International projectionist (Oct 1931-Sept 1933)

18 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST September 1933 VIBRATING MIRROR SCREEN -1 o ROTATING MIRROR LIGHT SOURCE FIGURE 2 Simplified schematic of mirror arrangement of the large oscilloscope is shown as consisting of six plane mirrors forming a hexagon; in the actual oscilloscope twenty nairrors are employed, arranged in a regular polygon and rotated by a small motor. Light from the lamp falls on the mirror on the receiver and then is reflected to the rotating mirror. The motion of this rotating mirror throws the beam across the screen at the same time that it may be rising or falling due to the vibration of the mirror on the receiver. The faster the mirror rotates the more will the waves be spread out on the screen, and a speed is selected that will give the best effect for the ordinary sounds of speech and music. The twenty faces of the rotating mirror successively pick up the beam reflected from the small mirror on the receiver and flash it across the screen. The mirror is rotated at thirty-three revolutions per minute, so that the time required for one of the twenty sides to flash its image across the threefoot screen is a little less than onetenth of a second. What one really sees, therefore, is a succession of pictures, each representing the sound wave for a period of about a tenth of a second. The persistence of vision is long enough so that the curve is seen over the entire length of the screen, but not long enough to cause interference between successive images. These oscilloscopes are used at the Exposition in association with two of the Bell System exhibits. One of them is employed to show some of the essential characteristics of speech and music. Typical speech sounds are listened to, and at the same time their wave-form is watched on the oscilloscope. High pitched sounds show waves close together, and loud sounds result in waves of greater height. Filters of various types are also inserted and their effect in cutting out certain of the frequencies is both seen and heard. Erpi^s New 1-Year Agreement On Service and Replacements •p LECTRICAL Research Products "■-^ has for the past several months been "making available" to exhibitor licensees of W.E. sound reproducing apparatus a new agreement covering both servicing and replacement parts under the terms of which the company assumes full responsibility for the continued operation and maintenance of all W.E. sound equipments, numbering some 5,000-odd throughout the United States. More than 600 theatres have alreadj?^ signed this new agreement, according to Erpi. The agreement is characterized by Erpi as a furtherance of "its policy of contributing in every way to the development and maintenance of the highest quality sound operation," but other well-informed observers within the sound field view this latest move as a means of accomplishing the following Erpi objectives: 1. Removing the "sting" of compulsory servicing by stressing the "voluntary" character of the new agreement. 2. Avoiding further complaint by exhibitor licensees on the score of that section of the old contract requiring the purchase of all replacement parts from Erpi, a provision which was held illegal by Federal Judge Nield in the recent Wilmington decision. 3. Effectively blocking the path of the so-called independent manufacturers and distributors of replacement parts (in particular, tubes and photoelectric cells), the activities of whom within the past several years are known to have put a serious dent in Erpi's replacement business. Erpi's Position Erpi describes this new agreement in the following terms : "The agreement relieves exhibitors of the detail of ordering individual replacement parts. Erpi, in return for a weekly payment, assumes the obligation of making repairs and furnishing necessary replacement parts for the normal continuous maintenance and operation of the equipment. Installation of the parts is made in the theatre under Erpi's supervision . . . We have received gratifying assurances of the results to date from exhibitors who have been operating under this agreement, and we Notice! International Projectionist subscribers can do much to insure prompt receipt of their copies, and will save the publisher much effort and expense, by submitting changes of address as early as possible. The return cards used by the Post OflSce are expensive to the publisher, and very often offer no clue to a subscriber's new address. Please. feel that it will be a constructive move benefiting the entire industry." Following the recent Wilmington decision Erpi sent to all its exhibitor licensees a letter which stated in part: "The provision in the theatre equipment contract, enforcement of which is enjoined by the Court, is that which obligates the exhibitor to obtain from Electrical Research Products Inc. all additional and renewal parts and assembly parts required for the operation of the equipment . . . The Court denied the request of the Plaintiffs for temporary injunctions against other parts of the exhibitors' and producers' contracts, including the service charges which were attacked in the suit . . . "Many exhibitors have entered into a separate agreement with us covering our furnishing spare and replacement parts as required for the normal maintenance and operation of our equipment and the payment of a weekly sum in consideration of the furnishing of such parts. These maintenance agreements are in no way involved in the above decree. "There has been apparently considerable misunderstanding about the significance of this recent Court decision and we hope through the foregoing statement to make clear to our customers this company's position." Independents Alarmed Independent manufacturers of sound equipment accessories, supply dealers and those projectionists leaders who hoped ultimately to gain control of servicing are considerably disturbed over the rapid spread of the Erpi blanket agreement idea. Should Erpi sign all W.E. licensees to this new agreement, nearly one-half the sound picture field would be closed to the products of independent manufacturers, not to mention the activity of supply dealers in trade of this kind. RCA Victor Co., Inc., recently abolished compulsory servicing and the system of leasing its Photophone apparatus. Exhibitors who have paid the fixed price for a given Photophone equipment assume full title thereto, and servicing by RCA is entirely optional. Projectionists have profited through this RCA policy by arranging to service those Photophone sets which do not use RCA service. ANOTHER 16 MM. CAMPAIGN With a battery of 75 portable 16 mm. sound-on-film projectors, just purchased from Bell & Howell Company, the Plymouth Motor Corp. is embarking on its most ambitious program of selling via movies. Seven 1000-foot sound pictures, built for the most part around human interest and dramatic stories illustrating the advantages of the Plymouth car, will be used with the projectors. The pictures are designed not only for special dealer meetings, sales conventions, and for use by retail sales managers, but also for special showings to the general public.