Showmen's Trade Review (Oct-Dec 1944)

70 SHOWMEN'S TRADE REVIEW November 4, 1944 Among the features incorporated in the Wenzel "SMOOTH RUNNING" rear shutter assembly is the simplified one-piece bracket, and a Gate-Opening device of novel construction that locks the gate in position no matter what degree of wear on any of the other parts. Just one of the many items illustrated in our complete parts catalog. Send for yours today. Write to Dept. S-ll giving name of dealer who serva you. BURN EVERY INCH OF EVERY CARBON Cut carbon costs 10 to 25% by using Droll Processed Carbons. Simply place the pure copper sleeve on the female end of the drilled carbon; dip the male end of the other carbon in Droll carbon weld cement; insert in the copper sleeve and press firmly together. A permanent, solid weld and perfect electrical contact are effected almost instantly. Joint and sleeve are consumed without altering the light color or intensity. You can't tell on the screen when they are burning through. No hand feeding necessary! Here at last is a continuous carbon trim. Chicago theatres alone effect a saving of $50,000 annually by using Droll Processed Carbons. Available only for the following high intensify trims: Negatives 6 mm. X 9" 7 mm. X 9" Positives 7 mm. X 12" x 14" 8 mm. X 12" x 14" and 13.6-mm. x 22" (machined for adapters) providing 20 minutes more burning time. Order today. Shipped f.o.b. Chicago at regular carbon list prices plus $1 per hundred for milling, drilling and clips; less 5% 10 days. Welding cement accompanies all first orders. More supplied without cost as requested. DROLL THEATRE SUPPLY CO. 351 East Ohio Street Chicago, IN. Television Remains In Speculative Stage-SMPE (Continued from Page 59) facturers have little idea as to just how or when this new art will become a generally used supplement to the standard home radio receiver or theatre. Ralph B. Austrian, executive vice-president of RKO Television Corp., read a paper, "Some Economic Aspects of Theatre Television," in which he pointed out that theatre box-offices can outbid any commercial advertiser's television appropriation for the right to televise entertainment. But while his listeners agreed on this point, there was apparent disagreement on the practical aspects of the case, for when it comes to televising other than outstanding news or sporting events, Broadway plays or symphony concerts, the result on a theatre screen, even with projection perfection, remains just a moving picture which will always be in competition with Hollywood studio facilities for production and presentation. Broadway plays presently reach hinterland theatres via Hollywood with scope of presentation anJ scene which the stage cannot duplicate because of limitations. A telecast of a Broadway play via the screen without benefit of the personal appearance of the cast would, in the opinion of most showmen, prove displeasing to general audiences. There was further agreement with Mr. Austrian's prediction that showmen will eventually be faced with the need to provide their own agencies for the production and distribution of telecast programs, particularly in the special events field, just as the motion picture newsreels today operate independently of other news-gathering agencies. D. W. Epstein of the RCA Research Laboratory, Princeton, New Jersey, presented a paper on "Projection Television" dealing with the results of scientific experiments which he and I. G. Maloff are conducting. Projection television, which is simply the projection on to viewing screen of the picture originating on a cathode-ray tube seems, at present, to be the most practical means of producing large television pictures. The two basic problems of projection television vigorously attacked over a period of years in wrhich the progress made toward their solution has been very satisfactory are: Problem (1) has been solved largely by the development of cathode-ray tubes capable of operating at high voltages. Problem (2) has been solved by the development of a Reflective Optical System about 6 to 7 times more efficient than a good F:2 refractive lens. The reflective optical system consists of a spherical front face mirror and an aspherical correcting lens. A handicap of this optical system, for use in a home projection receiver was the high cost of the Three scientists of the Eastman Kodak Company honored by the SMPE as recipients of the society's annual Journal Award. Certificates were presented by Herbert Griffin (left) to John I. Crabtree, George T. Eaton, and Lowell E. Muehler (reading left to right), co-authors of the paper, at the society's semi-annual dinner-dance at the Hotel Pennsylvania, in New York. PROGRESS MEDAL AWARD, annual presentation of SMPE for outstanding achievement, is presented to John G. Capstaff (right), research scientist of Eastman Kodak, by Herbert Griffin, SMPE president, for pioneer work in color photography. aspherical lens. This has been overcome by the development of machines for making aspherical molds and by the development of a process for molding aspherical lenses from plastics. RCA reflective optical systems are designed for projection at a fixed throw and require cathode-ray tubes with face-curvatures fixed in relation to the curvature of the mirrors in the system. A number of such systems, suitable for projecting television pictures with diagonals ranging from 25 inches to 25 feet, have been developed. 70 Mile Per Hour Film Speed Complete and direct representation on film of ultra high-speed action that is invisible to the human eye is made possible by a new motion picture camera which takes 8000 pictures per second on film traveling through the camera at approximately 70 miles an hour. This new aid to industrial engineering, laboratory research, and education, by means of which the actual time of an action can be "magnified" up to 500 times, was described by Howard J. Smith, of the Bell Telephone Laboratories. Mr. Smith pointed out that the picture-taking speed of the new device, known as the Fastax Camera, compares with a maximum of 400 pictures per second for the conventional start-stop mechanisms of intermittent type motion picture cameras, and said that it is unusual for the latter type to run much above 128 pictures per second. Action photographed at high speed and reproduced at low speed, he explained, is retarded or "magnified" by the ratio of these two speeds. Thus, if pictures taken at a rate of 8000 per second are projected on a screen at a rate of 16 per second, a time "magnification" of 500 to 1 is obtained. The solution of many problems in mechanics, optics, and lighting which made possible the development were described in Mr. Smith's paper. A substantial number of these cameras are now in active use, he said, in industry, scientific research, and in various branches of the Armed Services. Giant Screen for Gunners By means of motion picture training films and film slide materials, it was reported by Major Howard A. Gray, assistant chief of the Training Aids Division of the Army Air Corps, it has been found possible to train unselected groups of military personnel to recognize and accurately identify enemy military and naval equipment within a fraction of a second of exposure of the picture. Major Gray described the Waller Gunnery Trainer which has a concave projection screen about 52 feet in base diameter and 27 feet high. Images of the attacking fighters are projected on the screen by five projectors. Four Trainees sit in gun turrets 20 feet from the screen and practice aiming.