Exhibitors Herald (1926)

40 BETTER THEATRES SECTION OF July 10, 1926 Film cleaning apparatus described by Trevor Faulkner in accompanying article. Film Cleaning Machine Saves Prints, Promotes Perception SIMPLICITY AND EFFICIENCY MECHANISM’S STRONG POINTS By Trevor Faulkner (Famous Players-Lasky Corp.) IN connection with a department of my firm which is concerned with the distribution of positive film, I have been interested since very early days in the production of an efficient film cleaning machine. The machine which I am about to describe to you has been installed after much experiment and is one which very satisfactorily cleans and revitalizes dirty film. That film should become soiled is in the nature of things. In practically all cases the projection booth is in the most remote part of the theatre, where it is seldom under the care of a janitor or porter, and in too many cases is hardly ever inspected by the manager. This means the periodical accumulation of dust and dirt till the operator is forced to have a “house cleaning.” It is seldom that you will find the floor of a booth free from grit and oil, which is most harmful if the film has to be “spilled” to secure uninterrupted screen presentation during a minor accident. Again, on account of the booth being at the highest point of a theatre, and usually with an exhaust fan in it, most of the dust that arises from the constant stir of patronage is drawn into the booth, and necesarily through the port holes in front of the projection machines. So much for the conditions supplying dirt. :jc s{c Now let us consider our stock or ware and its handling. When positive film is first released, it is more sensitive to damage than when older, and consequently more care must be used in its handling. Regardless of any prior waxing the film may have had, to prevent this probable damage the “operator” often applies oil to the film. Then, there have been cases known where the unfortunate film runs through a continuous bath of lubricating oil. In one make of projection machine, when the projector is tilted to fit the angle at which the light rays must be thrown to reach the screen, there is a receptacle created at the base of the mechanism that is capable of receiving and holding a sufficient amount of drainage oil to give a long lower loop a steady bath. Sometimes the film gets a constant spray or sprinkle of oil through a worn intermittent bearing. It is also customary for the operator to have a pan placed on the floor under the projector to catch the oil drip from the mechanism, and often this pan, with more or less oil in it, will also catch the ends of the film as the operator is either threading up the machine or is taking the film out of the lower magazine. You can rightfully place the blame for oil on film to one or all of these conditions, for in no other way does film ever come in contact with oil. Motion picture film in its rapid passage through the machine may become charged by friction with static electricity which will enable it to attract and attach any dust in its vicinity. Consequently when the doors of an enclosed projector are opened or when the film is “spilled” it becomes plentifully coated with lint and dirt which it annexes permanently if there is any oil to act as a cement. Further passages through the projector rolls the mixture in until a very objectional layer coats both emulsion and base. The projectionist is quite aware that a fine sparkling picture can only be produced from clean film ; nevertheless, in too many cases the presentation is marred because he has no equipment for securing this cleanliness. In considering cleaning machines, we have had in mind the importance of the wash fluid which is actually to do the work. It must be non-inflamable, give off no explosive or poisonous gases, and be free from any acids or alkalis that might attack the silver image, and furthermore it must be cheap. We have been fortunate enough to secure such a solution and are using it daily in our department with very satisfactory results. * * * At this stage we were able to enlist the co-operation of the manufacturer then making the best machine on the market. He agreed over an extended period to exploit certain of our ideas and make any changes necessary to carry them out. We are pleased to say that the experiments have resulted in a cleaning machine which really does the required work quickly and inexpensively. We find that our operators can clean twelve to fifteen reels an hour. As they come off the machine, they are handed to the inspector, the reel bands are placed in position, and the work is ready to be placed in the vaults. The output is thus about one hundred reels a day per unit. Figures 1 and 2 show the actual machine, which is made by the Dworsky Film Machine Corporation, 520 West 48th St., New York City. The film is first passed through a bath of the wash solution, contained in a trough A, about eight inches being submerged at a time. Felt brushes submerged in the liquid brush both sides of the film. The film then travels up through a series of four rubber wipers at B suspended on a spring suspension at the same angle, which wipe the film very much in the manner that a window cleaning “sqeegee” wipes the water from a freshly washed window pane. The film then passes between flannel strips fed from reels Ri and Re and slowly driven in an opposite direction to that in which the film is traveling. The points of contact with these strips are arranged at offsetting points, so that the tension of the film is sufficient to polish it thoroughly on both sides. The film then passes through two rubber rollers at C, which simply pull the film through the machine. The film is then wound on a reel by an automatic take-up similar to the take-up on the lower magazine of a projection machine. The entire operation requires about 4]/2 minutes to the thousand foot reel of film. The solution tank holds approximately one quart of the cleaning fluid, which is drained off into a filter after every seventh or eighth reel. After passing through the filter, the fluid can be used as often as it is thoroughly filtered and freed from the dirt that it carries after it has cleaned the seven or eight reels. By actual measurements this filter from a day’s work of one hundred reels of film has caught 14 cubic inches of dirt. * * * I will repeat that the hopes of ultimately having available a satisfactory plant for cleaning film has been the goal toward which I have been striving for years. During these years of what you might classify as research there have been many machines considered and tested, many wash solutions analyzed, and every system with which we could come in contact, investigated. Many of them have merit, and almost all of them offer in some manner a remedy for dirty film. In most instances, the plants that were investigated were operated by their owners as cleaning plants, and their business was confined to cleaning film and not to selling equipment for film cleaning. In such cases it meant the loss of time to transport film to and from our plant to theirs. This research work included a verv careful study of various types of machines which were on the market and recommended for exchange use but which we found after a very careful analysis did not accomplish the result we desired. * * * In analyzing a machine, it is necessary to take into consideration the following pertinent factors : First, in developing capacity, you must bear in mind the greater the speed of operation, the greater the possibilities of