The Moving picture world (November 1925-December 1925)

November 7, 1925 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 89 Bluebook School Answers 373 to 377 Question No. 373— Roy Saxon, Lufkin, Tex^s, submits this as a practical question: Is it or is it not advantageous to keep the framing lever in as nearly as possible one fixed position at all times? I am sorry to say that no reply appears from Brother Saxon, so we do not know just what particular idea he had in mind when he asked this question. I am going to take up considerable space just showing you the diversity of opinion held by men on a thing of this sort. It is surprising. Messrs. Thoreau, Clark and Richards, Vancouver, British Columbia, hold this view : On the Power projector the distance between intermittent sprocket and aperture is altered when the position of the framing carriage is changed. It is increased when the le-ver is down, hence the framing carriage up, and vice versa. Theoretically increase of distance between intermittent sprocket and aperture has a tendency to make for unsteadiness of the picture when the perforations of the film are not perfect. In practice, however, we have never found this socall(3d defect to be apparent on the screen, if it really exists. However, due to the fact that it is not always possible to frame exactly when threading, we believe it to be the besi; practice to have the framing lever of the Power almost all the way down, but due to tendency to leak oil when in full down position, the Simplex almost all the way up. On the Power projector the toggle gear arrangement which permits framing, causes a slight disarrangement of the shutter timing, which must be compensated for by a slightly wider master blade In the rotating shutter. However, due to the speed of the intermittent movement the thing as a whole balances up very well with other makes of projector. Alex Wineki, Saginaw, Michigan (always write your name very plainly), says : Yes, it is advantageous to keep the framing lever in fixed position, because with the Power when the framing carriage is all the way down it is a bit hard to get at the lower loop, and in case the film broke you would have to re-thread, which would take too much time (I don't quite get that, but I'm just showing you the diversity of ideas. There is a lot of that on many of the questions.—Ed.) With the Simplex this would not bother, but you have a better oil circulation by having the framing lever dead center. So far as has to do with the projector running better with the framing lever in one fixed position, there is nothing to that. Any projector will run just as well and smoothly with lever in one position as in another. C. O. Henning, Pastime Theatre, Iowa City, Iowa, views the matter as follows : "I have always found it to be an advantage to keep the framing lever on a Simplex in a central position. Then when it becomes necessary to use it, it may be moved in either direction to eliminate the misframe with the shortest possible movement, which makes it the least noticeable to the audience. When it is in any other position, a quarter frame o« may require the framer to be moved three-quarters of a frame, this is a nice sight to view when you are watching a picture. A misframe is uncalled for, except on the first showing of the picture when it has not been screened for the orchestra. Ray Gnaegy, Paducah, Kentucky, has this to say : It seems to me it is of advantage when using a Power to set the framing lever so as to keep the intermittent '^P^^'^^^^l^^^' to the tension shoes as possible. However, I don't believe it really makes as much ditler ence as one would at first glance suppose. W. C. Budge, Springfield Gardens, Long Island,' says : It is always advantageous to keep the framing lever in the center of its travel, because shlumTmisframe occur (of course suh things should not occur. That is ^^^^ well for the big theatres where the films are oarefuUy examined and screened before pro jection, but not all projectionists are so fortunately situated, and until they are, or exchanges become very much more perfect, misframes WILL, occur) you can frame the picture without nearly so much movement on the Bluebook School I Question No. 402 — Can you connect a g I uroiector arc lamp to a 2-wire or to a S I 3-wire svstem at anv point, and under g I all <-ondition« of commercial voltaee? i I Question No. 403 — Practical question p I submitted by Chas. C. Colby, Santa Fe. | I New Mexico. Supocse vou test across g i the two outside wires of an Edison 3 g i wire svstem, usin^ two 110 volt incan j I descent lamos in series, and pet fu'l 1 I lieht. You then, usincr only one ITO volt | i larr»D, test from one outside wire to J 1 neutral and Eret only a faint e;1ow. You ^ I te<=t from the other outside wire to i I neu^'-al and ?et nothing at all, what ^ I would this indicate? Or suppose you | 1 test from outside wire to outside wire, i 1 using two no volt lamns in series, and g I get only a red filament, but from one | I outside wire to neutral you eet full g I light and from the other outside wire J 1 to neutral you sret only a red filament, g 1 What is wrong? g I Question No. 404 — Suppose your thea | i tre main switchboard to be supplied | 1 with 3-wire feeders. The manager | I comes rushing up, all out of breath, | I and asks why a oart of the auditorium j I lights have suddenlv gone dim and | I others very bright. What are you go | I ing to tell him, without the slightest | 1 hesitation, is wrong? | I Question No. 405— How many wires | I are usually found in 2-phase and in 3 | I phase circuits? | I Question No. 406— Why did many of | I those who started out answering these | I questions in the beginning acquire such | I a bad case of cold feet, pop back into | I their hole and pull the hole in after | I them? I am reminded of the number | I who have dropped out by the fact that | I I today received answers to the set be g I ginning with 378 from our old friend | I Harry Dobson, Toronto. | I New men come in occasionally, and | I we welcome them cordially to the | I family, or as Roxie puts it, "The | I Gang." hoping they will stick, but darn | I it we do hate to lose the Old Timers | I Fell, of Collingswood, New Jersey, has | I also fell by the w ayside— temporarily | 1 only I hope. = PROJECTIONISTS! Assure yourself ol a gooil (ocus; a correctly sot shutter: an atiso'iutoly clean api^rture: by using a M EGAPHOS STEREO PRISM BINOCULAR 'xhe 8*Powe"— 2G Millimeter "MEGAPHOS" The a row r ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ see Your Picture as ■^^^.'^l^X^' Z L days, sent sub,ec.^..^cxamJnM,.; -^-Tr Gl.«. CINEMA TECHNICAL BUREAU 3044 Leland Ave. Chicago, 111. screen to disturb the audience. Nothing I knovi' of looks quite so bad as moving almost a whole picture up or down to frame it. It surely does jar an audience. F, H, Moore, Taunton, Massachusetts, takes this view : No mutter what the make of projector, I have found it best to keep the framing lever about midway of its travel, then when the time comes, as come it will in most theatres, when you have to frame, fhe movement on the screen is not so much as it might be, and probably would be were the framing lever near the end of its travel either way. By this I mean, thread in frame with the framing lever set midway of its travel, Glenn Wallace, Muskegon, Michigan, lugs in still another idea and dumps it down with a thud. He says : I agree with the editor that Brother Saxon probably had reference to one particular projector, and that was the old Power Six, and Six A, with the steel toggle gear, which when you had to frame your picture set up a howl of protest, which meant that the strain on them was greater than when in another position. That has all long since been eliminated, but there is another advantage in keeping the framing lever in one l-o.sition as much as is practicable, and thai is the relation of the intermittent sprocket U, the aperture, I have the idea that when • he distance between the two is increased, an added strain will be placed on the film sprocket holes, particularly if projection at high speed, with heavy tension, IVIy idea is that because there will bo more film because of the greater distance, there will be added strain on ,the sprocket holes. Of course there is a slight additional weight of film, the inertia of which must be overcome when it starts. That is true, and to that e.xtent you are right, but. after all the additional weight is so very slight that 1 think it may be said to amount to nothing at all in practical effect— Editor. H, E. Hurlbutt, Star Theatre, Oshkosh, Wisconsin, takes this view: This question may be answered with a "yes" on two conditions, viz: The position in which it is proposed to keep the framing U ver, and the type of framing device on the projector used. In the case of the Power projector, where movino the frame lever alters the distance between intermittent sprocket and aperture, it is good practice to maintain the framing lever as nearly as possible in one position, but first the position of the framing carnage in which the projector operate.s best should be ascertained by experiment. All projectors do not operate alike, bome run most smoothly with the intermittent close to the aperture, and some with it farther away. On the type of projector where framing is accomplished by merely revolving the intermittent sprocket circumferentially— around its own axis— the only advantage would be in ease of framii'K in case such a misfortune befell one In the middle of a reel, if the framing lever be set central with respect to its travel. G L, Doe, Chicago, Illinois, says: Yes there is an advantage in setting the framer midway of its travel, or action, except in theatres in which the films are all aiwavs gone carefully over and put into such condition that framing is never necessary— the film being threaded in frame, of course. With the framer central the picture may be framed with the minimum of movement upon the screen. , As to friend Saxon having a particular make of projector in mind, 1 don't think so, though due to added tendency to oil seepage it is not advisable to run with the b mplex framer in its lowest position more than is necessary; also in my opinion the toggle gear of the Power runs a bit better when the .arriagB is In central position, though I adn.it this may be largely imagination on my pi;rt. And there you are. I have, as I said, printed all these answers just to show you what an astonishing number of ideas there