Theatre Design & Technology - Oct 1970 - 30

dents. There they have become so selfprotective in their design that you get into
steel fire curtains and, in some theatres,
firemen actually stationed within the proscenium arch ready to turn on the fire
hoses. We could get to that point if we're
not careful.
We need to educate those in the schools
and universities, and those in the scenic
artist and stage hand unions as to the requirements of the Code. We need to foster
education in other organizations, such as
the American Educational Theatre Association. We need to work with the National
Electrical Code, the National Fire Protection
Association, the Nationill Safety Council,
and the American Association of Insurance
Underwriters. These organizations outside
of the theatrical field train and teach the
requirements of the Code in other industries. We as an industry organization can
take it upon ourselves to do the same.

INADEQUACIES
OF THE CODE
Clarence Tsung

duration type load, not continuous 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week. Most of the loads I
have surveyed rarely exceed a half hour's
duration.
The National Electrical Code has no definite regulation on this. Does the engineer
want to play it safe? If he does, he can
wind up with huge main feeders, and this
involves much time, money, and valuable
space. And reasonable engineering analyses
can be made which can redo whole banks
of conduits, cables, etc.
Thirdly, there is the question of dimmers.
The present Code of 1969 does not even
list the very popular silicone contour rectifier, or SCR dimmer. The word "reostat"
is used for a dimming device, which takes
us back to 1920.
The important point on SCR dimmers,
however, is that they must be dealt with
carefully, in terms of electrical circuits.
They involve the so-called "chopped wave"
concept. Once you chop the wave off the
front, you wind up with a lot of high frequency harmonics, which interfere with
audio-visual systems used in recording and
in sophisticated opera houses and symphony
halls. This is a very vital subject: how do
we reduce the electro-magnetic interferences produced by these SCR devices?

Syska & Hennessy, Inc.,
Engineers, New York

There are several solutions. One can use
a steel conduit, avoid florescent lighting,
and avoid some forms of arc lamps. So
much for the interference question.

ver the years the Electric Code has
been periodically revised. Committee
members are carefully appointed, I assume,
and draft revisions have been reviewed
and voted upon every three years or so.
Still, the Code leaves a lot to be desired.

I also want to point out with reference
to the manufacturers of stage plugs that
you hardly see a clean one these days. It's
all trapped dirt, and they are very difficult
to clean. This is the type of thing which
should be considered in this industry. How
do we govern this type of thing?

Article 520 covers many areas. For the
benefit of those who don't have a copy of
the Code, it covers dramatic, operatic, and
motion picture theatres, and also night
clubs, dance halls, armories, sporting arenas,
bowling alleys, public auditoriums, tel evision
studios and any other space used for public
assembly. What a coverage. Yet there are
only four pages of coverage in the Electrical Code. I believe a special article should
be provided in the Electrical Code for the
present day performing arts type of theatre.
They are usually sophisticated and consume
far more electric power than any of the
other types.
I have only a very few items I want to
talk about with which we are perhaps not
fully familiar. Electrical grounding is the
first item of which we must be aware.
There is no specific requirement for good
grounding in theatres (especially for portable equipment, which is generally considered to be the mC;.5t hazardous). except
perhaps in areas where the National Electric
Code has initiated the concept of the groundfour indicator, normally abbreviated GFI.
Secondly, the electric load in a performing arts theatre is more or less a short-

The last item involves architectu reo Perhaps architects will resent extras hanging
around the theatre, but we can compromise.
But how are emergency lighting and power
to be designed in a theatre? How do you
handle emergency lighting at the top of a
fifty story building, or a theatre restaurant?
I just want to throw these out for discussion.

Clarence mentioned one section of about
five and one-half pages in his infamous red
book, that deals with theatres. A small part
of those pages deals with lighting equipment. None of it is rei evant.
The following items are some of those
that are not mentioned at all: spotlights,
follow spots, connector strips, electronic
control systems, hatch panels, the newer
type of carbon arc, and xenon arcs. The
words do not even appear, nor is there any
discussion or sensible guideline as to their
use.
The lighting units which are mentioned
are border lights, foot lights, proscenium
side lights, and bunch lights.
Probably only half of us even know what
some of those are. Bunch lights are not
even listed in anybody's catalogs anymore,
and I don't remember the last time we even
saw proscenium side lights.
There is no mention in the Code of the
newer types of cables. It doesn't mention
connector strips or outlet boxes, which are
used constantly throughout the theatre as
well as in auditoriums where the public
safety is di rectly involved. (We long ago
forgot about the actor's safety.)
I was asked to talk about the restrictions
the Code places upon designers, but it's
not that it restricts us particularly so much
as the fact that it just doesn't say anything.
Possibly its major use is that it says so
little. The only time it causes trouble is
when somebody says, "Wait a minute, you're
calling for something that I not only don't
know about, but I can't even find in the
Code. How can you say use a connector
strip when they don't even say anything
about it in the Code?"
Another little pet peeve is the limitation
on branch circuits. They have lately come
up to 20 amp circuits in the National Code,
but the city code is still at fifteen. That has
to do primarily with border-light circuiting,
which can be gotten around. No where does
the Code tell you what a branch circuit is
for individual outlets. I fail to see any logic
to limiting the branch circuits in those
cases. I see no logic in restricting the size
of a branch circuit if the line, plug, receptacle, wiring, and ci rcuit protection are adequate.
One can go around in circles trying to
find something in the Code to tell an engineer that it is legal to use 20 amp branch
circuits.

THE CODE IS FIFTY
YEARS OBSOLETE
Charles Levy,
Lighting Designer,
David A. Mintz, Inc., New York
e all agree that the Code is fifty years
out of date at a minimum. And possibly
more in some cases. Everybody agrees that
it must be revised, and that it shou Id have
been revised long ago.

Further, the Code says almost nothing.

All over the city and all over the country,
there are 20 amp branch circuits in use by
the thousands and millions. Maybe you can
convince the inspector that you're going to
plug in an electric range and you'll get a
20 amp appliance circuit. You can say,
facetiously, well it looks like a spot light
but it really cooks hamburgers.
The Code is completely out of date, and
everybody agrees that it must be changed.
Hopefully, this is the beginning of such
change.

@ITO THEATER DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY

OCTOBER,1970

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