The Moving picture world (April 1922)

April 29, 1922 MOVING PICTURE WORLD 973 PROJECTION #2 F. H. RICHARDSON From Bloomfield, Iowa Bruce B. Watts, projectionist, Wishard Theatre, Bloomfield, Iowa, writes : Have seen several photos and descriptions of projection rooms in our department recently, so here are a few which I believe will compare favorably with those of other theatres in towns the size of Bloomfield — population 2,500. The room was originally sheet metal on angle irons, but later was lined with cement on metal lath. Floor is cement, covered with linoleum. We project a twelve-foot picture at sixtyfive feet. Have a double arc thirty-five ampere G. E. motor generator set, as is shown in Figure 2. The switchboard above M. G. set controls the house lights, as well as the lights of the projection room. Above this is the field rheostat and a double throw switch, which latter changes from M. G. set to straight A. C. from power line, through rheostats, in case M. G. set fails, though in the year and a half we have had the generator we have not found it necessary to use the emergency set. The Work Bench Figure 3 shows the work-bench, with drill press, tool case, vise and typewriter. The case contains a good assortment of drills, taps and dies, wrenches, screw-drivers, punches, etc. The two push-buttons at extreme lower left corner connect with an electric change-over device, the mechanism of which is shown in Figure 4. The device Is worked from either projecting position. "While crude in construction, it is nevertheless very quick and positive in its action. Figure 5 shows the motor-driven rewind constructed from Simplex magazines. It rewinds 1,000 feet of film in eight minutes and stops automatically. . Just beyond it is the film cabinet and the main switch box, and just below the switch Notice to All PRESSURE on our columns Is such that published replies to questions cannot be guaranteed under two or three weeks. If quick action is desired remit four cents, stamps, and we will send carbon copy of department reply as soon as written. For special replies by mail on matters which, for any reason, cannot be replied to through our department remit one dollar. THE LENS CHART Are You Working by "Guess" or Do You Employ Up-to-Date Methods? You demand that your employer keep his equipment in good order and up to date. He owes it both to himself and to you to do so, but you owe it to him to keep abreast with the times in knowledge and in your methods. The lens chart (two in one, 11x17 inches, on heavy paper for framing) is in successful use by hundreds of progressive projectionists. "Don't guess." Do your work RIGHT. Price, fifty cents, stamps. Address Moving Picture World, either 516 Fifth Avenue, New York City, or 28 East Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, 111. box is an 18-inch fan which forces fresh air in from out-of-doors. The air is removed from the room through a twenty-four-inch pipe through the ceiling. Mounted on the left side of the right-hand lamphouse is a small auxiliary lamphouse containing a 400 watt mazda, which is used to project colored light through a stereopticon lens for lighting the stage. Have also used this lamp successfully for projecting a deep color into the motion picture. In this way I am able to get some very pleasant effects, though it is necessary to select colors carefully. We also have a curtain over the screen, which same separates in the center. It is controlled from the projection room. I have a Handbook, set of Hawkins and a set of Croft's Practical Electricity. In addition to these I read our department every week. You Are Correct When I was on the Wabash, out of Moberly, I made a good many trips on the "North End," passing through Bloomfield. I remember your town very well. You are correct. Your room, or at least its equipment, would be a credit to a very good theatre in a very good town. The photographs show that you are not working very much by guess and that you are neither too shiftless or too lazy to do something besides what you are absolutely compelled to do to hold your job. Wish we had more of your sort. I don't believe in a man doing two men's work. I don't believe in a man being projectionist, bill poster, janitor and errand boy. Neither do I have any use for the man who shirks everything he possibly can shirk — the man who not only does not want to do two men's work, but does not even want to do one man's work. And, believe me, there are quite a few of them in projection rooms. Also there are (more shame to them) quite a few so-called unions which encourage exactly that sort of thing, though thanks be they are relatively few in number. I am a firm believer in the man who, while he refuses to be unjustly imposed upon by an employer, still gives all there is in him during the time he works. Your rewinder being geared down to rewind ILLUSTRATIONS ONE AND TWO Views of the projection room of Wishard Theatre, Bloomfield, Iowa. At left, Projectionist Watts and his battery of Simplexes. motor generator set and switchboard At right,