This is a film made to promote Reflecting Roadstuds (aka cat’s eyes), invented by Percy Shaw of Halifax. The film demonstrates their great advantages for night driving, how they work, how they are made in Halifax, and how they are installed into roads. Title – The Night Has Eyes Filmed in collaboration with Reflecting Roadstuds Limited Boothtown, Halifax, England by Tele-Screen Service, Leeds and Bradford England. The film begins with a car travelling at night along a country road, which...

This is a film made to promote Reflecting Roadstuds (aka cat’s eyes), invented by Percy Shaw of Halifax. The film demonstrates their great advantages for night driving, how they work, how they are made in Halifax, and how they are installed into roads. Title – The Night Has Eyes Filmed in collaboration with Reflecting Roadstuds Limited Boothtown, Halifax, England by Tele-Screen Service, Leeds and Bradford England. The film begins with a car travelling at night along a country road, which does not have reflecting studs.  The car has an accident, and the road is contrasted with one having reflecting studs, with the narrator asking whether this would have happened if the first road had reflecting studs.  Then a reflecting stud is shown in detail, explaining its parts and how it works. The film then moves to the factory where the studs are made in Halifax, making some 20,000 per week.  The low technology, and quite labour intensive, production process is shown, with workmen pouring molten metal into moulds to make the cast iron cases.  Then on to the rubber part, with raw rubber being pulverised, and having other ingredients added.  This is taken to the rubber mill where more ingredients are added and rolled into sheets to be cut.  This then goes into a hydraulic press to make the inner parts. Then to the reflectors: raw glass is heated to create the small reflectors.  These are inspected and sealed in rubber covers by women at work benches.  Then metal shells go over the covers. These are then inspected and passed over to be inserted into the rubber cases, and then into the cast iron castings, all done by hand.  These are then packed into wooden crates for export, along with a gauge, a handbook and a tool for replacing the inner rubbers. The film moves to a country road where workmen are fixing in the reflectors.  The machine for heating bitumen is shown.  The men measure out where to place the studs with a measuring tape.  They mark the positions, every 4 feet, and dig the holes with a pneumatic cutting tool.  Once the holes are cleaned out and raised to the correct height, the studs are placed in, adjusting to ensure they are level, and filled with bitumen.  It is stated that a gang of four men can lay 200 studs per day, and that these are ready to drive over within 15 minutes.  They usually need to be replaced by 5 years, and one is shown being changed in a simple operation.  These are then tested by having a tank drive over them.  The film finishes with a sequence showing a car driving at night along a country road with the studs.  The narrator explains the merits of the reflecting studs, even when the headlights of another car approaches, and the film comes to an end. End credits Filmed in collaboration with Reflecting Roadstuds Ltd., Boothtown, Halifax, by Tele Screen Service, Leeds, Bradford.