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Si Tienes Prisa, Paseme Por Enrisa.

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To the best of my recollection the 13.6 joinable ws only available in the 11 length since 2 joined would be the same as a 22" standard which was about the maximum length that would fit in the lamphouse between the dowser and the arc jaws of the burner

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I don't understand this. I would have thought that the ideal length for a joinable carbon would be the length of a normal, non-joinable one (22"), minus the length of a stub, therefore, something like 18", so that when you join them you get 22". Why were the joinable ones only half the normal length? I can't see why you would want to join two new 11" carbons, why not just buy 22" ones?

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They must have a old stock as I understood the joinable was discontinued some time ago

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As I understand it from Bob and Bernie, there are old stock that was left in the theatre when it was tripled, and xenon converted, in the mid '70s.

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suppose from the name it must have had four atoms of carbon to one of chlorine (or vice-versa?)
Of course its use was prohibited as it was toxic, and was replaced
by tri-chloro-ethylene (?), which I suppose had a 3 to one molecule?

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The carbon tetrachloride molecule has one carbon with 4 Chlorines surrounding it in a cute tetrahedron. Like you say, it used to be like 409 spray cleaner, everywhere & for everything, then it was linked to liver spots in the 70s I think & that was that.

Kodak's got a list of solvents which they've reviewed for cleaning film on their site http://www.kodak.com/US/en/motion/hse/solvent.jhtml
trichloroethane's out now, too. The nice thing about trichlor is shown on the list as its "medium" evaporation rate, meaning you could do a little work with it before it was gone.

You'll also notice that, with only one exception, none of these solvents have water in them. The reason for that water is absorbed into film emulsion, & above 50% RH, it's destructive. The exception in the list is isopropanol, & I guess it's listed because it evaporates so quickly.

Probably the most useful for general availability & general cleaning, & especially in film paths, is naptha, which is so available in big old cans in the paint section of Lowe's or Home Depot near the methanol & paint strippers. Also, naptha is cigarette lighter fluid, available in those little squirt cans at Wal-Mart, etc. But you'll notice it has a low evaporation rate, so if you're in the field cleaning up some film you'll need to go slow so that it evaporates as you proceed. Also bear in mind that if you're cleaning film with these solvents, the lubricant goes with the cleaning, they'll need to be lubricated again, so it's to work with the Johnson's Paste Wax on the edges!

Naptha is great for cleaning gates, sprockets, bands, etc.

When you're looking for a solvent for a job, a great mnemonic for whether you want something soluble in water or not for the job is "like dissolves like". Alcohol doesn't dissolve grease, that's why you use gasoline, naptha, etc. It has to do with polar & nonpolar molecules, which is where it all gets even more exciting, but oops, I see everyone is asleep now.

I believe that the Empire Theatre, Halstead were running the Morganite long feeders with a Tower. They also have a 2nd tower on No 2 spare projector.
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Pete wrote,

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There are two cinemas in the borders, Gretna and Lockerbie that AFAIK are carbon lit. Both run film occasionally, I think they are used for bingo most nights.

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I know the Prize Cinema well, visited Gretna Green many times. In fact I got married there, and did the mock anvil wedding afterwards for tradition and benefit of the tourists! For those who don’t know, Gretna Green, Scotland was famous for young runaway marriages until they were outlawed, I think around the early part of the century, maybe a little later.

This was my 2nd marriage, tragically my first lovely wife died of cancer leaving three children.

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"This was my 2nd marriage, tragically my first lovely wife died of cancer leaving three children."

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I'm very sorry to hear that. My mother and aunt died of cancer, a long time ago. It's not a pleasnt way to go.

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Sorry, there was no intention of inflicting my past sadness onto others. Perhaps it was wrong of me to mention it, in particular off topic! It was purely connected to my story of Gretna.

BTW. I have just remembered that the long feeding carbon lamphouses were the Morgan Auto-Arcs. I don’t know if any were exported outside the UK. Many, like the Peerless were converted to xenon.

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Autoarcs made for one of the worst Xenon covnersions! I've no experience of them as Carbon lamps but as Xenon they were truly dreadful. On most of them it's not possible to adjust the mirror without opening the door, which is not clever! The only decent Xenon autoarc I've ever come across had been converted by mounting the guts of a Kinoton lamphouse inside it, not the usual Thorn E53 conversion. I had the misfortune to run an E53 converted Autoarc on the back of a Westar at the Robins, Dunfermline. The thing was so inneficient that we had to run 2kw on a screen about 8' wide, it ran red hot, bulb life was a joke and worst of all was the dowser that refused to stay open. I had to be very ingenious with elastic bands! Lateron, after the rectifier caught fire, it was relocated to someplace more suitable, a skip behind the building, and was replaced with a Orcon 1000B, which if working well is a cracking little lamphouse.

Bernard, cancer is a terribly cruel disease. I've lost quite a few friends, relations and colleagues to it. No matter how long ago it was, the memories are always with you.

I can't remember where we went now, it was a three or four day trip over Easter. The Lonsdale sounds familiar, I seem to remember it was in two parts, the older one running towers, and the newer one cakestands. Very kind manager, or was he the owner, who gave us each a small package as we left, contained chocolates, I seem to remember.

There was somewhere that had a kalee, one of the newer, normally gold ones, 18 or 20 maybe, but the odd thing was that this one was a strange blueish-green colour. There was another place which had the projector head (Vic 5?) bolted to the wall, instead of being on a pedistal. Thn there was a place which had not shown film for some years, but the machines were still in place, and useable, these had Monarc carbon arcs on them. I seem to remember that this place was a last-minute add-on to our programme.

We stayed at a rather nice hotel in Workington, can't remember the name now.

I seem to remember that one of the organisers of this trip was a young man, who had some involvment with the BBC in that area.

Seem to remember that we also went to a Stan Laurel museum in Ulverston.

Our leader/guide came from a place with a strange name, but I can't remember it now, it's quite well known, and I will probably lay awake all night, trying to think of it.

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Yup the Lonsdale is two buildings, one with 3 screens and towers and the other is two screens with platters. The owner, Alan Towers, is a top bloke, I think it belonged to his father before him. It was ABC originally. Jimmy the chief has worked there since the end of WWII, and is still working, now in his 70's.

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I was in carlisle last year, on one of Hertfordshire Railtours' trips, London, York, just outside Leeds station, Aire valley line, to Settle Junction, then a short berak in Carlisle, before returning to London via Hexam, curve South of Newcasle and East Coast Main Line to King's Cross.

While I was in Carlisle I had a look to see if the cinema was still there, but I couldn't find it. It was pouring with rain at the time, so I didn't spend too long looking, where is it in relation to the station, I will have another look next time I'm there.

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The blue Kalee must be Bowness, as Kendals is gold. I think Jim Schulz repainted the ones he rebuilt a blue colour. The place with the mech bolted on the wall is Zepherylis Stereophonic Cinema in Ambleside. It's a Westar. There is a Vic 8 in the the other screen there. I've no idea where the place with Monarcs is, not come across that.

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I can't remember where the blue Kalee was, I still think of anything that is normally gold, 18, 20, 21 etc., as 'new', and black 8, 11, 12 etc. as 'old' despite the fact that even the newest ones are now 44 years old, just one year less than me.

Yes, it was Zepherylis, I remember the name now, I seem to remember that the Vic 8 was in a very small box, and we couldn't all squeeze in at once.

I can't remember where the old carbon arcs were, it wasn't a cinema, more like a multi-purpose village hall type of place, without fixed seating. It was several years since they had shown any film, they said they might do so again in the future, but if they did, they would probably convert to xenon.

I am no longer a member of the CTA, but do intend to re-join. When I do I will have a look in their archives, ther should be a copy of the tour notes there.

Cumbria seemed to have lots of small independent cinemas at the time, I don't know how many are still there.

One type is illustrated on Fig. 146. The pro-cess of using them is as follows: A cap is slipped on the rear (unburned) end of the stub. The other end of the cap then is shoved into the recess in upper end of handle
c. The end of the stub is then rested on the wooden block, which must be of soft wood to prevent breaking the crater edges, and the upper end of the handle is struck a sharp blow with the palm of the hand. This not only shoves the cap tightly on the carbon end, but clamps it there immovably and in good electrical contact. The handle then is pulled off and the cap inserted in a recess in the end of rod d, and a knurled nut at its bottom is turned clockwise, which clamps the cap tightly into the rod. The rod in turn is inserted into the carbon jaws of the arc lamp. Such devices save as much as 25 per cent of the carbon.
Another way to provide for maximum use of carbons is to use specially processed carbons having a hole drilled into one end, and a pin milled at the other to fit into the hole. When a carbon is burned down several inches, a new carbon can be attached to it by this male-and-female means, the stub forming the tip of the new carbon; and over the joint is placed a copper sleeve, which is com-parable to the regular copper coating and burns away

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I was in carlisle last year, on one of Hertfordshire Railtours' trips, London, York, just outside Leeds station, Aire valley line, to Settle Junction, then a short berak in Carlisle, before returning to London via Hexham, curve South of Newcasle and East Coast Main Line to King's Cross.

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[rant]
Yikes! Did you do that, err, voluntarily? My weekly trips from York to Newcastle are bad enough: the trains are always late, old, dirty, freezing in winter/boiling in summer, full of teenage yobs screaming into mobile 'phones (even in the carriage where you're not supposed to use them), impossible to get any work done in and generally an ordeal. The only reaon I use them at all is because parking is virtually impossible anywhere near our Newcastle office. And then there's the cost - £26 return. I estimate that making the trip by car would cost me £10-12 (taking into account everything - petrol, maintenance costs, insurance, tax and depreciation). If you bear in mind that all motoring costs are taxed to hell and that rail travel is VAT-exempt, then the true cost of making that trip by car is probably around £2-3, i.e. around 10% of doing it by rail.

The prospect of going right round the country in one of those semi-mobile cowsheds is about as attractive to me as being strapped in a chair and made to watch all 67 Nightmare on Elm Street films in succession (or however many there are). And the further you go the more of a ripoff they are: I'm off to visit a friend in Truro next weekend. It would have cost me £120 by train from York and taken nine hours. My Ryanair ticket from Stansted to Newquay cost me £38 return. Even after the costs of getting to and from each airport I anticipate having enough change for a very nice meal, not to mention the enormous time saving.

Rather than let morons like Livingstone persecute taxpaying motorists even more, what the government needs to do is close down all the railways and tarmac them over. That would solve traffic congestion.
[/rant]