International projectionist (Nov-Dec 1933)

November 1933 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST 21 'AUTOMATIC CHANGE-OVERS NOT PRACTICABLE NOW George C. Edwards FORMERLY EDITOR OF "AMERICAN PROJECTIONIST" JTREQUENTLY I am asked to look over automatic devices to correct the change-over from one reel to another, with accompanying sound. In recent months these new devices have greatly increased in number, and each of the inventors has apparently had but a single thought in mind: "I will make a fortune out of the patent." Some of these devices are ingenious in their make-up, some crude in design and of dubious value and some just nightmares for anyone who attempts to work with them. Even if these change-overs were thoroughly practical, the inventors or promotors are over-enthusiastic about their financial possibilities and apparently have not heard the old saying, accepted as gospel in the Patent Office, that "the first three men who exploit a patent lose their shirts, the fourth may get a little and the fifth stands a chance." Independent inventors have found out by bitter experience how true this is. Companies having ample resources which maintain research bureaus and laboratories do not fare so badly, for their patents are generally improvements in or developments of already manufactured apparatus. Even such concerns rarely make any money until they have spent large sums, waited a long time for results and have well organized facilities for marketing their product. Film Condition Controls Thanks to the Standard Release Print, the start-motor and change-over marks are printed on the film at the correct position for a perfect change-over. All that is necessary is to give proper attention at the right time and, with a certain amount of manual dexterity, the job is easily done. Mistakes can be and are made. But when men are skillful and interested in their work the possibility of error is slight. As motion picture film ages in service, complications arise due mainly to the mistaken idea of many men that their change-over marks are the ideal ones; they persist in adding them to those that come with the film and properly belong there. After a period of service the film has a choice collection of scratches, stars, crescents, crosses, etc., all punched into the film and in different frames. This form of mutilation may extend anywhere from four to thirty feet back from the end of the reel. To attempt to remove them would, of course, not only practically ruin the con tinuity of the picture but also would mean removal of the ending of the dialogue. The inventors previously referred to now propose to introduce an attachment which will automatically make a perfect change-over in picture and sound. What a chance! If the ideal condition existed, as pictured by an inventor in his dreams, that "every projector in the country was equipped with his apparatus on the same day," there would be a chance for the device to successfully accomplish that which it is supposed to do. Under actual conditions, however, the change-over would seldom, if ever, occur at anything like the correct spot and very often not at all. One of the devices shown operated twice in the first one hundred feet of film, and this was due to a notched sprocket hole. Another operated by a "flasher frame" in the picture, that is, escaped development and appeared as a clear frame. Still another was a measuring device which failed three times out of four. The inventors all overlook the fact that hardly ever does the film arrive at the theatre in perfect condition and that no automatic device will work consistently well if the film is not in perfect physical condition. After two or three runnings 98% of the film is mutilated in one way or another, and the slightest mutilation may well render the device worse than useless. It requires two competent, conscientious men, closely watching the screen, to make a perfect change-over manually, one to make the change and another to check the markings as they come through. A blink of the eye and the marking is entirely missed. Theoretically, the projectionist should never blink his eye while on duty, but considering the conditions under which they work it is amazing that some of them have any eyesight left. The markings on the Standard Release Print appear and disappear in one-fifth of a second, which calls for a sharp eye and close attention, if "blanks" are to be avoided. Manpower Important The average house manager would, of course, welcome an automatic device, as in his opinion it would be a fine justification for going back to the old and dangerous practice of one-man operation. The Standard Release Print markings have much to recommend them, but they are a great strain even to the projectionist who is giving all the skill and attention which we have a right to expect from any human being. The manager or projectionist, however, who places the correct value on expert handling of the show, finds that it is foolhardy to place any reliance in a socalled completely automatic change-over. Too many variables enter into the situation, and of these the film itself — that is, its physical condition — is by far the most important factor. W. E. CINE TIMER TAKES 3,000 CLEAR PHOTOGRAPHS A SECOND 'T'HE Western Electric Cine Timer, developed jointly by Bell Telephone Laboratories and Eastman Kodak Company, is an entirely new tool for the study and analysis of high speed phenomena. It is a combination ultra-high speed 16 mm. motion picture camera and an electrical equipment for registering time. The camera has two lens systems, so arranged that when the camera is used to photograph any occurrence, the moving dials of the time register are also simultaneously photographed on each frame of film beside the picture. Upon viewing or projecting the film so made, the moment at which any event happened can thus be read immediately from the direct time record given with the picture of the occurrence. The camera is capable of taking as many as three thousand clear, sharp photographs each second and the timing system records time at intervals of one thousandths of a second with an accuracy rivaled only by the finest of laboratorytype crystal oscillators. Through the use of the Cine Timer the operation of complicated mechanisms invisible to the eye because of the high speeds involved become visible when photographed and projected on a large screen with a reduction in speed amounting to as much or more than 180 times. The eye is able to follow every motion of each moving part of the mechanism under study and to detect instantly the faulty operation and to time each sequence of events in the thousandth part of a second. Constructional Details The Cine Timer is supplied in two models. Type 1, equipped with the high speed camera, has a speed range