Neal, I agree with the point you make about the benefit of being able to show the tubes empty after the load chamber has moved into place.

I have found whatI believe is a source for the 'Tabletop Kuma Tubes'. The link I included in a previous post to a youtube clip of Dario Hueta lead me to a magic shop in Valencia, Spain, On their website there are several pictures of the inside of the, 'bricks and mortar' magic shop and the prop is on show in one of the pictures.

Thanks again to everyone as all my queries on this have been sorted.

Neal, I used the umbrella production for years to close the first half of my theatre shows - six weeks in the summer and two weeks at Christmas. I don't know what it was called but I bought mine from International in London. I believe they brought them in from the continent, probably Mephisto in Belgium.

Previous Post:

Dick, I take it that your Warren Hamilton Westgate Bowl does not have the totally unnecessary legs that were later added by Aldini to make the "improved" Westgate Bowl.
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My Reply:

It is my impression that the Aldini "Improvement" of the 3 LEGS was indeed an improvement, and made the whole operation smoother for the bowl production.
The point of the legs was that you could carry the try (and hidden bowl) in one hand, then set it down on a table..and immediately lift the foulard up thru the shell box. This eliminated the visibility of the foulard's edges "getting shorter" - while pushing the bowl upwards.
Jimmy King even states that the Aldini idea was a great improvement to the original Westgate, on a Grant DVD.