A new version of this apparatus was invented by Ednardo Veneri sometime prior to 1912, according to George Mackenzie in Mac's Monthly, Nov. 1946. Mackenzie marketed it in 1946 and commented that it was being manufactured as well in the U.S., without credit to Veneri. This information is drawn from Dawes in The Magic Circular, Vol. 101, Issue 1092, July 2007, p. 210.