Motography (Jan-Jun 1917)

Tune 16, 1917. MOTOGRAPHY 1273 The Man Inside the Booth PROJECTION DEPARTMENT, CONDUCTED BY E. C. SCOBEY THIS department is a permanent feature of Motography. Its editor, Mr. Scobey, is a former secretary and treasurer of the Motion Picture Machine Operators' Local No. 194, I. A. T. S. E., and was formerly associated with the Central Film Service Company of Indianapolis. He was recently elected vice-president of the Central Labor Union of Indianapolis, the first operator to be so honored. The idea is to make this department just as helpful as possible to operators and exhibitors. Send your questions and problems to Mr. Scobey. He is sure to give you some valuable information. Address, Motography, Chicago. Can You Answer These? This is my first letter to you, but I read your department and gain much from it. I am an operator at the Empire Theater here. I have two Simplex machines in a nice operating room. In fact Mr. Frude and Tex Webb, operators with the Chicago company of "The Birth of a Nation" which played here complimented me upon the nice outfit and the general arrangement of things. Also Mr, Stroffegen and Mr. Mills (if I have the names right) operators with the New York Company of "Intolerance" liked my machines so well that they used them during their engagement here. So you see that it pays to keep your outfit in good condition and always try to put on better projection. I wonder how many operators are putting on better projection today than they were putting on six months ago? Not one in every fifty, I will venture to say. Mr. Scobey, do you know of a loop-setter (lower) for use on the Simplex machine, or of a guard made to put on the upper sprocket to keep the film from wrapping around it whenever there is a break? The Power's people have these devices and I believe that the Simplex people should wake up. Also I believe the lower bracket on the Simplex should be designed to have three idlers instead of one as at the present. Then bad pieces of film would not have the tendency to cause the loss of the lower loop or to cause the film to run off the sprockets. Remember I am speaking of new machines with all parts in perfect adjustment. It is possible to use the combined amperage of a rheostat and compensarc at one lamp? On one machine I use a 50 amp. rheostat. On the other machine I use a 60 amp. compensarc. I would like to join the two so that I could use 110 amps, on either machine. I joined the two in multiple — result — the blowing of a 50 amp. fuse on the compensarc primary. The Compensarc Manufacturing Co. says not to join any resistance on either the primary or secondary sides. Two compensarcs can be wired in multiple, also two rheostats, but how about one of each? I should like very well to have you print some photographs of Chicago operating rooms in your department. Would it be possible? — John W. Creamer, Empire Theater, Chillicothe, Missouri. From the description you have given me of the booth you work in and the equipment you have in it, you must be pretty well fixed to put up first class projection. When men who are on the road all the time and come in contact with all kinds of operators and machines, give you a good word then you can. feel justly proud, for as a rule, there are exceptions to all cases. The road man comes into a house and about the first thing he tells you is that, this is wrong or that is not right, and that they do not do this or that in and he leaves, or rather tries to leave, the impression with you that you ought to live in a large city and learn the finer points of the game. My experience has been this : Taking everything into consideration, that the operators in the smaller cities put up better projection than the operators in the larger ones, and as a rule they do not have near the equipment to work with. As to. how much the average operator has improved his projection in the last six months, I can not say. But the time is coming, and is not very far away, when the man who is asleep on the job now, will simply be kicked out. Picture fans have been educated to the point where they demand perfect projection and the managers realize that to get perfect projection, they need up-to-date machines and operating rooms and a real operator on the job. The operator of today has to keep posted on his work and has to keep trying to improve his projection or the manager is soon wise and is looking for a man who is up to date. There is no loop-setter on the Simplex machines and I could not tell you whether there ever will be or not. I think that the loop-setter is a big help to the operator, and suppose that if the Simplex had a loopsetter that was satisfactory they would put it on their machines. The same thing applies to the guard on the top sprocket. As to the three idlers on the lower bracket, I do not agree with you. I think that the one roller is enough. At one time the Power's Company had a lower bracket with two idlers on it, but it was not satisfactory and most of the operators got rid of the extra idler in a hurry. If you have your lower idler adjusted properly, there is no reason why you should have any trouble with your film. Do not try to use a rheostat and compensarc either in series or in multiple, "for it can't be did." If you want more than 60 amps, on a compensarc then you will have to get one that is wound for higher amperage. You can get one that will give from 125 to 150 amps, on 110 volts A. C, but you can not hook a 50 amp. rheostat on to a 60 amp. compensarc and get 110 amps, from it. You do not say what distance you have to project your picture or the size of it, but it strikes me that you will never need 110 amps, for the average picture house. If I were you I would try to get the manager of the theater to get a generator set of some kind so that you could have D. C. current on the lamps and at the same time save money on the electric light bill. You would get far better results on the screen as well. At the present time I have no photographs of Chicago booths. I have several of booths of other cities, however, and I am holding them until I get a few more before using one or two of them in the department each week. I should be very glad to use photos of the different booths from operators who care to forward them to me. About Carbons I have received several inquiries from exhibitors and operators in regard to the White Flame carbon. Under date of May 21 I received a letter from the National Carbon Company of Cleveland, Ohio, who makes