Moving Picture World (Jan-Jun 1910)

THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD this country, I believe. Verj Few i ■ and i i and ire the most commonly in um-. * * * Answers to the "Hard One." A couple of weeks ago I passed a "Hard One" up to our readers and here are two replies: Woodclifl on Hudson, W. W. Madison, writes: "'1 was <;i 1 1 11 1 mi to examine a machine in the South which showed a trouble similar to the one described and you may tins solution tn our Iowa brother. I found the shutter just screwed barely taut to the beveled near shaft. I found that while it felt ti^ht it really slipped back and forth on the -haft, l have also found that some telescope lens lubes will slide in ami out, thus producing a blur on the screen. 1 have also known the lens to be loose in its holder .aid teeter from the vibration of the machine. How would some "i our friends like to hear some of the hair-raising epi -ode a crank twirler has bumped into in thirteen and a half years' ro.ul experience— and still alive?" It does not -rem to me that any of the above offers adequate explanation of Iowa's trouble. Slipping of the lens tube throws the whole picture out of focus until it is remedied. Slipping of the shutter would produce travel ghost and teetering of the lens would produce vibration on the screen, fowa's trouble was a blurring of any figure when it moved, it being again clear the instant it was stationary. Xo doubt the editor of The World would a~">reciate the experiences you mention if properly detailed. That, you realize, would hardly come in my department. Rock Springs, Wyo., Mr. Thos. Berta, writes: "I think Iowa must be in error in his statement of the case, when he says the figures blur only when in motion. I had a similar trouble and if he will watch closely he will. I think, find his picture becomes blurred and clear and blurred and clear in ession. The film really seems to bulge in and out in front of the aperture. But there must be some cans' ' Mosl likely it is getting service from a distance and leaving the film in a hot room or where the sun shines on it, thus causing it to dry and shrink abnormally. The best remedy I have found is to place the film in a ti<_jht box with damp cloths under it for a time, of course not allowing the film to touch the wet cloths." The above explanation is unique anyhow and not so unreasonable at that. But should Iowa try moistening his films he must be very careful not to overdo it, since should the film yet too wet the emulsion will stick to the back of the film. Many thanks to Brothers Madison and Berta for their letters. furnished the abo ditions < ould be maintain* "The apparent dying down and flashing up of the ' tioned by Mt Ri ator to maintain an al minute. The \\ ilkesb u r< Probli m could 1 1 uly, "Atchinson, Kan., April 7, 1910." WILKESBARRE PROBLEM SOLVED. By F. H. Richardson. A week or two ago I submitted a problem, inviting our readers to try their hand, or brain, at evolving a solution. Mr. O. C. Miller. Atchison. Kan.; Mr. A. W. Crowe. Watertown, S. D.. and Mr. Chas. Young, Chicago, have sent in correct solutions, one of which is appended in full. As I stated the problem, the crank speed at which the phenomenon became apparent was practically 80 oer minute. Mr. Miller very properly points out that I probably made an error in measuring the speed. I did not! But it does not follow that because you are told that current is "60 cycle" it is exactly that. It may be a little more or a little less, usually more. The dynamo may be running a trifle over speed or under speed and this will account for the apparent discrepancy. The Solution. "Allow me to present the following solution of the '\\ 'ilkesbarre Problem." on page 561. of The Moving Picture World, of April 0. which, in my estimation, is purely mathematical and mechanical: "If a three-blade shutter intercepts the line of light three times for each intermittent movement of the film, and there are 16 movements per revolution of the crank, and 7; (not evolutions per minute, we will have 3 X 16 X75 = 3,6oo times per minute that the line of light is cut off. "With 60 cycle a. c. we have 60 reverses of current per second, or 60X60 = 3,600 periods per minute during which there is no current pressure between the carbon points and. consequently, no light production. "Hence, if an exact speed of 75 revolutions per minute could be maintained, and the position of the shutter be such that the line of light was unobstructed at the instant the current was reversing, the screen would be practically dark, even though a first class arc be burning in the lamphouse. On the other hand, if the machine should be advanced or retarded 1-96 of a revolution, and an exact soeed of 75 revolutions per minute could be maintained, a normal flow of light would result. "With a machine driven at 7? revolutions per minute by the same line shaft that propelled the a. c. generator which OPERATOR GETS INTO TROUBLE FOR TAMPERING WITH FIRE SHIELD. The pervertive attitude of thi spondent towards the motion picture is again evidei copy of the Cleveland "Plaindealer" to hand. column records a near panic in a church by a small "Singer's Hat Burns," and in the next column, makes capital out of a trivial incident 111 Keith's Hipp by -ear. headings: "Fire Panic Averted by I Film Explodes— Moving Picture Operator Burned V Fighting Flames." Then follows the usual garble paper account which contradicts itself. Our Cleveland representative, who happened to 1" in the house, has furnished us with an accurate account would not mention the incident at all if it were not t the wrong impression created and point to the source of the trouble as a warning to other operators. The Hippodrome is probably the largest theater of it kind in the United States, with the exception of it patroi Xew York, and at the time of the accident to the film I wen over j. 500 in the audience. The entire equipment 0 Hippodrome 1 of the best, so also is the operatii used in connection with the projecting of motion It is the finest booth that we have ever had occasion to and is built entirely of steel, the floor of the same b covered with rubber mats. It is a very spacious booth, and will easily accommodate four persons, and is rigged machine-, and they are always set up when pict jected. The doors of the booth are drop doors, this in case of tn-e. and the ventilation system used in the bootl perfect. In case of a lire, all that would be necessary for an operator to do would be to drop the -teel slide in fro the hides, this where the pictures are projected, leave the operating room and drop the entrance door, which v. then confine the fire in the booth and solely to the b and the audience would see neither flames nor smi really would have no chance to know that a fire existed in the operating room. This plainly shows you that Mr. II A. Daniels, manager of Keith's Hippodrome, took all | precaution when he installed the b Let us now offer a few words in rebuttal of the newspaper article referred to. In the first place, there was al no explosion, and why should there be? The film bt the magazines, and the fire was confined to the maga/ We again state there was no explosion. It is just such v cat articles written by an ignorant reporter that tend to blacken the reputation of the house at which the fire place, but it also hurts the motion picture business in general. Again, there was absolutely no panic, for some of the p< really did not know what took place, so quick was the action of the operator and the attendants near the booth. We venture to say that Ks than one hundred people in the audience knew what really had happened. This is a configure. In fact the article itself contradicts the headlines which s'atc there was a "fire panic." In the article thi porter states "others throughout the house were seaaware that anything unusual was happening." The man that shouted "fire" did not finish the word, for he v the chance to yell, as the attendant. Mr. Riley, the usher I quick action with him. We naturally would expect, and one else would, that a woman would set un a commotio! would not expect that from a "man." It could not have a man that yelled "tire." although he may have looked !;ke a man. Mr. Cox who was the operator, i supposed to ki business. ?.nd it was only due to his can diat the a dent occurred. The film destroyed was a Gaumont issue entitled "The Golden Lily" and "Ascending the Jura Mountains," a 1 beautiful film. The Hippodrome is served by thi lore Film and Supply Company, who take special pairthat their films are in prime condition. The machin whicl the film was being projected was a Path. model, latest type, and in the best working order. was not due to any imperfections of the machine, it was not due to weak sprockets, poor patches or any other impc