The Post-Imperial Shaker

This cocktail shaking machine is based on a turn-of-the-century machine called an "Imperial Shaker," and was built as part of The Touring Pop-up Sideshow Saloon event organized by the Peerless Prodigies of P.T. Barnum. Technically, this machine uses a flywheel driven by a hand-crank, which pushes a 'crank-slider,' or pivoting piston. At the end of the crank-slider is a carriage where two cocktail shakers live. The elliptical motion produced by the crank-slider lends itself to mixing cocktails, as the ingredients are swirled horizontally as well as vertically.