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66
female w.c.'s from the machine room we requested the manager to
construct a screen facing the ventilated lobby. The sound waves
produced in the studio by the singer or orator pass through a square
tapering tube which is inserted in the wall separating the studio from
the recording room. The sound waves are transmitted by special
apparatus on to a waxed plate in the recording machine. The minute
grooves thus formed on the wax plate are then transferred to a copper
plate. The latter is next coated with a metallic preparation, rendering
it very hard. From this pattern plate the ordinary gramophone records
are made. The material used consists of a thin, semi-transparent
sheet, reinforced in the centre with a very fine metallic mesh. Discs
for the gramophone records are cut from this sheet. The copper
pattern record is placed in a machine with the blank gramophone record
upon it. Both are then enclosed between two plates, the upper being
hollow. The plates are then powerfully clamped together and steam
is passed through the upper plate, which softens the gramophone record.
The clamps are then released and the newly-made record is taken out.
It takes ten seconds from the insertion of the blank record until the
completed record is removed from the machine. This record is noninflammable,
quite flexible, and, it is claimed, it is indestructible. No
fewer than 40,000 records can be printed from one pattern plate, and
they are so light that two dozen can be carried with ease.
3. Chemical Manufacturers.
This factory occupies a portion of the above-mentioned foundry
buildings and was recently reconstructed and adapted for its present
purposes. We met with a dry reception. From the smell of the
atmosphere I was able to inform the manager that he manufactured
amyl acetate; he was good enough to add that they made, also, various
essences of a chemical nature. The factory consists of two large
rooms, both well lighted and ventilated. The flooring is of cement,
draining into channels. One w.c. is provided for the nine men
employed, and this is situated in a small chamber opening off the office
rooms. While the w.c. is satisfactory, the linoleum just below the
basin was wet. I have written to H.M. Inspector of Factories drawing
his attention to the unsatisfactory drainage of a section of the flooring
at a point between the two rooms.