Reel and Slide (Jan-Sep 1919)

REEL and SLIDE 17 Telephone Production Pictured in Its Instructive Detail Design, Manufacture, Working Conditions and Genuine Human Interest All Combined in Series of Films Produced for Western Electric Company By E. J. Clary PROGRESS in things electrical, delineated for the instruction of the general theater-going public, is the theme of a series of multiple reel industrial productions filmed by the Rothacker Film Manufacturing Company for the Western Electric Company. One of these pictures is in three reels and reveals the most interesting phases of the production of modern telephone apparatus at the huge plant of the Western Electric Company at Hawthorne, 111. The name of this picture is, "Telephone Inventors of Today." It is in three reels. If you have never been inside of a telephone laboratory this picture will give you an idea of what is going on there. The first reel shows typical scenes of engineers at work designing and developing apparatus. The second reel shows how some of these developments, when perfected, are applied in actual commercial use in the transmission of intelligence — the telephone selector in dispatching trains, the telegraph printer as it is actually in use between New York and Chicago, and other applications of recent Western Electric developments are featured. The third reel makes public, for the first time, something of the confidential work which electrical engineers did for the government during the war, and which aided so materially the efficiency of the air forces of our army abroad. This picture closes with some stirring scenes filmed at Camp Vail, N. J., produced and shown byspecial permission of the War Department. Another production in two reels is entitled, "Forging the Links of Fellowship." This picture covers the manufacturing end of the company's plant at Hawthorne, with special attention to the departments which produce telephone desk stands and lead-covered telephone cable. Human Interest in the Reels The third production is entitled, "Inside the Big Fence" and is two reels. Interesting closeup views of intricate machinery in operation is featured in this release. A human interest story runs through this production, the opportunity for the bright young high school graduate being the theme. This is also a welfare picture in that it visualizes interestingly the conditions under which the company's workers operate throughout the plant and touches on the recreational facilities offered for employee of both sexes. These four pictures, as a group, are intended to give a bird'seye view of the Western Electric Company, Western Electric people, and Western Electric products. Necessarily, in so extensive a business, only a limited number of subjects could be used as mediums for the telling of this story. However, the company plans to continue the production of such motion pictures as these, as a part of its educational program, and they will be shown throughout the country to employees, in schools and various other educational agencies. It has been the purpose of the Western Electric Company and the Rothacker Studios to make these productions something more than merely advertising films. They are full of human interest and have much instructional value. They are in demand among educational institutions and have likewise enjoyed considerable theater circulation. From them the high school student may get a bird's-eye view of the industry in a manner that is striking and complete. In addition, the films are bein shown widely before the company's employees, at meetings of executives and salesmen. It is calculated that branch office people can get an adequate idea of the magnitude of the Western Electric activities more quickly through the presentation of a series of films than through the written word. The whole plan is a broad campaign of education, for the benefit of the company's employees and for the general public as well. The telephone picture, above all, is worthy of study. This subject lends itself admirably to visualization. While everybody uses the telephone, very few know anything about its inner workings or the size of the industry which makes its general use possible at a small price. Thf demand for this picture has been great. All of this group of Western Electric pictures were produced under the supervision of Mr. P. C. Tobin of the Rothacker staff. Some of the scenes were made in the Rothacker Studios in Chicago, while the greater part of the factory scenes were taken at the Hawthorne plant. Nearly all the leading manufacturers of electrical equipment have found motion pictures of value in transferring their message to the public and the technical man. The Western Company, however, has apparently been more consistent in covering the subject from a variety of angles. One Much-Mooted Question Westinghouse owns a number of reels showing electrical kitchen appliances as well as the electrification of the Pennsylvania Railway in New Jersey. The General Electric Company also has gone in for films. Their pictures, however, tend to show the uses of electrical appliances rather than their manufacture, and this raises_ an interesting and important point in screen publicity: Is the visual demonstration of the application of a finished product more effective as a medium than the processes of its production ? There seems to be great variety of opinion on this subject. Much undoubtedly depends upon the product — and the factory. Showing the use of the telephone, for instance, would be merely picturing something concerning which every one is familiar. Depicting the production of the telephone "behind the scenes," as it were, would probably hold the attention of the average man. By introducing the human interest subject of workers' welfare in their picture, "Inside the Big Fence," a purely industrial series has been flavored cleverly with the elements of the purely entertainment reel. After considerable use of films, the company seems to be more than ever determined to utilize them permanently as a means for publicity and educational work. On the front cover page of this issue a scene from "Forging the Links of Fellowship" is reproduced. Visualizing life in Ocean's Depths (Continued from page 15) a porthole which gives him vision, and carefully insulated electric wires and switches inside by means of which he stops and starts his motors. These motors are specially constructed by the largest electrical company in the world and run in water under pressure almost as well as electric motors in street cars. All of the equipment is fully protected from water pressure and of a type upon which the operator can fully depend. By means of the drilling equipment on the Schneider-Lipski monitor, a great number of cables can be attached to a sunken ship in a comparatively short time, from four days to three weeks, depending upon the size of the vessel. The upper ends of these cables are strung around the raft at the surface. The weight of these cables is about all the raft has to carry. It is not required to sustain the weight of the sunken ship. When all the cables have been attached, collapsible buoyancy pontoons made out of heavy canvas and steel are sunk, usually 100 feet down, and are there attached to coupling blocks which are strung along the cables every 100 feet or so. The pontoons are then filled with air. One cubic foot of air will lift in water at least 62^4 pounds of iron. Each Schneider-Lioski pontoon contains 6,500 to 7,000 cubic feet, and when inflated with air under pressure to offset the pressure of the water, has a lifting capacity equal to from 225 to 240 tons on the draw-bar of a locomotive. One hundred and ten of these pontoons will be sufficient to raise the Lusitania, and the work of attaching them can be completed under usual conditions in from three weeks to a month. The pontoons are connected by air lines to compressed air storage tanks on the raft, and these air lines are hooked together so that by turning on valve all of the pontoons can be inflated equally and simultaneously for each 100-foot lift. Should a vessel like the Lusitania be sanded, it is an easy matter to attach additional pontoons. The Schneider-Lipski monitor is capable of withstanding water pressure up to 30,000 pounds per square inch. They protect the diver against all the perils of the deep. Secure within his turret, he can go where he likes and do whatever he wants to. Salvage men and motion picture operators will therefore be able to descend two, three and even five miles into the ocean. The submarine monitor and all of the_ things that go with it to raise ships is the invention of a young Chicagoan, Wm. Schneider, and his collaborator, John J. Lipski. In the Wisconsin Indian schools moving pictures are being shown to" the Indians on such subjects as fence building and clearing land. Interest shown by the audiences changes to joy when a series of slides appears illustrating Indian life from the earliest times until today.