736 



Popular Science Monthly 



The signaling apparatus is placed in 

 the center of the orchestra wlicre the 

 leader stands. Signals are Hashed on 

 both back and front simultaneously. All 

 signals are in the regular musical terms. 

 In order that the leader and orchestra 

 members shall not be caught unawares 

 l)y a sudden change in music to fit a 

 corresponding change on the screen, a 

 warnijig signal is provided. This con- 

 sists simply of a red light on top of the 

 signal box. The method of controlling 

 the warning liglit is the same as for the 

 other cues. Organ, trumpet or drum can 

 have separate signal lights attached to 

 their music stands. With Mr. Lawton's 

 electrical orchestra director it is possible 

 to alter the music to fit a scene ever\ 

 five seconds. Few scenes are of such 

 short duration as that. 



Ordering Meals Electrically in 

 Quick Lunch Restaurants 



EATING in (luick-lunch res- 

 taurants amidst a l)al)el of 

 discordant sounds from crashing 

 tlishes and shouts from 

 frenzied waiters is a torture 

 about to be eliminated. An 

 electrical system of ordering 

 for lunchrooms, clubs, res- 

 taurants and iiotcls has been 

 devised. When an order is 

 given the 

 waiter will go 

 to one or 

 more sending 

 stations con- 

 \- e n i e n 1 1 >• 

 placed and 

 there pusii a 

 button which 

 will (jjK'rate 

 an annuncia- 

 tor installi'd 

 in the kitch- 

 en and teJl 

 the kitchen 

 hands just 

 what food is 

 wanted. 



The send- 

 ing station 

 consists of a 

 metal panel 

 carrying a 

 number of 



Press thr "Folk uikI Ucmis" l>iiltun iind 

 the "Pork nml Beans" liRht flashes up in 

 the kitchen. Thus you can now order 

 your own meal in n certain CliicnKO lunch- 

 room, or u waiter can order it noiselessly 



electrical push-buttons. Over each 

 button is a name-plate into which can 

 be placed a celluloid strip on which is 

 written the particular dish which the 

 l)ush-button is to represent. 



From the sending stations cables are 

 brought into the kitchen to form electri- 

 cal connection between the push-buttons 

 and the receiving station which is in the 

 form of a cabinet, the front face of 

 which contains as many electrically- 

 operated indicators as there arc push- 

 buttons in each sending station. Each 

 time the waiters press any of the buttons 

 of the sending stations, the correspond- 

 ing indicators in the kitchen register the 

 number of orders for each dish, the in- 

 dicators advancing one number each 

 time the buttons are depressed. 



As long as 

 any orders 

 remain un- 

 filled for any 

 of the dishes 

 indicated on 

 ilie receiv- 

 ing station 

 panel, a tiny 

 red light 

 Hashesat the 

 lower left- 

 hand corner 

 of each unit. 

 .\s the or- 

 ders are 

 filled and 

 passed out 

 1(1 tlu' dining-room or 

 unchroom, the cooks 

 press the correspond- 

 ing push-buttons once 

 for each dish, and the 

 r(d light disappears. 



The operating cur- 

 rent is supplied by a 

 storage battery. Two 

 batteries arc inslallid: 

 while one is serving 

 the system, the other 

 is being charged. 



As many as one hun- 

 dred i)ush-buttons can 

 be arr.nigi-d on a panel 

 of a sending station 

 where the list of dishes 

 on the menu is vcr\ 

 \'aried and ex(ensi\e. 



