THE MAGIC LANTERN

Waipa Post, Volume XXIV, Issue 1640, 12 May 1925, Page 2

THE MAGIC LANTERN

A development of the optical 'lantern which has been made in the United States bids fair to revolutionise the ordinary method of working this instrument. One of the principal features of the new development is that the rays of light from the lantern do not reach the screen from the front, but from the back. Striking a specially-prepared screen at the proper focus, they form an image which is clear and distinct either in broad daylight or in artificial 'light. Another feature (says Chambers's Journal) is the successful employment of what is called an opaque projector. A page of manuscript or of printed matter, a cutting from a newspaper, a picture post-card, or any other kind of illustration, is placed in the lantern and is immediately thrown on to the screen. It is evident that such an invention is a powerful auxiliary in visual education, and we are informed that it is already in use in over 2000 schools, as well as in the principal colleges, universities, and medical schools of the United States. Many churches, too, we are told, are adopting it for purposes of instruction and entertainment. An interesting development is its use in connection with the Stock Exchange tape or "ticker." The 'long, thin tape recording business transactions on the market is automatically fed into a lantern, which throws the picture of the quotations on to the screen placed on the "floor" of the New York Stock Exchange, and also in some stockbrokers' offices. Hundreds of onlookers can thus see the progress of the market at one and the same time.