International projectionist (Jan-Dec 1950)

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Bargain' Film-Fire Misinformation By RICHARD D. MARKS NITRATE motion picture film is dangerously inflammable and produces copious volumes of poisonous, explosive gases when it burns. As long as a single reel of nitrate film remains in circulation, the nitrocellulose fire-hazard is of vital concern to projectionists. It might be assumed that the textbooks prepared for the instruction of projectionists would contain a sufficiency of accurate information on the combustion of inflammable film and the causes thereof, but such is not the case with projection books so far published in any English-speaking country. The most widely accepted American textbooks, in particular, largely ignore the problems presented by the explosively combustible nature of nitrocellulose film. Booby Prize Awarded The booby prize for expositional reliability must be awarded, together with a bushel of scallions, to one Thomas O'Conor Sloane, Ph.D., LL.D., who, judging from the write-up accorded him in the Columbia (University) Encyclopedia, must have been a versatile cookie in his heyday. The biographical puff reads as follows: Sloane, Thomas O'Conor, 1851, American scientist, lecturer and writer on scientific subjects, and member of the editorial staff of the Scientific American, Science and Invention, and other periodicals. He is known for his inventions of various scientific instruments and his work in practical electricity. His publications include: The Electrician's Handy Book, Electricity Simplified, Standard Electrical Dictionary, Motion Picture Projection, and Liquid Air and Liquefacation of Gases. The volume titled "Motion Picture Projection," published by Falk in 1922, is the book in which we are interested (having wasted precious hours in reading it), and which is hereinafter referred to as Doc Sloane's Comic Book. This rib-tickling tome is, of course, not recommended to readers of IP except for the laughs it provides. It furnishes an abundance of these as well as outstanding examples of the abysmal misinformation purveyed by an academically alphabetized personage who is certainly no master of projection. The following quotations from Doc Sloane's antiquated comic book would not be worth printing were it not for the sad fact that projectionists are being "taken in" on a grand scale by certain second-hand theater supply horse-traders who are offering this outmoded and worthless percolation of esoteric projectionalia to the craft at 89 cents a copy (marked down from 90 cents). The book is no bargain. Contradictions Unlimited T. O'Conor Sloane, Ph.D., LL.D., is discussing the occurrence of film fire. "If something happens to stop the machine," declares the Doctor under the heading 'Danger of Fire Overestimated,' "and if the fire shutter fails to operate, and if the operator fails so utterly in presence of mind as not to force it down and to close the dowser, the film will after a few seconds catch fire. The combustion is not very vivid. It is without much flame and not very rapid. "There is no doubt that if the film ignited while the machine was in operation," he continues, "the fire might be carried down outside the limits of the aperture. Then it would spread and run along the film and get into the magazine at the bottom of the machine and make a disagreeable fire there. "This would be bad for the mechanism of the head of the machine. But there /Vlw/ K0j£££| Super Cinephor Lens Series Gives You New Profit from: • LARGER AUDIENCES (particularly in drive-ins)— made possible by brilliant, improved illumination. • BETTER ALL-AROUND VISION"edge-to-edge" contrast and sharpness . . . better vision at all ranges, all angles. • GREATER AUDIENCE SATISFACTION . . . they'll appreciate seeing pictures that bring them closer to the actual living scene as it was filmed by the studio. WRITE for complete information to Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., 616-M St. Paul St., Rochester 2, N. Y. FOR TOP IMAGE QUALITY ON YOUR SCREEN ... THE W TRADEMARK ON YOUR LENS BAUSCH & LOMB zfiiet PROJECTION LENSES 24 INTERNATIONAL PROJECTIONIST • January 1950