Motion Picture News (Jul-Aug 1916)

1268 ACCESSORY NEWS SECTION Vol. 14. No. 8 limn["!B[IBH| ' aiWBiPiPwwwi T IEl(i(g(iirD(gn(!:s^ Projection Edited by Ira G. Sherman, Past President, Local No. 384, I. A. T. S. E. Who will answer all questions you may send in, no matter how simple or difficult AN OPERATOR FROM THE "STICKS" THE following letter from an operator in Iowa, found its way to my desk and I am publishing it, and at the same time granting the request of the writer : " Reading in the News that you would like to have the boys send in anything that is out of the ordinary which they are using, 1 am enclosing a sketch of the way I have my rheostats wired. I have never seen nor heard of anything like this before, BUT THAT IS NO SIGN THAT THERE IS NO SUCH THING, as there are a good many things that I have never seen or heard of. " Now I have just one favor to ask of you, and that is if this is not new or out of the ordinary, please do not publish this letter, because no matter how ignorant we are we don't want to publish the fact in any magazine. I will now let you in on the secret of this talk. As you will see from the sketch I have a three wire system. Just below the main switch are two ordinary switches, one for each machine and below them I have two double throw switches. The rest you can see from the sketch. " The idea of all this is to do away with any delay from rheostat trouble. I generally use my rheostats, one on each machine and if anything should go wrong with one of them, all I have to do is throw the double throw switch over to the other side and put both machines on one rheostat, and the same way if anything should happen to the other. This makes it possible for me to continue my show, should either fuse burn out without having to stop and tear the place up trying to find a new fuse. " I am enclosing photos of my booth as I think it is a dandy, The Work Bench and. once more I ask you not to publish this unless it contains something new, not that I care so much for myself, but people might think that all of our boys were raised in the ' sticks.' " ' Comment: I cannot understand your objection, brother, to your lettc being published. It shows that j'ou are a man possessed with the ability to keep your $how running, and does you much credit. You handed me one laugh, though, where you say : without having to stop and tear the place up hunting for a new fuse." That should not be necessary, there should be a place for everj'thing and everything in its place, but (whisper) I have been caught that way myself. There are none of us infallible, only we hate like the dickens to admit it. The accompanying photographs show the method of wiring as described by the brother and the neatness with which he keeps everything in its place (with the exception of " fuses." — Ed.). By the way, what are the saws for, to trim carbons ? I agree with you, the operating room as far as can be seen is a " dandy," and the work bench looks as though it were USED, so The Switchboard many operators have work benches for ornamental purposes. The projection department is always open to any suggestions of those who have the welfare of their profession at heart, and I assure you, brother, that there are just as good operators in the "sticks'' as you call it, as there are in the BIG TOWNS. So come again, you're always welcome. NEAT AND INEXPENSIVE FILM CLEANER TO the manager who wants to have an always " clean " show, so far as the physical condition of the film is concerned the film cleaner illustrated on this page will give them that result. It is one of the neatest and most inexpensive pieces of apparatus that we have seen in some time, and what is more to the point. " it does the w-ork." It not only washes the film, but CLEANS it ; the chemical which is used in the cleansing process being without any harmful effect to the film; it also tends to keep the film in a flexible condition, thus prolonging its life. riG2 Fig. 1 shows the film cleaner closed ; A-A being the holes through which the fluid is distributed to the pads ; B-B the springs which hold the pads in place. The device is of cast aluminum, making it proof against wearing out, and should meet with the hearty approval of the operator. 'Fig. 2 illustrates the device open and shows the modus operandi; in Fig 2. A-A are the pads held in place by the sprihgs as shown