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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), Specto and Sakurascope

Ensign

     The Ensign was made in single, double and triple-gauge versions. These shots are of 16mm machines. They're very solidly-built and seem well engineered, but I have no real experience of using them.

Siemens

These 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 following review from  Movie Maker). 

More conventional machines with a claw were also produced, at least in single-gauge models. Right is a 9.5/16 beater, left an 8mm claw. Although it is missing in the opened-up machine, top right, 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).

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.

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