Motion Picture Herald (Jul-Aug 1943)

94 BETTER THEATRES July 24, 1943 is laid, multiply the length by the width in feet, and divide by 9. The answer will be in square yards. Remember the standard widths of broadloom, as the actual floor area of the room will not always give the exact yardage of carpet required. For example, if a room is 10 feet by 13 feet, the floor area would be 14.7 square yards but the actual broadloom yardage required would be 17.4 square yards. In this case a 12x1 3-foot broadloom carpet would have to be purchased and 2 feet on one side wasted in laying. ITEM 33: Carpet Lining Always remember that a good, clean, dry lining of the proper thickness or weight will add years to the life of carpeting. A lining that is worn thin or is "lumpy," or is damp or has vermin or insects of any kind, should be removed and replaced with new lining. Reasonably new lining that has become damp or infested with vermin should be removed, dried and fumigated, then reinstalled or kept in dry storage for future use if new lining has since'been purchased. Lining is very important to the useful life of carpeting anywhere, but especially so at the entrance doors at the head of the aisles and on stairs where the traffic is the heaviest and the most strain is encountered. The lining should always be properly cemented to the floor with linoleum cement so that it does not shift or creep. Under the carpet on stairs, and especially on the treads, a double layer of lining should be laid to absorb the terrific impact of the patrons' feet as they scrape and slide over the edge of the treads. CALCULATING LINING YARDAGE To find the total yardage of lining required in the theatre, when the total net carpet yardage — without allowance for matching or waste — is known, multiply the total carpet yardage by 3 and divide by 4; the answer will be in square yards. Or it can be found by multiplying the length by the width in feet of the area covered, and dividing by 9. ITEM 34: Vacuum Cleaners As with any mechanical equipment, a vacuum cleaner must have regular maintenance to give years of good service even though it is simply and sturdily constructed. Some of the common troubles of vacuum cleaners are : Hose is broken or is deteriorating. The cause is that the cleaner is set away in the closet with the tube handle and the hose joined together, making a sharp bend in the end of the hose. The hose is necessarily bent while cleaning, but it should always be taken off the tube handle when the equipment is moved from one part of the theatre to another. The hose has been cleaned with gasoline or other harsh cleaning fluid instead of soap and water. The bearings are running hot. This is due to the use of improper grease or oil, or lack of grease. Always use only the grease recommended by the manufacturer. New grease should be squeezed into the caps of the ball-bearings at least every three months. Or oil has been put into the bearings, weakening the consistency of the grease, or the washer at the bearing is defective, allowing the grease to run out. The motor runs hot or has stopped. Dirt or other foreign matter has lodged in the air gap between the armature and stator windings. The armature shaft bearings are defective due to the use of oil instead of grease or no grease is present. Dirt or carbon particles have lodged themselves in the mica insulation segments. The carbon brushes are loose, defective or of improper type. The commutator bars are worn, are rough in spots due to collection of dirt, or the bars are too high. The armature shaft is out-of-true due to defective or worn bearings. There is a short in the electric cord or at the plug on the motor. ROUTINE CLEANER CARE In the care of the cleaner, blow out occasionally the inside of the motor, but first remove the doors from the motor hood and blow the air through the end of the motor hood and through the door openings. Put light oil, a drop or two, occasionally in the housing of the rear wheels. Also oil the front casters by dropping oil in the space between the wheel and caster. Insert only grease in the armature bearings, never any oil. Handle the electric cord very gently at all times — and never pull it out of the wall plug with a jerk, especially with the current on as the contacts will burn or fuse. Empty the bag often, especially to take out marbles, candy, pebbles, etc. Never let the dirt picked up accumulate until it reaches to the neck of the bag. ITEM 35: Rubber Mats These mats may not appear to require any attention, but as with everything else in the theatre, common sense in the care and handling will add years to their useful life, helping to protect carpeting and aiding in the safety of the public. The mats should never be handled roughly in picking them off the floor or setting them in place. A common reason for the rubber breaking open or the links being bent or snapped off is that the rolled matting is dropped on the end and then allowed to fall with the full force of its weight to the floor. Sometimes a mat is dragged out of the recessed floor, or is bent sharply apart of the way when the floor is being cleaned. The mat should always be rolled gently; and if it is too heavy for one man to handle, two men should be used. When the rubber shows rapid deterioration, or the holding links move stiffly in their respective slots, trouble is due to one or more of the following: The mat has been left lying on the floor for some time with dirt and dampness underneath. The mat has been cleaned with some strong acidy cleaning solution instead of soap and water. The mat has not been properly cleaned or dried, with the result that gritty dirt has worked itself into the rubber and inside the link slots, causing a rough surface on the links and even minute rust spots, which gradually chew off the rubber every time the mat is moved. Where a piece or section of matting is broken through, has sharp protruding ends and will not stay flat with the floor, even I with the best of repairs, that portion should ! be cut off cleanly straight across; if the mat is left in this bad condition patrons j will trip on it. Always make sure that the mat nosing is in good condition. One common reason for hosing trouble is that the portion of the rubber mat is grasped roughly in the hands and the entire strain put on it as the matting is moved about the floor. These same measures should be taken not only in the case of perforated or corrugated rubber mats, but also with respect to leather, hemp and fibre mats. New "E" Pennant Awards at A ceremony in Gardner, Mass., the HeywoodWakefield Company received the Army-Navy "E" award for high achievement in the production of j war materials. More thaa 4,500 people attended the outdoor program, held in Monument Park, adjacent to the factory. The ceremonial platflorm was ingeniously construced from army cargo bodies, a war product of Heywood-Wakefield. The official guest party on the platform j| included representative of the Governor of Massachusetts, the U. S. Army and Navy, i civic organizations, United Furniture ! Workers of America, six representative workers from the factory and office to receive the "token" pins; President Richard j N. Greenwood; General Superintendent W. B. Stearns; and representatives from I the WPB as well as other Government I agencies. Preceding the ceremony, a parade of 2,000 Heywood-Wakefield workers headed by the 52 piece company band marched to park. After greetings from the Governor of Massachusetts, Brigadier General Burton O. Lewis of the Boston Ordnance | District presented the "E" pennant, which | was accepted on behalf of the workers and management by President Greenwood. The war products of HeywoodWake j field, for many decades one of the p/incipal sources of theatre chairs, include air ! plane carrier chairs, bomb nose fuzes, tank seats, practice shells, ack-ack projectiles, battleship fenders, anti-tank mines and dive bomber parts. Librascope, Inc., a subsidiary of the ' General Precision Equipment Corporation 1 and thus associated with the International I Projector Corporation and National The j atre Supply, also received an "E" award in July. Herbert Griffin, whose headquarters ,1 normally are at International Projector, 1 of which he is a vice-president, is in im i mediate charge of Librascope operations, 1 as president of the company.