ROBOT CINEMA

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 December 1934, Page 11

ROBOT CINEMA

RUN BY A SLOT-MACHINE. The automatic cinema is on the way. The idea is to have shilling-in-the-slot box offices—or sixpence or halfcrown, according to the seats; Automatic projection which does away with the cinema operator; A time switch which will cause doors to open and close according to the will of the proprietor, who, in fact, need not go near the cinema except to collect the money. Mr. L. J. Briggs, who has been in the film industry for twenty years, has taken out provisional patents in London for the automatic cinema. This, he says, is the first time the idea has been worked out in detail. He said to a “Sunday Express” representative: “This plan abolishes the bulk of the front staff —box-office girls and attendants. A gate allows one patron through at a time when he or she puts the money in the slot. “When all the geats are full the gate locks itself, lights a sign announcing that fact, and seals the slot so that no more money cap be inserted. “Then when people pass out of the theatre they go through a gate which acts on the entrance gate, switches off the ‘Seats full’ sign, and opens the ; slot. “It is impossible to put other than the correct coins in the slot. “The automatic projector for the film is, I claim, the first practical proposition of its kind. • “Only one projector is needed, and it will run for twenty-four hours a day if necessary, repeating a programme that can vary in duration from ten minutes to three hours. “Three miles of film can be loaded in the one projector—-and when that has been run it all begins again. “Most cinemas use two projectors. “Sometimes a film breaks owing to the strain of passing rapidly through 1 the projector. The great secret of my idea is in the relief of this strain, which becomes no greater than that in a pocket camera. “The flick of an electric switch opens the box-office. The flick of another electric switch starts the projector running. Both the mechanised gate and the automatic projector work continuously till they are switched off. “The cinema owner, sitting in his office, can open his doors and begin his programmes just when he likes; or he can let electric time switches do even that for him.” Tho all-automatic cinema may first be tried as an “all one price” news theatre ip. the West End of London within a few months.