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TOY PROJECTORS

 

 

This page has an alphabetical listing of those I have come across or people have kindly sent - thanks to them all.
                                                                 

If you are big into "toy" projectors/film viewers, Trevor Adams site http://www.filmstips.com is the place to go.

Ace

This is a complete, working Ace. I have placed a small tranny in the resistance case to provide power for a 12v 10w QI lamp, but left the resistance in place in case anyone should want to convert back. I have also carried an earth connection thru the resistance and onto the projector, bearing in mind the invariable rule that you cannot trust old wiring too far. It all works fine, but I wouldn't want anyone using a thing like this for anything other than demo purposes.

Alef

        A toy 9.5 Alef from Dave Humphrey. See also the Alef page.

Astor

 

               

These pix above are from Trevor Adams. Never heard of this one before, but it's a beaut, more like an editor/viewer than a projector.

This Astor (tho' who knows if it is at all connected to the Astor company of the Cine-Viser?) has the added advantage of demonstrating one of the finest examples of bodgery in its class, with an attempt to fit sprockets using Meccano (TM) etc. (Actually, better executed it might even have worked.) Note how the retaining rollers are held - TIGHT - against the sprockets (if one can call them that), by a single spring for both sprockets! The Super Arms are missing but you can see where they would have fitted and the drive pulley for the take-up. Being a classy machine, it would have had a condenser lens (removable like B&H and so, naturally, removed from this one). The chitterling picture shows that, although there is a bit of casting right where the hole would be for a rear-mounted lamp as in the Bingoscope and Hunter versions (see below), this has not been bored and we have instead a lamp mounted on the side. I even have some Astor instructions, which show clearly how this variant lamp arrangement has simply been added to the basic drawing, as well as some Bingoscope instructions ( I simply have not been able to make out what the word was under a particularly awkward blob on the copy (see 6th pic below, RH column. Anybody know?)

                                   

Bing

I have been taking a closer look at the Bing. The first four pix are courtesy Bob Andrews. You can see just how basic the mech is. At the top, a spindle with a metal strip that bends up and swings out of the way to insert a film. This enters and leaves the gate by way of the curved parts you can see protruding from the front of the gate. A simple bookleaf/spring arrangement allows the gate to pivot open. A single point claw, the small eccentric driven by the big gear. Note the slot where the claw arm pivots on the centre of this gear, providing in and out movement. The take-up is on the front of the big gear, giving ample opportunities for oil transfer. A tiny bulb, a fixed lens, so no focussing. Most especially, no shutter! The mind boggles. The last three pix are courtesy Trevor Adams in NZ - I didn't even realise there WAS a clockwork Bing! The mech looks even more basic - no big gear! Where do all these collectors dig them up? I suppose they spend all their time on the internet and at car boot sales instead of keeping web sites up to date.

                                    

Bingoscope

               I found a Bingoscope lurking. You don't have to look that closely to see it's the same as the Hunter (or vice versa), whatever the label says. I wonder if there was a Gamages version? Has anyone got a machine of the same pattern but yet another badge? Middle is another minor variant.

                       

Here is a Hunter, basically just a toy machine. As you can see, it's in pretty good shape. Except that it isn't, as the un-doctored photo shows. It's so easy to do this sort of thing today. There is another very much like it, called an Astor (see above) and there may be more; it seems to have been a badge engineering or supermarket own brand approach.   Below is an article on the Bingoscope machines from the New Zealand cine collectors' club mag.

                  

Found I had these pix of a Bingoscope variant. I don't know where I got them; I suspect Trevor Adams,

as it's like one in the above article he sent me.

 

 

               

 

What strikes me is that it looks very like the Coronet (see first pic under Coronet and Dekko below)

only more elegant because of the nicely rounded look.

 

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Cinette

          The Cinette 16 was spotted at Argenteuil; the second pic is one that appeared on eBay.

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Coronet and Dekko

All but the 2nd 3rd and 5th of these are in Son (ugh!) of Gallery but are repeated here. The first I have been told is a Coronet, the second and third are, obviously, the fourth could be a Dekko (or perhaps not - I have since found an ACW ad) and the fifth is (I think the back is meant to be that colour!), with its a slightly more advanced cousin at 6.

                                             

I actually ran some film thru the first Coronet, using a 12v 10w QI lamp. Very dim picture, and the take-up kept pulling the film out of rack, there being not even the slight restraint such as is offered by the sprung guide of a basic Baby.

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Delta/Homray

This is all I have on this machine. Note the change of company name (and base price).

 

 

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 Excel

     The Excel looks like it have the evil auto-threading and/or lack of sprockets.

Among the stuff Trevor Adams has sent me are pix of a very posh (relative to other models) Excel, the Excel 77.

 

       

 

Note that you only get a single sprocket, but above the gate you get a springy thing, which presumably takes

some of the "snatch" out of the top feed.

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Kid

I have been partially dismantling a Kid. Here are some pix for you, plus a complete one, wiv Super arms but no motor; the little black box holds a tranny for a 12v 10w QI lamp.

                      

I can't make up my mind whether to be impressed by the ingenuity that packs claw, shutter and notching mechanism into such a tiny space, or appalled at what a nasty little thing it is, wondering how Pathescope dared to inflict such a thing on an unsuspecting public at such an outrageous price (55/- (£2.75), for a few sheets of pressed tinplate).

The big issue, of course, is that gate; it don't open. Even Pathescope saw the problem and introduced the Imp - essentially, the same again but with a tilt-back lamphouse like the Baby/Home Movie. This feature must have been responsible for so many scratched films, and yet, and yet.....a vigorously wielded gate brush, with the notching device engaged so the claw is withdrawn, could have done so much. But Joe public don't do proper maintenance. The construction is an odd mix of labour-intensive, with lots of nuts and bolts, and flimsy - the notching mech involves very light springs and thin flexible strips. As ever, of course, it was taken far beyond any reasonable compass for a sprocketless machine by the addition of Super Arms - think what havoc that pull on the film against the claw must have wrought. Here also is a much better pic from David Richardson, of a French Kid. The ads look better, too.

           

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Movie Viewer

         An odd little item from Trevor Adams. Imaginative name.

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Piccolo

Dave Humphrey has sent some pix of a very neat little Piccolo. He says that thing on the top of the gate

is a springy guide, presumably to take some of the strain of the lack of top sprocket.

 

       

 

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PPC

Dave Richardson sent these pix of "The World's Smallest Cine Projector" and the first cutting.The 2nd cutting was sent in by Dave Humphrey.

                          

Got some additional pix from the New Zealand branch of the hobby, courtesy Trevor Adams. These are from their mag.

Some time later, I discovered an ad in ACW Jan 1935.

 

           

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Princess

                         

                                                   

I don't think one can class the Princess anywhere but the toy category. The second row is a series of pix I took mainly to study

how the motor fits - my Princess is hand-cranked. Note, however, the case, which I have not seen before. It's actually very

tricky to figure out precisely how the machine goes in once you have taken it out. Note also the pukka tranny - presumably

the little encapsulated one was obviously not man enough once the motor was added. Not that the motor itself was

man enough - I hear reports it struggles to do the job. Thanks to Dave Humphrey for bringing it along to let me photograph it.

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Radex

Dave Richardson sent this ad for the Radex. Anyone for a hot bath?

 

      

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  Ray

First time I've come across an ad for this. I might have known Trevor Adams in NZ would have one;

here it is, plus another ad he found.

 

                         

 

Mikael Barnard has acquired a couple of Ray machines, which show interesting (to a certain kind of mind!) variations.

 

                               

 

This first one is like the one Trevor Adams has. The tranny is brown and is labelled "3/5/8V. 0.1 AMP", which

I guess would just flood the screen with light. Wiring the 3 outputs in various combinations gives the various voltages,

tho' as it is also labelled 200 - 250 Volts these must be pretty approximate. The maker's plate is a printed metal job.

Note the  neat, chemically-blackened interior components, with a reciprocating shutter (The similar-looking Bing

has no shutter).

 

 

                                       

 

In a bit more detail, here is what I assume to be a later model. The base is now wooden but, as it has eg slots for the

back plate to fit into, is presumably original. The "maker's plate" is now a stick-on paper thing, tho' it is red and we do get a red

flash on the flywheel (the addition of colour is a bit like a "go-faster" stripe on a modern car). The internal blackening

is gone, tho' the brass is not unappealing. I have shown the reciprocating shutter in both up and down positions. Note

the addition of velvet pads above and below the gate; scratching must have been bad without it if they went to

the trouble. The tranny is now black and now says 200 - 250v and 6v 0.8w, a veritable searchlight by comparison

with the earlier model.

 

The spool-holding arrangements seem to be designed for 60ft reels/cassettes; the 30-footer looks uncomfortable.

The older model has a spring on the retaining arm; the later one doesn't, tho' this could have been lost, but does

have an added retaining thing at the top of the back plate. Perhaps spring-loading did not work well with open

reels, as it would be pressing on the film, maybe scratching it, maybe catching on the reel. I can't figure the rewind.

There is a blind hole in the back of the plate the reel sits against. I could see this working with one of those cassette

rewinding doovers, pushed thru the core of a cassette, engaging the cassette's slot and riding in the blind hole. Except

the cassette has to be mounted the wrong way round for that to work. I fear we may have to break with all

established practice and consult the instructions. Anyone got some?

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Triplico/Peerless

This week's mystery object is:-

               

My theory is that, if I can find a way of putting it together with the various bits shown in the pix below, I shall get a projector.

           

 

And I was right. It is a Peerless 9.5. Almost exactly the same machine was also sold as the Triplico, in two models, the Junior

for 9.5 only and the Senior for 8 & 16 as well. I have no decent pix of the tri-gauge Triplico, which seems to have a much

more enclosed mechanism, but is otherwise the same. Any good pix or a decent copy/scan of instructions would be most

welcome. Here it is after re-assembly from bits and a bit of tidying up.

 

                       

 

I actually got it working finally, but it was a bit of a struggle, and the pic was poor and lacking focus.  The mech would barely

fit back into the body without jamming up and the pic was out of focus across the screen, both due I suspect to Mazac distortion.

The other big problem was that only one of the sprockets had a rim. Whether I put the non-rimmed one top or bottom it caused problems

as the film just wandered off the sprockets. The sprocket was actually about 14mm wide, and the film retaining rollers just sat on it,

doing nothing to guide the film. Because of the width of the sprocket, washers would not work so I came up with the approach illustrated.

The brass bits on the top sprocket fit round and over the edges of the sprocket. Being slightly greater diameter than the sprocket, they

guide both the film and the retaining rollers and correct the problem. Framing is a bit by lever but the rest by rotating the bottom

sprocket until the limited range of the lever can come into play.

 

I have a lot more to say about this but I am, you will be glad to hear, keeping it for a special piece (see Detailing a Projector). 

You might care to note the generic motor, like ones used by Specto and others.

 

Here are an ad and a sort of review from ACW for December 1936

 

               

 

The same ad also refers to the SP Wundatone, a 16mm sound machine with intermittent sprocket. I had part of one once, many, many

years ago,  but not the skill to do anything with it. Then another ad, from 1941, when the name had changed, and an extract from the

 general ACW review of 8mm projectors reproduced in the 8mm section.

 

 

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