Moving Picture World (Jul-Sep 1913)

326 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD The Precision Macliine Company, manufacturer of the Simplex machine, is situated in spaces 319 to 322 and exhibits various types of projectors, both hand and motor driven. The company is showing a seventeen-inch magazine, which carries 2,500 feet of film. Also is shown the evolution of the Simplex from 1896 to 1913 and the various parts entering into the making of the projector. The company is distributing a book of technical value to operators. The booth is in charge of J. E. Robin. He is assisted by David F. Cowan. Present in the evening were F. B. Cannock, the inventor of the Simplex, and H. B. Coles, general manager of the company. The Wyanoak makes a fine display of gelatin prints for lobby work, showing some of the Quo Vadis work and much theatrical stufif. They were up and ready at the opening. Right next to the booth of The Moving Picture World, a Bausch & Lomb show a general line of lenses and stereopticons, but their most attractive exhibits are two machines more or less closely related. The first of these is a double dissolving Balopticon with a moving picture head. Through the use of a reflector, the light of the projection lantern can be instantly shunted over to the lower stereopticon instead of moving the entire lamp. The arrangement for accomplishing this is simple and effective. A most important point is that this device permits the use of two sets of condensers, instead of requiring the stereopticon side to get along with the condensers best suited to the projection head. Any standard head can be fitted without being sent to the factory. Still more unique is the Universal Balopticon with a projection head. In this form, the throwing of a lever and tilting the lamp-house diverts the light from the projection machine into the stereopticon overhead. A table below the mirror enables the operator to project any printed or written matter. Glass emergency slides are done away with as any matter on any opaque or transparent base may be projected through this machine with equal ease. Considering the universal usefulness of the machine, the price, $375, which includes an Edison or Power's projection head, is very low. The entire exhibit is worthy of attention, but these two machines should not be overlooked. "Frames that last" is the slogan at the booth of the Theater Specialty Manufacturing Co., facing the main entrance to the left. Substantial construction is a fad with G. W. Armstrong, and yet he offers his frames at most attractive prices. Some styles of frame construction require the use of some soft wood, but Mr. Armstrong will have none of these. He uses only hard woods and 22-gauge brass, and yet he offers frames as low as five and six dollars. His regular line starts at about seven dollars and runs up, but not so very far, at that. He makes everything, from half-sheet frames up, to say nothing of combinations, and one of his most useful numbers is a frame holding two one-sheets, one above the other, with an opening in the center for an announcement card or the usual run of strips supplied by the advertising companies. All backs are compo board, strongly and scientifically braced, and not even the three and eight-sheet frames will warp. Mr. Armstrong is in charge of the exhibit himself, and his enthusiasm and sincerity have made him many friends with the exhibitors. One of the ticket-handling devices that is attracting attention is the pedal machine of the Automatic Ticket Selling and Cash Register Machine Company. E. S. Bowman, local manager, is in charge, with D. Harold Finkelstein, state manager, to help him out. The machine sets flush with the ticket desk, save for a set of pins which extend about a quarter of an inch above the shelf. Pressure on the proper pin will set the machine to deliver from one to five tickets, and a pressure of the foot upon a pedal delivers the tickets while the cashier is making the change. As many sorts of tickets may be sold as desired, and a correct register is kept of each sort under a locked plate. A large number of sales have been made during the exposition. The Bell & Howell Company are showing several new model machines. A rapid perforator has been sold to the Kinemacolor Company, to be delivered Monday, and they are showing a continuous printer that overcomes the slippage that has brought this type of printer into bad odor. In place of the adjustable light, or the use of ground glasses, the light' is adjusted to the negative in hand by a slot device that may be opened or closed, as the negative may be dense or thin. They also show a camera that is a departure from all models.. Instead of focusing on the film, the lens is thrown over to a focusing device at the side where the focus is obtained on a ground glass, the lens, of which there are several mounted on a circular-turned plate, being then thrown back to the camera. Where very exact registration is required, as in close-up work, the camera may be shoved over in focusing and returned to the exact position occupied by the focusing device. The light traps of the magazine are automatically opened by the closing of the camera, this and the arrangement of the aperture plate doing away with much of the friction provocative of static. Another interesting feature is an automatic dissolving device, whereby the shutter, instead of the diaphragm, is opened and closed to obtain the effect. It requires no attention from the operator, as it automatically stops when the shutter is either completely closed or opened. The blades of the shutter can be set from the outside of the camera and at any time. The magazines will carry from two to four hundred feet. Of course, every new model is the last word in projection machines, but Eric Morrison is showing the "next word" in his 1924 Model Standard, which will be placed in the market in the fall or early winter. All of the bearing points are provided with ball bearings and the lamp-house is a delight to the operator. It is provided with a friction drive motor and the condenser lenses may be focussed the same as the projection lens. The base is exceptionally heavy, doing away with the need for elaborate anchoring, and the entire machine is dolled up with brass trim that makes it look like the star locomotive on the limited. It is pretty enough to go in a glass case, but looks are merely incidental to efficiency. The magazines will hold 2.000 feet of film. Over at the Radium Gold. Fibre Screen booth they are bragging that they have the only daylight screen that is being used for projection purposes in the brilliantly-lighted hall. A stereopticon keeps a picture on the screen and tiie picture keeps the crowd around the booth. They supplied the screen to the General Film Theater, where it is to be seen in operation all day. The one thing that can make the Wurlitzer organ weary is the Yerkes bells mounted on the balcony railing and operated from a booth close to the entrance. Next exposition, it is rumored, they are going to put all the musical instruments in a special The Amateur Contest. J. B. Smith, Oldest Cameraman. Frank Manning, The Man Who Laughs. Bernard Corbett.