Moving Picture World (May - Jun 1918)

May 11, 1918 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD 851 on. Will let you know how It pans out. Will trj ■ 13 foot picture at 80 teat Han BO umporo outnt oomlm. Do you think It will equal my 33 ampere d. c. arc? Havo all the books on projection 1 have been able to procure, and am losing 40 cents for the question booklet*. Best wishes to yourself and department. Booklets have been sent. Would rather let you decide for yourself as between ttu> Mazda and your present X> ampere arc. Glad to have the report ; also the photo you mentioned. You certainly have a very complete outfit. Evidently Mr. Mercy Is not ono of those who build a picture palace, get It all complete and then remember that, after all, an operating room is necessary. That too-numerous type of "exhibitor" usually builds a $50,000 theater and sklrmshes around looking for two cheap, second-hand projectors. He Horns In. Fred H. Wood, chief operator and elcctrlcan Theatrette theater, Fort Scott. Kansas, whom 1 had the pleasure of meeting while In that city last spring, writes : That it is some time sinco I last horned into the department Is no evidence of somnanibulence. Since your visit there have been a number of changes, and all for the better. First : Both the Plctureland and Theatrette have been remodeled and redecorated. Second : Equipment in the two named theaters has been improved. Am now running two late model Motiographs (Theatrette), which are doing the work wonderfully well. And now for my real purpose of this letter: Will you supply me with address of some of the users of the Mazda lamp for projection ; also please let me have your view as to their practicability and advisability. We have many letters from firms handling them, but their testimony cannot be regarded as unbiased. We have reports that life of lamps is so short that any saving in current is offset by excessive lamp renewal. We are getting a brilliant picture, using 110 volt a. c, but the local plant is so uncertain and the current so unsteady that we seek some method of improving conditions. I wish the best of luck to the department. The editor has already set forth his views as to what the Mazda will and wont do at its present stage of development ; also there are other articles to follow dealing with the same subject. Your Incandescent projection lamps will cost you $7 each, and they will last their estimated life of 100 hours, provided they be not worked above capacity. But unless you have an absolutely rock-steady line voltage It will be imperative that you purchase, together with the outfit, an AUTOMATIC voltage regulator, which must be guaranteed to regulate within .5 of an ampere either way from normal and do it automatically. Unless this be done you may look out for trouble, with lamp renewals galore. The filament of the 750 watt lamp is calculated to reach a temperature which will burn out the filament in 100 hours when 20 amperes of current flows. Anything less dims your light, and even one ampere more will lessen the life of the lamp even though it be allowed to flow but for one minute ; two amperes in excess for one or two minutes is a very serious matter indeed. There are now, however, automatic voltage regulators which work perfectly. With them the lamp should last its full life of 100 hours. I don't quite see, however, what you expect to gain by changing to incandescent if your current supply is too poor for even an arc. The Mazda is a very much more delicate proposition from any and every point of view than is the carbon arc. Have you tried the new Speer Alterno or the National White a. c. special? They are both a large improvement over the ordinary for a. c. To sum up : You are a competent operator, and if you can use 60 amperes a. c. I would advise you to proceed with caution in making a change to Mazda. I very much doubt that the Mazda will give satisfaction in your particular case. Will users of the Mazda correspond with Friend Wood and give their experience? Has Repaid Its Cost. B. A. Aughinbaugh, Mingo, Ohio, recently purchased a handbook, concerning which he says : I have just finished reading your very valuable handbook. I certainly have learned enough merely in its reading to repay its cost many, many times over. I am now proceeding to study it carefully and exhaustively. I wish a few others of our many text book writers would imitate your wonderful thoroughness, clearness and practicability. You certainly are an operator in the truest sense of that term ; also a most unusual author. This tribute to my poor efforts is particularly valuable because Friend Aughinbaugh is principal of the Mingo High Schools, hence quite capable of passing judgment upon the merit of such a book as the one in question, which is essentially a text book of projection. I, therefore, feel highly gratified by his commendation of my work. Keeps Up to Date. W. M. Wells, Scottsburg, Indiana, says : Enclosed find $7.00 to cover subscription to the World for a year and for one of the famous Richardson Handbooks, preferably autographed by its author. Have been in the business for several years, but have sold out and am now running two shows each night for the new owner, as he is not an operator. Have the old Handbook, but want to keep up to date, hence I read the projection department and am ordering the new book. I use a motor driven Motiograph and 14-inch reels ; current 40 amperes d. c. from motor-generator set. Good light for small town, as picture is only 12 feet wide. Even though you have sold out, Neighbor Wells, you'll be back In the good old motion picture swimming hole with the rest of us again soon. You are wise to keep up to date. To autograph your Handbook was a pleasure. Scheme for Correcting Definition in Steep Projection. Ralph Martin, l.os Angeles, California, suggests the following Interesting plan for sharpening definition all over the screen when projection pitch la Btecp : In Issue of February 10 Is an article : "High Qjado LenseB Not Available" which tins sot my typewriter working as follows: ABC/b»/ Aptrfvrc A'e'c'-Mmj /fperftre It may be possible to entirely eliminate the out-of-focus trouble due to pitch in projection by the use of the fixed aperture lens. The drawing shows the idea clearly. The aperture lens is arranged so as to be tilted at any desired angle, the direct effect of which is to cause the virtual Image (A' B' C) of the aperture to also become tilted. In fine, the operation permits the plane of the aperture to be optically moved about to any desired position in angle, thus enabling the true focal plane of the screen Image (A" B" C") to fully coincide with the screen surface, thus insuring sharp focus at all points. I do not believe that the tilting of the aperture lens (provided it to be placed as close as % Inch from the aperture) would introduce any other defects in definition besides the usual distortion and keystone effect which always accompanies pitch in projection. In view of the impossibility of obtaining anastigmat objectives I take the opportunity to refer to my article of Dec. 23, 1916, where I suggested a method for obtaining a flat field with the petzval type. I still believe that idea is good. What in the Sam Hill has become of the aperture lens anyhow? Say, man ! don't talk to me about additional lenses now. Why we're lucky to have any lenses at all. Speak to a lens maker about extra ones and he'd froth at the mouth. Your plan is unique. Maybe it could be made to work, but I'm skeptical about its being a commercially practical thing. It certainly would have to be adjusted to each individual case, and there would, I should imagine, be the rub. But anyhow it is interesting. How Long? A Michigan operator who wishes his blushes hidden wants to know how long before I will reprint the questions. Says he has tried to get into the I. A., but Menominee, Mich., refuses to accept his application. Wants to know what a man so situated is to do. Wants to know if a manager has to sign some sort of a paper when he employs a union operator. Says he has used National A. C. Special on a. c. and they are a long way ahead of ordinary cored stock. Says they do not work well with the d. c. set, but that a modified jack knife set works fine. Says they are noiseless, and that he recommends them for a. c. users. He also recommends the Silver Tip negative for d. c, though they pit the condensers. As to reprinting the questions, why I am swamped with matter for the space I have now. What would I do with nearly a page used up on the questions and answers? It's a matter of space, Michigan. As to the Menominee local, why, if you are within its jurisdiction that local is doing you a very great injustice in refusing you membership, provided you can prove your fitness for membership in the I. A. A local assumes a moral obligation to accept into membership every competent operator within its jurisdiction, provided he be otherwise a decent man whom there is no good reason to believe will bring discredit upon the organization. You are within the jurisdiction of the local situated the least number of miles from your city. In cities where the union has contracts with theaters the exhibitor ordinarily must sign a contract with the union covering wages and working conditions before he can get a union operator. This most likely would not hold good in your case. Projection Experience picture HANDBOOK For Managers and Operator* By F. H. RICHARDSON The recognized itajtOard book em the ana: of the operator. Complete ilinlen— eat Initructloni on all leacuaf mrftlaei tmt operating eaaiBsatat. MOVING PICTURE WORLD •efcnitr Blai. 511 Flttk ArtMt Wheat & CalUafer Bide. Cklew*. HI. New York City Let AaeetM. CM. Te atve Una, order (ran aeareat eflee. There iaa't an operators boota Is tie nalTeree 1b vblab thla earefallr compiled book will not gare lta xrarcbaje price eacb monta. Bay It Teeay M tie Ceey, PettaaU