Motion Picture Herald (Nov-Dec 1934)

22 Better Theatres Section November 17 , 1934 F. H. RICHARDSON'S COMMENT AND ANSWERS TO INQUIRIES NOTES ON THE FALL MEETING OF THE SMPE THE FALL MEETING OF the Society of Motion Picture Engineers proved to be most interesting and valuable. The papers varied from good to excellent. There was not one minus mark in the whole lot. More and more the SMPE is proving its value to the industry. First, the discussions that follow the reading of papers presents the viewpoints of many men. Secondly, the personal contact between engineers engaged in studying problems connected with the industry, the correct working out of which is essential to improvement of the entertainment provided by the motion picture theatre, frequently has important practical results. Such contacts not only add to our general knowledge of what is being attempted and done, but very often through personal discussion of knotty points, engineers get ideas that tend to make those points much clearer and enable them, at least eventually, to find a correct solution. C. Francis Jenkens has passed on into the shadows which one day must engulf us all. There has been some dispute about his achievements in the early days, but there is no doubt at all that back in 1916 it was C. Francis Jenkins who called a meeting of engineers in the national capital and organized the Society of Motion Picture Engineers. Moreover, I personally will bear witness to the fact that Jenkins literally kept the organization alive through its first doubtful years. The Society now is an honored, permanent, growing motion picture institution. Dr. A. N. Goldsmith retires as president of the SMPE January 1. The Society has a new, and a most reassuring successor to Dr. Goldsmith in H. G. Tasker of the United Research Laboratories. But we of the projection field will not soon forget the fact that President Goldsmith has taken more interest in the advancement of projection than has any former chief officer. He has attended almost every meeting of the Projection Practice Committee, remaining throughout each session, offering an advice of inestimable value. In token of its appreciation, the com mittee presented Dr. Goldsmith with a beautiful gold fountain pen. It was gratifying to learn that a very real effort is being made to deliver variable density sound tracks that may be projected without constant, and often violent, adjustments of the fader. That would indeed be a genuine relief, as well as a source of improvement in sound. Among the equipment displayed was a new film reel, the invention of H. A. DeVry of Chicago, which seems to me to be the final answer to the vexatious reel question. It is so substantial, so simple, so light in weight, so immune to injury through any but very violent abuse, and I believe so reasonable in price, that unless the industry adopts it for its very own I shall feel inclined to have its honorable head examined. Briefly, it consists in a lightweight but very substantial 5-inch sheet steel hub into which the film may be instantly locked in two different ways, with spokes of spring steel about a half-inch wide by perhaps 3/32-inch thick, which slip loosely into slots provided in the sides of the hub, their outer ends riveted to a steel ring of the same material — riveted because spot welding would cause such metal to crack. The spokes are free to move in and out Other Articles In addifion to the material on this page, Mr. Richardson's columns of this issue also contain: Arc Light Sas Fumes ^age 23 Designs for 2,000-Foot Reels Page 24 Incandescent Lamp Life Page 25 Tinting Acoustic Felt Page 26 Quality in Projection Page 26 Returns to Field Page 27 in the hub slots, so that when the rim is bent there is no stretching of the metal of the spokes. I subjected the reels to this test : I laid one on the floor, placed one foot on either side of the hub, about half way in from the outer rim, and stood on the reel, full weight, squashing the two sides flat together. Upon release, the reel instantly sprang back to exactly its former shape — no damage at all. I also seized the rims of the reel and bent them outward at an angle of at least 45°, inflicting no damage whatever. And all this was done to the 16-mm. reel (the 35-mm. reel has not yet been made up). The DeVry organization also had on display its new chain drive projector, which I have previously described. As to the chain drive, it really seems worthy of serious attention. However, I am of the opinion that the housing or casing of the projector needs some change. I will have more to say about this projector, however, as time passes and I begin to receive reports from projectionists who are using it. Miss R. Hockheimer, director of Visual Education in New York City schools, advised the convention that owing to lack of ample funds, the schools of New York City are equipped only with 16-mm. silent projectors, and that only about 45% of them had even these. Miss Hockheimer stressed the value of motion pictures in education and said all educators felt the same way about it. She said that some films made as much as 25 years ago still had educational value. In slides illustrating one paper we were shown that in passing through air, sound was refracted whenever it passed from warm to cool air, or vice versa, whereupon one projectionist remarked, "It must be bent a lot as it passes from some projection rooms into the auditorium!" It also was shown that as sound passes over water it travels more slowly near the