Theatre Design & Technology - May 1965 - 26

control system, and the mere provi sion of a
master control for the rehearsal controllers is
generally not sufficient for continued execution
of the light plot.

_essential design. Further, the machine may be
programmed to compensate for changed conditions during the performance such as the ambient
light in autdoor theatres.

Measures of accuracy and reliability in the reproduction of lighting need to be standardized. Is
a system acceptable in which backlash in the
controllers
makes meaningless a difference
of one half scale division? Are thirty steps (as
are common in punch card infinite preset systems) adequate for the reproduction of dimmer
levels initially established on controls having
more dimming steps? Questions such as these
must be answered if meaningful comparisons between control systems are to be made.

Anyone who has ever set the cue sheets for a
production becomes aware that many of the operations are rendered pointless by revisions during
the rehearsal period. These operations arose in
the set-up of cues which have since been altered,
but because the time and effort required to completely revise the cue sheets is so great, these
now pointless actions remain to exact time which
the operator could better spend on other duties.
A machine could be made to remove these cues
and compensate for their removal throughout the
performance.

Finally, the control system should be capable of
communicating to the operator the optimum sequence of switching and division of intensity
control among individual controls, sub-masters
and master for most efficient utilization of the
machine. Thi s capabi lity should make possible
the most complex effects with a given machine
or, stated another way, should make possible a
simpler machine requiring fewer operators and
leaving the operators free to concentrate on other
aspects of the producti on wi thout sacr ifi ci ng
flexibility and reliability. Use of circuits to determine the optimum usage of the machine need
not freeze that operation. During the performance
the machine may constantly assess the consequences of each operator or machine operotion,
whether originally intended or a deviation, and

This image of the lighting control system is
related to a continuously-programmed computer
capable not of human thought, but of relieving
the operator of much of the routine mental
activity which interferes with thought. It is only
as the machine takes over those functions which
do not require human intervention that lighting
can achieve its maximum potential. Clearly the
machine envisioned is extremely complex and
correspondingly expensive, requiring constant
supervision by a maintenance engineer. Such a
machine may not be practical at the present time.
It is, however, only by holding in our minds an
ideal toward which we strive that we give direction to the piecemeal development of lighting
control systems. In determining the characteri stics of a system which seems ideal, we may
hasten the time when that machine, with its human operators, will be a reality in our theatre.

indicate the necessary changes in switching,
dimmer level and so on required to maintain the

Recent Patents
3,092,876
MOVABLE LIVE AUDIENCE AUDITORIUM
Sol Comberg, 240 Central Park 5., New York 19, N.Y.
Filed June IS, 1960, Ser. No. 36,427
7 Claims. (CI. 20-1.12)
6. A movable live audience auditorium comprising first,
second and third platforms, rows of chair means fixedly
secured On said platforms, said chair means being spaced
to form an aisle on said platforms, collapsible leg means
On some of said platforms, the leg means on said third
platform being longer than the leg means on said second
platform, the leg means on said second platform being
longer than the leg means on said first platform, means
alon&c edges of said platforms selectively releasably interlocking said edges of said platforms so as to prevent any
relative movement between said platforms in a direction
normal to the interlocking edges in a horiz.ontal plane,

.
foldaway walls abutting the periphery of said platforms,
and a grid-like ceiling comprised of separate abuUina
panels supported by said walls.

3.152,766
LIGHTING DEVICE
Joseph Wetzel, 108 Ave. Denfer! Rochereau, Paris,
France, assignor of one-balf to Anciens Etablissements
Tuzet, Paris, France, a societe anonyme
Filed Jan. 31, 1962, Su. No. 170,207
Claims priorit)', application France, Feb. 3, 1961,
851,582, Patent 1,287,572
Z Claims. (CI. 240-46.29)

,--

I. In an incandescent lighting device including a support housing, an elongated light bulb having a borizontal
axis and mounted in said housing for projecting a beam of
light, reflector means positioned in said housing behind
said light bulb in spaced parallel relation to said horizontal axis of the bulb, and light blocking means in front
of said bulb including a pair of substantially identical
semi--eylindrical shutters in spaced parallel relation to
said horizontal axis of the bulb and having adjacent vertical edges, said shutters being slidably mounted On a
single horizontal axis in said housing for movement toward and away from each other so as to define an adjustable slit opening between the adjacent vertical edges for
permitting the passage of said beam of light in conforman~ with the size of said slit opening.

I OSITT

THEATRE DESIGN AND ITCHNOllKlY

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