Motion Picture News (Oct-Dec 1930)

December 6 , 19 3 0 Motion Picture News 55 Additional Admissions per Day to Cover Operating Cost at 25 Cents Each 17 sity, meet the requirements which provide for a suitable return on the investment of each and every theatre owner. Air conditioning -systems for the small house have been ready for a great many years, but unfortunately we have been handicapped through lack of a refrigerating machine that met all of the foregoing requirements. Thus, the availability of air conditioning to the small theatre awaited the development of a refrigeration unit completely automatic in its operation and considerably lower in cost and maintenance. The small unit developed for this work is similar in operation to the centrifugal refrigeration machine now used in a large number of the de luxe theatres. But it introduces radical features of design, including complete automatic operation. It is fully enclosed, requires no operating engineer to run it, and the economy of maintenance is indicated by the fact that it can be serviced by the company installing it for a flat sum of $200 per year, without any charges whatsoever to be paid for services of a theatre engineer. The largest of these machines developed for small theatres is 12 feet long, 9 feet wide, and requires a head room of 9 feet. Thus, • it .is adaptable to installation in buildings where space for installation is limited. The refrigerator is used in conjunction with a complete air conditioning unit which includes the fan, spray and cooling chamber, automatic dampers, heaters and sound silencers, in a compact machine especially developed for small theatre use. There are three sizes of the machine now ready for next summer's operation. The capacity of houses the machines are designed for range from 500 to 900 seats. The table of operating costs shown elsewhere on this page gives the cost per seat per day. These costs are based on the complete operation of the air conditioning system including refrigeration, giving the operating costs for summer and winter. Costs are based on the assumption that the electric current rate will be of 2 cents per kw. hour, and that the cost of condensing water is at the rate of 60 cents per thousand cubic feet. The cost of heating has not been included because the cost of fuel will be similar with or without air conditioning. Due to the emphasis which has been placed on cooling, it is essential to bear in mind that refrigeration is only necessary when a reduction in temperature or a reduction in moisture is necessary. And that the refrigeration equipment necessary for these purposes is only incidental to the complete system for conditioning. Air Distribution Important Factor The important part played by an air conditioning system is the proper distribution of the air within the theatre so that the reduction in moisture and temperature brings the atmosphere to the ideal condition for human comfort. A refrigerating machine to cool the air is of no use if the air is not distributed Average Operating Costs of Unit Automatic System of Air Conditioning for the Small Theatre Seats 500 700 900 Summer Winter Summer Winter Summer Winter Power $2.77 $.94 $3.88 $1.32 $4.81 1.73 $1.74 Water 96 1.34 Fixed Maintenance .55 .55 .55 .55 .55 Total Oper. Costs per Day of 10 Hrs. $4.28 $1.49 $5.77 $1.87 $7.09 $2.29 Cost Seat per Day $.0086 .003 .0083 .0027 .0079 .0025 All costs based on electric current at 2 cents per KWH and water at 60 cents per thousand cubic feet. These costs can be easily adjusted by any decrease or increase in power or water rates. Also if you operate a shorter period than 10 hours a day you can proportionately decrease the power and water costs. properly. Some of the main difficulties encountered by air conditioning engineers have resulted for the too zealous use of refrigeration to cool without regard to the comfort of the people. It is impossible to sit in a theatre that is over-cooled and be comfortable. The exhibitors who have had experience in operating air conditioning systems over a period of years are agreed that more harm is done by over-cooling than no cooling at all, and air conditioning engineers have used every ingenious method at their command to make foolproof such systems so that over-cooling shall not be done. Cooling is important to comfort during hot weather but equally important is the reduction of moisture content of the air, especially in summer. You can maintain a temperature of 80 to 85 degrees when the outside weather is 95 and 100, provided you reduce the moisture content of the air within your theatre so that the people will feel comfortable. And that is all an air conditioning system in a theatre should do — make people comfortable throughout the length of the show. For this reason, air conditioning engineers are glad to note the discarding of ===^=— — -^^—— — ==^= the old icicles and the polar bears as a means of selling the "20 degrees below the outside temperature" idea. One of the most prominent exhibitors in this country and a pioneer in the introduction of cooling systems in theatres, recently stated that he has refused in the last few years to advertise that his theatres are cool. "Why advertise when the people know that the theatre under our direction are comfortable," he asks. 23 29 10 I T IS a tribute to the courage and progressiveness of the theatre owners who in the early days of this science had the idea that cold storage methods used for the preservation of food could be utilized to create comfortable conditions within their theatres during the hot weather months when theatres suffered in competition with beach resorts and other outdoor attractions. These early efforts on the part of theatre men undoubtedly are responsible for the air comfort consciousness of the general public and the advances made in the science of air conditioning as applied to the comfort field. With an investment in excess of $10,000,000 in air conditioning equipment, and the exercise of its power to popularize a science as well as personalities and the arts, the theatre industry both here and abroad has educated the general public to the benefits of air conditioning to human comfort and health. And, on the theory that the public will more readily outlay admissions where mechanical contrivances guarantee comfort, manufactured weather can be accepted as an influencing factor in building box office success at the theatre, along with other contingent factors such as quality pictures, sensible showmanship and the like.