Part 39

“The early films were in very short lengths,” continued the manufacturer. “The average was from twenty to seventy-five feet. A hundred-foot film was considered extra long. They were mostly comic and not educational. The vast possibilities of the film had not yet dawned upon the pioneers. They aimed only to get a laugh with a crude comic picture.

“But those with more foresight realized that the film had come to stay. So the advancement began. Today the public is always looking toward something better. It has been educated up to an exceedingly high standard. The average spectator today can see a defect in an exhibited film as quickly as an expert.

“Machines in the early days were very crude, permitting only short films, which were an endless belt. They were threaded over spools contained in a box at the rear end of the lamphouse, passing over the lamphouse to the head of the machine; thence down through the head, past the projection aperture and back to the spools. This exposed the film at all times, which was extremely dangerous. About 1900, longer films came into use, which necessitated a change in handling. At the machine head, the film was piled on the floor. This being dangerous and destructive, a receptacle was devised and fastened to the frame below the reel, into which the film passed. This soon gave way to a reel known as the take-up reel, which received the film after it had passed from the upper reel through the head and before the aperture, where it was projected on the screen.

“These are a few steps in the march towards improvement. My first machine was called the ‘Peerlesscope.’ I kept continually improving it, and in 1902 changed the name to ‘Cameragraph;’ my latest machine, No. 6B, possesses every known device for safety--fire-shutters, which automatically cut off the film from the rays of the lamp while motionless; film-shields, which enclose and protect the film; fire-valves, which prevent entrance of flame into magazines; the loop-setter, which prevents breakage of the film while in motion, etc.”

Concerning projection, this manufacturer said: “Pictures cannot succeed without perfect projection, resulting in absolutely clear, flickerless pictures. The longer the period of rest of each picture on the screen, the better the detail and the clearer the picture. This I accomplished by means of an intermittent movement.

“You know that in projecting pictures the motion in the film is not continuous in front of the aperture of the machine head, each picture pausing long enough for proper projection on the screen. Through this intermittent movement I obtain a longer period of rest for each picture, which accomplishes perfect projection of pictures without flicker.

“A very annoying feature until recently has been the losing of the lower film loop, due to poor patching of the film, tearing of the perforations in the films, etc., causing the film to jump the lower sprocket, with the probable tearing and re-adjustment of the film. This I overcame with my loop-setter invention. To explain briefly--

“As the full movement at the upper and lower reel is continuous, while at the aperture it is intermittent, a loop is necessary as a feeder for the take-up or the lower sprocket. If this loop is lost, the film becomes taut, the machine stops and the film may break. The loop-setter instantly readjusts this loop automatically, keeping it always in force.”

The taking of pictures is, of course, one of the interesting phases of the business from a popular standpoint. Here we find not only large sums invested but the action, setting, plots--in fact, the entire order of pulsating life and convincing reality that give to motion pictures their remarkable hold upon the public. In vying with each other to make the most attractive films possible, the concerns in this end of the industry engage the most talented players, who are transported on long journeys so that the settings may be realistically satisfactory; while often the company includes not only two-footed actors, but horses, one or two clever dogs and sometimes a trained bear and other animals, besides all of which there is usually an array of “properties” that far exceeds in quantity and variety the list of such appurtenances carried by the average stock theatrical company or theater of the ordinary kind.

Then, too, there is the presentation of the pictures, where we find another vast outlay of money in land, buildings and equipment. And, remember, the matter of taking and presenting the pictures must not be considered only from the amusement standpoint. Motion pictures are being employed more and more every day for educational and industrial purposes.

The Story of Leather[70]

We all know that leather is the skins of animals, dressed and prepared for our use by tanning, or some other process, which preserves them from rotting and renders them pliable and tough.

The larger and heavier skins, such as those of buffaloes, bulls, oxen, horses and cows, are called “hides;” while those of the smaller animals, such as calves, sheep, pigs and goats, are called “skins.”

The tanning of raw hides taken from animals is an ancient trade. The bark of trees made into a liquor has been used for centuries in treating practically all kinds of hides.

The oak, fir, hemlock and sumach are the most familiar of the many trees from which “tannin” is obtained for this purpose.

The cow hide is used practically altogether for sole leather and is bark tanned in the majority of cases. After the hide is taken from the animal it is either dry cured, or else salted green, and packed for shipment or storage.

The first process of preparing sole leather is to cut these hides in half or sides. The sides are then run through lime vats for the purpose of loosening the hair. They are then run through the unhairing machine, in which large rollers remove the hair.

From the unhairing machine the hides pass to a fleshing machine, which cuts away all the flesh or fat on the hide. They are then trimmed and scraped by hand, after which the real tanning process begins.

The old method of tanning leather was in large vats, which were filled alternately with tan bark and hides, then filled with water and allowed to soak for a period of eight to nine months before the tanning process was complete. The extract of bark in liquor form is used today by all large tanneries.

After the hides have been all prepared for tanning they are hung on rockers in the tanning vats, where they are kept in motion both day and night so that all parts of every hide are equally tanned. They are changed from time to time from weaker into stronger liquor until the tanning process is complete.

All sole leather is filled more or less to make it wear the better.

The drying process comes next. The hides are all hung in a dry loft, where artificial heat of different temperatures is used until they are thoroughly dry. The drying of the hide is as important as the tanning. Hides that are dried too quickly become brittle, so that great care must be taken in this drying process. Even the weather conditions play an important part.

After the hides are thoroughly dried they are then oiled and ironed by large rollers having several hundred pounds pressure. This gives the grain side of the leather a finished appearance and also serves to press the leather together compactly.

Before this leather can be cut into sole leather it has to be again dried and properly edged to secure the best results.

Bark-tanned leather that is used for upper stock in shoes is tanned practically the same way as the bark sole leather, except lighter hides are used and the finishing processes are of a nature to make it softer and smoother.

The above tannage is what is called vegetable tannage. There is also a tannage made from minerals that is called chrome. This is used mostly in tanning soft, glovey upper leather, which when finished makes a very tough yet soft and pliable leather for footwear.

Ninety to one hundred days are required to tan bark leathers, while the chrome tannage is very quick and on the average requires only about three weeks.

The brilliant smooth surface of patent, enameled, lacquered, varnished or japanned leather is due to the mode of finishing by stretching the tanned hides on wooden frames and applying successive coats of varnish, each coat being dried and rubbed smooth with pumice stone. There is also a process called “tawing,” which is employed chiefly in the preparation of the skins of sheep, lambs, goats and kids. In this process the skins are steeped in a bath of alum, salt and other substances, and they are also sometimes soaked in fish-oil. The more delicate leathers are treated in this manner, those especially which are used for wash-leathers, kid gloves, etc.

In currying leather for shoes the leather is first soaked in water until it is thoroughly wet; then the flesh side is shaved to a proper surface with a knife of peculiar construction, rectangular in form with two handles and a double edge. The leather is then thrown into the water again, scoured upon a stone till the white substance called “bloom” is forced out, then rubbed with a greasy substance and hung up to dry. When thoroughly dry it is grained with a toothed instrument on the flesh side and bruised on the grain or hair side for the purpose of softening the leather. A further process of paring and graining makes it ready for waxing or coloring, in which oil and lampblack are used on the flesh side. It is then sized, dried and tallowed. In the process the leather is made smooth, lustrous, supple and waterproof.

* * * * *

What is a “Glass Snake”?

“Glass snake” is the name which has been given to a lizard resembling a serpent in form and reaching a length of three feet.

The joints of the tail are not connected by caudal muscles, hence it is extremely brittle, and one or more of the joints break off when the animal is even slightly irritated.

The Story in Diamond-Cutting[71]

Diamonds were known and worn as jewels (in the rough) in India 5,000 years ago and used as cutters and gravers 3,000 years ago. India was the source of supply until diamonds were discovered in Brazil about the year 1700, when Brazil became the largest producer and remained so until diamonds were found in South Africa about 1869. The African mines now produce four-fifths of the diamond supply. Previous to the discoveries in Africa, diamonds were known to originally come only from high places in the mountains, because the diamond deposits were found in India and Brazil, on high plateaus, on the sides of mountains, in the beds of mountain streams, and in the plains below; where mountain torrents had rolled them.

In Africa, for the first time, the true original home of the diamond was found at high levels in the mountains, in enormous fissures, open chasms, chimneys or pipes, extending to great and unknown depths. Into these immense chimneys, nature forced from subterranean sources, slow rivers of a peculiar blue clay, a diamondiferous earth termed “serpentine breccia” or “volcanic tuf” and now known by the latter-day name of “Kimberlite.” As this soft mixture oozed into the “chimneys” or “pipes” from the bottom, it was gradually forced upwards, filling the whole chasm from wall to wall and to the top, where its progress ended by hardening in a small mound ten to twelve feet higher than the surrounding surface.

In this blue clay or Kimberlite in these chimneys, is found nature’s most wonderful creation, the diamond crystallized from pure carbon, in intense heat, and under titanic pressure.

The greatest mines of Africa are the Jagersfontein, Wesselton, Premier and Robert Victor. The Kimberlite of the Jagersfontein mine is free from pyrites, and to that is attributed the remarkable brilliancy and purity of color for which the diamonds of this mine are celebrated. Their color includes the blue, and they command the highest prices of any diamonds.

The Wesselton mine crystals are noted for their octahedra and purity. The color and brilliancy are so superior that nearly all fine white “Rivers” are rated as Wesseltons. The Robert Victor yields a big average of fine white stones, and many of the crystals are very perfect and beautiful. The Dutoitspan diamonds mostly show color, but many are “fancy” and demand a high price. The Bulfontein crystals are usually small white octahedras of very good color, but many are flawed. The De Beers stones are good white, some color, some broken crystals and smoky stones. The Kimberly diamonds are much the same as those from the De Beers mine. The Premier is the largest diamond mine in the world. Of its diamonds some have an oily lustre and are quite blue--many are of the finest quality and color. This mine also produces a large number of “false color” stones which change color in different lights. The Voorspoed and the Koffyfontein produce fair white and some colored diamonds.

Diamonds in small quantities are also found in Borneo, British and Dutch Guiana, Australia, Sumatra, China and the United States.

One of the largest diamonds known (weight 367 carats) was found in Borneo about a century ago, and belongs to the Rajah of Mattan. One of the most celebrated is the Koh-i-noor (Mountain of Light), belonging to the British crown. It weighed originally nearly 800 carats, but by subsequent recuttings has been reduced to 103-3/4 carats. The Orloff diamond, belonging to the Emperor of Russia, weighs 195 carats; the Pitt diamond, among the French crown jewels, 136-1/2. The former, which came from India, has been thought to have originally formed part of the Koh-i-noor stone. The largest Brazilian diamond weighed 254-1/2 carats and was cut to a brilliant of 125. Some of the South African diamonds are also very large, one being found in 1893 weighing 971 carats, or nearly half a pound. More recently a much larger one has been found, weighing 3,034 carats. This has been cut into eleven pieces, the largest, a drop brilliant, weighing 516-1/2 carats. This, called the Star of South Africa, has been placed in King George’s scepter, and another, of 309-3/16 carats, in his crown.

A rough diamond is a hard-looking, luminous object, somewhat like a piece of alum, with a dull skin, called the “nyf,” over a brilliant body. The ancients wore their diamonds uncut because they could not find a substance that would grind or cut them. About 1,500 years ago, however, it was found that by rubbing or grinding one diamond against another the outer skin could be removed. At Bruges, in 1450, diamonds were first polished with diamond dust. In Holland, in 1700, diamonds were first cut with an idea of bringing out real beauty and brilliance by cutting them square with a large flat table and some small facets, ten in all, sloping to the edge of the square. From this beginning cutters gradually added additional facets to increase the brilliancy until there were thirty-four in all. Then came the English round-cut brilliants with fifty-eight facets, but the diamond was left thick and lumpy, until about seventy-five years ago, when an American cutter, Henry D. Morse, of Boston, developed the cutting of diamonds to its present perfection by fearlessly sacrificing weight to get proportion. This greatly increased the price of diamonds, but enhanced their brilliancy.

All cutters have been compelled to follow this method, and the perfectly cut brilliant of today has a depth from table to culet of six-tenths of the diameter, of which one-third is above the girdle and two-thirds below. In this form the diamond resembles two cones united at their bases, the upper one cut off a short distance from its base, the lower one having its extreme point cut off. It has fifty-eight facets, of which thirty-three, including the table, are above the girdle and twenty-five, including the culet, below the girdle. Stones which are not scientifically cut in this true proportion, if too deep, are called “lumpy,” if too shallow they are called “fish eyes.” A slightly spread stone is desirable, provided it has not lost brilliancy, and so become a “fish eye.” Looking larger than its weight indicates, it offers a larger appearing diamond for the price of a smaller perfectly cut stone. Most cutters remove as little of the rough stone as possible in cutting so as to retain weight (they sell by weight). This often results in the finished diamond being too thick at the girdle, making a lumpy stone. Many people think deep, lumpy stones are most desirable. This is not true, as they are imperfectly cut.

In preparing to cut a diamond the rough crystal is studied until the grain is found. Along the grain another sharp-pointed diamond is ground until there is a V-shape incision or nick. The blunt end of a flat piece of steel is placed in this nick and a smart blow of a hammer divides the crystal evenly and perfectly. After this “cleavage” has removed the unnecessary portions, or they have been sawed off by the use of rapidly-revolving thin wheels charged with diamond dust, the diamond is set in a turning wheel and ground with another diamond until it takes the shape in which we know it.

The fifty-eight facets are cut and polished one at a time on a rapidly-revolving wheel charged with diamond dust and oil. It takes from two and one-half to four days to properly cut a stone. Knife-edge girdle diamonds are impractical owing to the liability of chipping the thin edge in setting or by blows while being worn. Polishing the rough edge of the girdle is rarely done and then usually to conceal a girdle which is too thick or lumpy. The principal diamond cutting centers are Amsterdam, Antwerp and New York.

Inherent flaws can be perfectly understood by imagining a pond of water frozen solidly to its center. At the shore, where the ice has been partly forced out along the banks, it will be full of grass, leaves, pebbles and sticks, and presents a broken and frosted appearance. Further out there are only traces of such débris, some bubbles, spots, etc. Out at the center is clear, transparent, unbroken, unflawed, purest blue-white ice, such as you delight to see in your glass on a hot day. So is it with diamonds; some (like the ice along the shore) are full of cracks, carbon specks, bubbles, clouds, splits and cavities; some have all of these; some only a few; others only one, and some are without flaws.

Of all the imperfections (not considering glaring cracks or nicks), carbon spots are the most discernible. They range from mere specks scarcely visible with a powerful magnifying glass, to large black spots or clusters of large or small black specks sometimes quite plain to the naked eye. These are carbon which failed to crystallize with the rest of the diamond, or intrusions of titanic iron. The blackest and often most numerous carbon specks occur in the finest white and blue-white stones. “Capes” and other yellow diamonds are usually perfect, something in the color of these stones seemingly being of a nature which helps clear and perfect crystallization. Blue-white stones of exceptionally fine color are often massed full of shaggy or jet-black carbon spots.

White specks and bubbles are common flaws, which vary in size and which may be best illustrated by looking at a pane of glass in your window. There you will find small knots, white bubbles and whitish specks. These seldom injure the brilliancy, as they are often a glittering silver color, more brilliant than the diamond.

Clouds are dark flat patches in the grain, of a brownish color, and appear as a sprinkling of dust in a small patch in the interior. This seldom injures brilliancy.

Glessen or glasses are flat sectional streaks having an icy appearance. When large or abundant they disturb or cut off the proper reflection of the interior light rays, causing an appearance known as “shivery.” When clouds or glessen occur at the surface of a diamond they appear as cracks, and if at or near the girdle are dangerous, as the stone is liable to split or crack there when being mounted or by any hard blow, which would result in the loss of a sliver or wedged-shaped piece out of the edge.

Surface flaws consist of nicks or cavities in the face of the stone either above or below the girdle. The brilliancy of the diamond hides these flaws when the diamond is clean, but when clouded with soap and dust these cavities fill up and show plainly.

Diamonds are so brilliant, the radiance from the facets so bewildering to the eye, that the flaws cannot be seen by the human eye unless the imperfection is pronounced and at the top surface of the diamond. Each facet of a diamond (by reason of the method of cutting) is a window looking down a clearly defined walled chamber, like a hall-way to the culet. With a one-inch loup or magnifying glass such as watchmakers and diamond dealers use, it is possible to clearly look down through each facet and its hall-way to the culet, and observe throughout each chamber the very slightest imperfection if one exists, thus thoroughly examining and exploring the entire diamond.

Diamond brilliancy is of two kinds: “surface brilliancy” and “internal brilliancy.” Light falling vertically on a diamond is reflected back in straight, unbroken rays. This constitutes “surface brilliancy.” Light falling in a slanting direction is partly reflected and partly enters the stone; that part which enters is refracted or bent and causes the “internal brilliancy.”

In a perfectly cut diamond, the facets are so carefully arranged that entering rays of light jump from wall to wall of this transparent enclosure and emerge again at the very point of entry. Cleverly arranged mirrors sending a ray of light from one to all the others and back again to the first will produce the same effect. Lights entering a diamond are reflected, refracted and dispersed. The dispersion of a ray of white light separates it into its component color rays. These are the spectrum colors often seen radiating from a diamond. Placing a diamond in the sun’s rays and holding a sheet of white paper at the proper angle to catch the reflections from the stone clearly shows these colors.

Brilliancy is often said to be the most important quality of a diamond, but that is not true. Yellow diamonds are more flashingly brilliant than white stones that cost much more. In each color grade, greater brilliance determines higher value over stones of the same color grade with less brilliancy. The diamond is the hardest known substance in the world, cutting and grinding all other known hard things, but itself only cut and ground by its mates.

Because of their hardness, diamonds worn by many previous generations remain as brilliant as they were in the beginning and they will continue so to the end of time.

No other thing can scratch or mar the polished facets and sharp corners of the diamond. It is the hardest of all known things. While all diamonds are of practically the same hardness, this is not, however, absolutely true, as stones from wet diggings or rivers are slightly harder than those from dry diggings. All diamonds are infusible and unaffected by acids or alkali. The heat of a burning building will not affect them, they can be raked from the ashes uninjured and can only be burned in oxygen under a scientifically produced intense heat of 4000° F. While the hardest known thing, the diamond is brittle and can be crushed to a powder. It is the only absolutely pure gem, being composed of crystallized carbon--all others are composed of two or more elements.