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VARIOUS MULTI-GAUGE PROJECTORS

 

 

There are separate pages for Bolex, Heurtier (which includes a short piece on the Cinegel Royale, tho' most is in 9.5 sound),

and for Specto and Sakurascope.

 

Ensign

 

                

The Ensign Universal was made in single, double and triple-gauge versions and seems to have been introduced just before

the war. Presumably production was interrupted quite soon as the factory was turned over to war-related work. The pix

above are of 16mm machines. They're very solidly-built and seem well engineered, but I have no real experience of

using them. Below is an earlier machine.

 

 

        

 

Siemens

The first two shots are of a 16mm Siemens. It has the beater-type mechanism, which naturally lends itself to dual 9.5/16 operation - no need for

complicated claw arrangements. More info in the 16mm silent  section. (For the benefit of newer nerds, a beater mech basically has a shaped pusher,

which hits the lower loop and thereby pulls the film down in the gate. It never really caught on outside the toy arena, tho' the Siemens ones are

reputed to work well - see the review from  Movie Maker).   

 

                               

 

More conventional machines with a claw were also produced, at least in single-gauge models. Pic 5 is a 9.5/16 beater, 6 an 8mm claw.

Although it is missing in the opened-up machine, (pic 1) the Siemens used an interchangeable resistance to match the power supply to

the lamp voltage and wattage, a practice continued in their later sound projectors (16mm only).

 

Another illusion shattered. I got from Bob Andrews the other day a broken "shoe" that is the heart of the Siemens so-called Beta mechanism. Beater is the more usual term, I thought. Anyway, there was me thinking it was a triumph of German engineering 'cos no claw to damage film, but what do I find? A claw, that's

 

                               

 

what. I don't see how you can call a thing with metal pins that go into the perforations anything but a claw; alright, it's a variant, but it's still a claw. And how does it achieve the boasted projection of damaged film? If the perf is missing or enlarged, the shoe will surely slide over the film and maybe cause damage. Here are the pix to show what I mean; a real 9.5/16 dual one (busted) and a pic from a contemporary ad. I shall send a copy of this to the guru of all things Siemens, Ron Ashton, to see if he can come up with a defence. And just for the sake of a place to put it, the later Siemens 2000, with transistor amp.

 

 

Ditmar

 

    

 

Ditmar produced a unique version of the dual-gauge machine. It had twin paths for the film, alongside each other, with a lamp and a lens

that moved across to serve whichever gauge was in use. The picture left (Bob Andrews collection) is most unusual in being in some

snake-skin-like finish; most were black like mine, right (also, but ex, Bob Andrews). 9.5/16 and 8/16 versions were produced. Here are

the instructions (Bob again). The two images, of exactly the same cover, are just to remind you not to trust digital pictures.

 

                              

                             

    

Advertising the Ditmar.

                                       

      

 

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