Educational film magazine; (19-)

CONNECTICUT MAN GIVES THE MOVIE A VOICE Prof. William H. Bristol, Instrument Maker and Former Mathematics Instructor at Stevens Institute, Demon- strates Perfect Synchronization of Film and Phonograph Record Before the American Society of Mechanical Engineers—Ingenious Devices Take Care of Breaks in Film—To Be Marketed Commercially— Educational Possibilities WHAT Edison through nineteen long years failed to accomplish—what many courageous inventors including Muybridge, Gaumont, Reis and others failed to accomplish—has seemingly been achieved by William H. Bristol, president of The Bristol Company, of Waterbury, Connecticut, a manufacturer of recording instruments and former professor of mathematics at Stevens Institute of Technology. For Prof. Bristol has harnessed the talking machine and the mo- tion picture projection machine together in such a way that the synchronization of sound from the disc record and of light from the moving film is perfect, even to the tiniest fraction of a sec- ond. One can almost hear the speaker on the screen draw breath in preparation for voic- ing his next sentence and minute attention to the formation of vowels, consonants and aspirants in the mouth and on the lips of the speaker discloses no percep- tible variation in synchroniza- tion. In this new apparatus, which is said to be commercially prac- ticable, the inventor instead of at- tempting to control the phono- graphic part from the motion picture projector has reversed the process and obtains his con- trol electrically from the steel needle on the hard rubber disc of the talking machine. In short, the projector can- not operate and the picture cannot show on the screen until and unless the phonograph is wound up and the disc is actually whirling under the stylus—a new and revolution- ary principle which may at last place the Bristol system upon the market as a commercial proposition with all of its vast possibilities. Three other features not found in any other system of light-and-sound harmonization are vital to the successful A POWER motion picture projector linked up with tlie Bristol ^ electric phonographic appiiratus. Note the synchronUinir device on the floor directly l)eneath the projector; also the handle just below the lamphouse, connected by a flexible shaft to the synchronizer, enabllni^ the projectionist to advance or retard the film at will. Strides must be obvious to engineers and technicians in both the motion picture and talking machine fields. Prof. Bristol has a laboratory in Waterbury in which, with the assistance of friends, he made both experimental films and records which were first shown in that city. Early in December he brought his apparatus, films and records to New York City and demon- strated his invention on two oc- casions before the members of The American Society of Mechan- ical Engineers, of which he is also a member. The demonstra- tions were in every way success- ful and many of the engineers crowded around the inventor afterward and congratulated him on his achievement. Already plans are under way to place the device on the market on a large scale. Three films were screened in the auditorium of the Engineer- ing Building, 29 West SOlh, Street, to show the perfection at- tained in synchronization and a few of the possibilities of the in vention. The first was of the-, retiring president of the engi-i neers' society delivering a poi-° tion of his address on the occa- sion of the fortieth anniversary'; of the founding of the organiza-: lion. The second was a brief ^ oration on "The American Flaj;'" followed by the singing of "The Star Spangled, Banner" accompanied by piano and violin. Thel third was a humorous talk on "How to Reduca the High Cost of Living," with an exhibit of magic coni \ verting a half ounce of cotton (one cent's worth) into a; pint of milk at 16 cents a quart. At the conclusion oi each demonstration there was prolonged applause from the engineers and invited spectators present. It was generalljj agreed among them that Prof. Bristol had accomplishee the seemingly impossible, and they could find no seriou!' operation of the Bristol system, namely: an automatic flaws either in the principle on which he had worked oi device for restoring synchronization after breaks occur in the film; a clock system shown on the film itself, by which the number of frames necessary to restore the or- iginal parallelism of projected light and transmitted sound can be determined accurately; and a new method of re- cording sound waves from a distance, which enables the inventor to work in complete harmony with the motion picture camera, thus obviating the necessity of making the phonographic record separately from the taking of the picture. The great advantages of all of these forward in the method he had employed to apply that principle, Speaking of his invention to- a representative of tW Educational Film Magazine, Prof. Bristol said: "It is well known that many inventors and engineers ha\i for years been working on the problem of synchronising the void and soimd witli motion pictures, liiit up to the present time noiv of the many devices that have been proposed and tried out lui proved a commercial success. "In the new set of apparatus which is here described for pm ducing talking moving pictures the motions of the lips in the pic turcs synchronize so i)erfcctly witli tlie words from a j)honogra]>l record tliat tlicy actually seem to come from the lips of the persoi speaking in tlie i>icture. The writer has made a specialty o 8