Cinak
These are a couple of much photo-shopped pages from a dodgy original, which cover about all I know of the Cinak.
Cinette
The Cinette is a somewhat unusual entry as it is 16mm rather than 9.5. No details available, I'm afraid, unless anyone can provide.
Cum-O-Graph
Trevor Adams' recent bombardment of me with pix of fascinating projectors began because I queried the name of one of the ones he had sent previously as being unsuitable for a decent, respectable web site. The machine in question was sold by a man called Cummings under the dubious name of Cum-0-Graph. Trev sent the following reminiscence.......... I added the (y).
"In the "old days", kids were encouraged, by certain seed(y?) companies, to become door-to-door salesmen. The company sent you (the kid), a parcel of seed packets which you then sold to long suffering relatives and neighbours. Money received was returned to the parent seed company and as a reward they sent you (the kid), a crystal radio or Daisy BB gun or a book (yuk), or a Cum-O-Graph projector! Although these machines had wee paraffin lamps, Cummings supplied directions for converting them to electricity. The C-O-G came as 28mm or 35mm (don't think you got a choice). Now this form of "reward for services rendered" existed right up into my childhood. I sold my seeds and took a Daisy BB gun as payment though! "
What a great story!
Dekko
Whilst many Dekko projectors were toys, their last one was not. Anyway, the Dekko has its own page.
Delta/Homray
This is all I have on this machine. Note the change of company name (and base price).
Correction:this is all I had on this machine(s). However, I now have one thanks to Peter Ryde of the Lincolnshire Film Archive. I will take pix as soon as I find time to open the box.
OK. Box opened - as I had never come across one at all, I have gone into some detail. First, some general pix.
The first pic shows my various attempts to sort out the electrical side of this this machine. The original resistance can be seen behind the projector (on the right but is not connected here) with the usual resistance slider for motor speed. However, it appears that the lamp was fed direct from the mains, and I have no idea what it might have been. This is especially problematic since it fits head-on to the plane of the film, so a halogen lamp, with the near-opaque seal at the top, is no use as very little light passes through - I have tried, with a 12v tranny in the black box. Does anyone know what the original lamp might have been? The motor, despite have bearings that seem to have collapsed/failed, runs too fast without a resistance. I did try an electronic speed control (in the grey box left of pic), but it did not give dependable or accurate speed control, a problem I have met before - old motors just seem to prefer a resistance. It was at this point I threw in the towel - if I use the resistance, I have no lamp, if I don't I have neither lamp nor motor.
Pix 2 and 3 are further general views, 4 is proof that it is really a Homray. In these 3 pix, the motor had been removed for fettling.
I am not sure what the plain rod emerging from the side is for - I have shown the film looped around it in pic 1 above. I am guessing it may be part of a spring arrangement for stabilising the movement of the film, but I don't know, nor do I know what if any parts may be missing.
I know how fond you are of the inside bits of projectors: thes two pix tell you most of what there is to be known about how the Homray/Delta mech works. The gate has a simple spring that allows it to pivot on the inner edge just enough to get the film in but not really enough for cleaning without taking apart. I can't see how to adjust the shutter, but haven't been able to test it out because I have no workable lamp. The drive to the take-up is tricky; if you don't get it properly on the pulley when re-assembling it's hard to do after. This is not helped by the fact that the length of the drive shaft for the motor drive pulley is of a length that requires the mech to be inserted into its housing at an angle.
EKA made very similar machines in several gauges; the 9.5 one is relatively rare. Below are the green 9.5 and the red 35mm The 35mm doesn't really belong here but it shows the similarity and anyway it is pretty and shiny and red. The last pic is labelled by me EKA 16mm, tho' it says Record on the side. The Instructions it is standing on have the EKA logo however.
Excel
First is a very toy-ish Excel, which look like it have the evil auto-threading or, more likely, a lack of sprockets.
Trevor Adams sent me pix of a shiny red one which looks rather superior. 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. At the other end of the scale is this mucky one. It looks interestingly like the DeVry silent in the 16mm section.
Homray
See Delta above.
Hunter
You have already seen the Astor-badged version of the Bingoscope; here now is the Hunter version and there may be more; it seems to have been a badge engineering or supermarket own brand approach.
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.
Jancolux
The Jancolux is an unusual, Eastern European machine. It is of all-riveted construction, which makes it difficult to work on.The motor is at the back and has a pulley outside the rear of the machine, which in turn drives a larger pulley to drive the mech, the two being (partially) covered by a clip-on cover. The problem with this design of drive is that it involves a long, single shaft, which can readily bend the tiny amount needed to cause it to bind.The modest motor is not able to overcome the extra friction; the Jancolux's performance is thus inferior to its looks. The second is a snatch from eBay I think; black looks better.
Jefe
In my article about toy projectors in Flickers, I showed a picture of a Jefe machine and said I knew nothing else. This is no longer true.
In addition to the original picture in my article, I have inserted a closer view. The rest of the pictures come courtesy of Lluis Argelich. If you have seen the update in Issue 145 of Flickers, you don't need to read this next bit.
Lluis' father, also Lluis Argelich, was a great devotee of 9.5 and supporter of the Spanish 9.5 club. His son naturally joined in as he was growing up and, since the death of Lluis Argelich Senior several years ago, he has maintained his father's collection and continued to support 9.5 activities. Lluis Senior had been a contact of Peter Foreman and had provided him with several Pathé-Baby Espanola catalogues and related publicity material. As is sadly so often the case these days, it was only a recent attempt to renew contacton a specific question that brought news of his death.
Lluis Junior was prompted to send these pictures because the Editor of Flickers had sent him a copy of the Issue in which I had confessed my lamentable ignorance of Jefe projectors. My knowledge is now much improved and I just love the artwork of the adverts. Lluis says that Jefe was a Spanish toy manufacturer established in Valencia; projectors were an obvious addition to their range. The Jefe 1 took only about 9m/30ft of film; the Baby and Super raised this to 15m - all 3 were hand cranked. The Senior was the first to take 100m/300ft, with a motor option. Top of the range was the Lux, similar to the Senior but with a more powerful lamp.
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 Kid 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 prettier French one which hav a resistance in the base.
And if you think you know a real loopy UK cinéaste, think again -the really strange one lives in France. Dino Everett found this Krazy Kid on offer on eBay......
LaPierre
I've never had one of these until very recently (2018); I think they look kinda cute, tho' they clearly belong in the toy category.
Now I do have some, an RL 52-C and an L60. I have actually run a film thru the LaPierre RL 52-C. What I thought was an ominously-loud clattering from the mech turned out to be the operation of a Maltese cross type intermittent. I had not actually had my hands on one of these before so hadn't realised this. It should mean that at least some of the risks of sprocketless machines are reduced as there is no claw to punch holes or tear film - a sprocket has a much greater wraparound and can keep the picture steady despite the pull of the take-up. For what it is, the film transport mech seems quite good, tho' noisy - the Maltese cross is of course external and not in an oil-bath. I do not know if the lamp is original - it looks like a standard bayonet cap candle bulb - but anyway, the light output is atrocious, tho' the pic as I have suggested is quite steady. I wonder what a 12v 50w dichroic could do ........ You'd probably have to replace the lens as well which, realistically, means a new lens-holder, too.
Mirage (9.5)
I don't need to do this one as it's covered at http://pierreg.free.fr/cine95/mater/projo/mirage.htm.
Movie Viewer
Imaginatively named machine(?) from Trevor Adams
Mynette
This Mynette looks an awful lot like a Ray - or vice versa. Not sure either is wholly different from the Bing either.
Piccolo
Dave Humphrey has sent some pix of a very neat little Piccolo (green). 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. Looks rather like the EKA above?
My own Piccolo (brown) is muckier than Dave's. Aren't they actually supposed to be Norris's anyway?
Plank
This 16mm says Plank Ozophan on the side but a) looks suspiciously like a Norris and b) has no special arrangements such as one would expect if the machine really was meant to handle the thin, fragile Ozophane film. This was introduced between the wars; I did see a projector at the Buckingham Movie Museum, which had a velvet-lined gate. The film was much thinner than standard stock, much as polyester is thinner than standard 8mm stock. I fear, tho', that Ozophane did not have the same toughness as polyester and it never seems to have caught on. I seem to recall reading somewhere that the system invoved the image being part of the film, not a layer on a base.
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 a couple of ads in ACW 1935.
Radex
Dave Richardson sent this ad for the Radex. Anyone for a relaxing hot bath?
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?