New York Clipper (Dec 1915)

THE NEW YORK CLIPPER THE MAmG OF A PROJECTOR. UPON THE PROJECndK MACHIHE, IN THE LAST ANALYSIS, DEPENDS THE FATE OF THE MOTION PICT URE BEF ORE THE PUBUC TRIBUNAL. SOHE FACTS CONCERNING THEr.HAEING OF POWER'S CAHERAGRAPH No. 6B. BY WILLIAM BABHT. AnonB tlie nTuneroas indaatiiai cstAbiisbmeDcs . of Neirxoric, special notice ebooid. be taken of the Nicholas Power Co., the manufactarlng plant ol whteb oecaples two large buildings, located In the lower part of tbe city, where the Power's motion picture projectors are produced. It la a matter of general knowledge tbat motion pletima, which give inslgbt Into real life, arc a wonderful invention, bnt to get an exact Idea of tbe skill and mechanical ability tbat their pretien- tatlon demands it is necessary to see how pro- j^Ttlnff apparatus Is maonfactured. public found at a moticm -picture perform- ance not only Insists on thi> reproanctlon ot Inter- evtlnc Bceurs, bnt alao demands thot the pictures be thrown on the acracn wlthont flicker, 90 nannf al to. flight, and that all the pictures should stand out sharply and clearly, with profiles as bo!d as If tliey l'.ad been cut with the finest chisel. llila elloct, of course, AfptTtOa a great deal on the kind of pictures that form each film, but no matter how perfect they may be, the effect would lie entirely lost If the apparatus did not project eocb'plrtarc ca the screea In the same place. Tbe dneaiatograpUe IlItDs generally nsedatprps- ent are one Hiousand feet - In length and contain GlzteeB pictures per foot, each picture being sepa- rated by means of a thin white line. Theso photos measure three-bnirth inches of the length of the film and one Inch ot its width jo tliat the figures may be distinguished from all sides of the premJaes the theatre should not be very laxEf to require a screen ot 0x12 feet. This meana that the sise of same would have to ba increased 102 diameters and the difference of one hundredth part of an inch in the position ot one ot the pictures at th« back of tbe projecting lens (a matter, at first algbt. of no consequence) upon being mnUlpllcd In. j«ld proportion elves a displacement more than aufflclent to blur the out- line of the best photograph. This data will readily enable one to reaUte how perfectly adjusted the mechanism of these projecting machines must be, but there are also other Ttolnts worthy of consideration. To make the animated figures appear natural, the pictures have to be changed at the rate of sixteen times per ^ second. To attain this end, the film has to travel, not contlunoualy, but alternately, at amaU leaps, 80 tbat each pteture should remain on tbe screen wlthont motion during the time necessary for the eye to get all the details, and then the change baa to be made as rapidly as possible With a single movement. This makes the squaring very dlfllcult to secure with a detective machine, Tbe result depends largely on two mechanisms. One that produces the Intermissions In the move- ment of the film, and.another, called a revolving Bblltter which prevents tbe passage of the ught during ' the extremely vsbort time taken Dy . the change of the rdcture, leaves the screen dark while the film Is In motion and Illuminates It while the film stops. These two movements of the film and the re- volving shutter have to take place precisely at the same time, and they should rapid, ao that tbe Intermission should not be noticed. Tbe Nicholas Power domnany satisfied them- selves from the beginning of their busfaleaaL -that to produce perfect macbtuee it was absolutely neces- sary to manufacture all the parts themselves. With this end In view, they have equipped tiielr factory with really wonderful machinery for Its skillful design and precision. The materials arrive at the factory In raw con- dition, the steel and the brass in 'bars, plates ond ingots, which are examined and analysea with t*ie freatest care before being transferred to the oundry and tool machines, as the case-may be. Most of these tool machines are of the type called automatic, i. t., the machines- Intended for making acrewe take the material In long brass rods, tbe diameter of which corresponds wlm the head of tbe screws, and turn out the parts In a finlohert condition, doing all the threading, polishing, cut- ting each screw la accordance with the sue -e- ?ulred. forming the head and making the groove or the screw driver. The. msehlnea -work without any attention what- over. When file work on one bar is finished, a bell rings and the operator has to Insert another Nr. There Is nothing very difficult about tbe manufacture of screws, as ther are only used for fastening two or more parts which are not Intended to move, but the real diOlculty lies In turning out perfect live parts. Take, for instance, the Intermittent movement mechanism. We already know bow It works, and tlie way the smallest itefect Increases In the prorjec- tlon. The parts comprising this mechanism are, la fart, the most Important features of the projecting p.ppaHatus. It should be borne 4n mind uat tfaea« projectors are constoittly kept at work In many theatre* of tbe large cities oorlng foarteen hours of each day In the whole year, and. therefore ~ should he capable af standing beavy' servlee. not only for-a day or week, but. daring many Consequently, these parts are made of the hard- est and stiongest steel that the smelting industry affords. This method demands that the steel ^oula be treated In accordance with spedal fomulas which experience has proven to be the best. After the steel la smelted It has to go through twan^ different processes before the parts are finished. But the most Interesting of all is the final pr^ ceas, which takes place after the finished and poUsfaed parts have been tempered. For final test, an extremely mlcrometrlc gauge Is used, and tm only difference allowed In the diameter or other measurement of the parts must not exceed one ten thoDsandth of an Inch. How can we get an Idea of the size represented by one ten thousandth ot an Inch "> The Indicating hand of tbe gauge -will lmmcdlatel.v start to move on the <lial, which Is divided Into ooe-handT«<ItIi parts Instead of sixty as la the case of a clock, and will travel about twenty-flre lines, clearlv In- dicating that the thickness of a human hair la about twenty-five thousandth part of an Inch. The reader should Imagine for a minute that one ot his hairs could be divided Into twentr-flve boards ot the same thickness and that eacti one of thes* boards would represent tbe maximum difference al- lowed in the size of the parts of the Power's Cam- eragmph No. SB. This Is the only way to under- stand tbe accuracy of the apparatus. with regard to tbe durability of the machine, letters have been received by the Nicholas Power Co. from many exhibitors and others, stating that they hsd constantly used them for a year and more -without anv rep.ilr* whatever. The creator of this machine Is Nicholas Power, president and founder of the company that bears his nsme, .and the omces of which aro located at 00 Gold Street, New Torfe City. ^ Spbakino of narrdw escapes, Harry Noithmp, of the Vltagroph Players, owes bis life to tobacco Jnlce. He had a narrow escape from death while living on his ranch at 9an Diego, Cal., tbat makes him scary of some snakes used in a recent picture taken at the Brooklyn studio. Harry refused to go near them. It was long before he thought of gola« on tbe stage and before photoplays were heard of that be had his thrilling experience. In Southern Call- fomla there are two species of rattlesnakes—the black rattler that Uvea In the moUBtalns, and tbe yellow rattler of the valleys. Aceonllng to NoFthrnp. there are entirely too many of both species. One day he tried to inter- mate the black and the yellow reptiles. Juit to see what woald happen, and, as he puts It, "A whole lot bappened," He caught a specimen of each and placed them In a sandy pen. Nothing happened for several weeks—the snakes refused to be friendly, Nofthrup undertook to pn>d one snake toward the other with a stick, and while shoving the black one he forgot to watch the yellow one. The latter anske struck and bit Nortbrap on the index ooger of his left hand. Realizing his danger, he called to one of his ranch hands, who chewed tobacco, and they drove nt top speeit to San DIeso, sixteen miles distant. While Northrup drove with one hand, the cowboy kept putting tobac<:o Juice In the -wound. By the time they reached a physician Northrup's arm was black to the elbow. After operating, tbe doctor said that the tobacco Juice had gone far toward counteracting tbe effect of the rattlesnake poison, and had nndonbtedly saved his life. No results of Northrup's attempts at Intermst- Ine occurred. Tbe funny part of the story Is. althongb NorUirap does not lauich when he tells It, that a Cocapa Indian visited the ranch later, be Informed Nurthrup tbat both his snakes were "Mister" snakes. Attrouoh Callfctnia |o tbe land of sunshine. It hss some melancholy—tbat Is, dsrk dsya. Bal- boa has prepared for these by building an en- closed studio. This has been equipped with a battery of twenty-foor powerful chrome actlnio •lectrfc lamps, "niese arc easier for picture play- ers to work under than the system generally In use. Tojf Tebbiss. tbe English actor-manager, re- carded In London as the lesding portrayer of Olckens* characters, -who left the atage to become an American feature film producer at the head of a company which bears his name, wIJl return to his old love, the speaklne stsge. for one week only, Christmas week. He will be the visiting star, be- ginning Dec. 20, at the Warburton Theatre, In Ton- kors, where a stock compsny holds the boards. The bill irlll be a double <<ne, consisting of "A nhrlstmaa Carrol" and "The Cricket on the Hearth." botb of which Mr. Terriss Is staging, em- ploying his own xrmerr, rostumes and wigs. He I)DS the finest collection of Dickens costume* and w!ra extant. Terriss has not missed a Christmas In seven years In the nortrayal of Scrooge In "A Cbrlst- mns Carol," his favorite Dickens character, and In that thne he has never seen a ereen Christmas. Each year It has snowed where he played. Tbli year It snowrd on the dar be signed to plav In Tonkers, Monday. Tbe first year be played It at Windsor Castle before the King and Queen of Eng- land, by royal commend : tbe Mcnnd vear In Phila- delphia : tbe third in Chicago: the fourth in New York City: the fifth In Montreal: tbe sixth In Mt. Vernon, and this year, tbe seventh, he will play It In Yonkern. Many other offers for Scrooge came to Mr. Ter- riss for this Chrlstmaa week, but he was so busily engaged In bis film production business that he cculd not go farther away than Yookers. "A Christmas Carol" Is one of those classics ot the stige like "Peter Pan," wblch never dies. Qeoige Fanen, the m»nag-r of tlie Warburton Theatre, has arranged special featores for the. Taeaday, nioraday and Saturday matinees of CbrlstBas week-