KODAK KODASCOPE Model B 1926, 16-mm, silent projector.
Yes, I said this motion picture projector was made in 1926.
I refinished this cabinet with 6 coats of finger-tip rubbed varnish, with application of “0000” steel wool between coats. The top, not well shown here, has four pieces of matched veneer and a Japan black dart located at the top center. Believe it or not such a machine sat in a public library. It is called the “library model” and I think it sold for $500 in 1926. This “Cadillac” has an automatic threading feature!
One day I’ll find the built-in screen for private viewing that I am missing. It is equipped with both a very short and a standard “throw” lens.
Here it sits waiting for the user to spool up 600-foot reels. Notice a pair of chrome-plated jaws on the take-up reel awaiting the arrival of the film. There is a second pair of chrome-plated jaws surrounding the body of the film path. The first step is to close the rear pair of jaws. The loose start end (‘feeder”) of the film is urged into one spot and then it gets grabbed by the one and only sprocket. Soon thereafter a trip lever mechanically senses that the film has automatically “caught” securely on the (lower) take-up reel, then both pairs of chrome-plated jaws are automatically urged to spring open. Oh, the way things were once conjured by engineers and made by our craftsmen! The Bell & Howell auto-load mechanisms of the 60’s are junk –genuine film eaters — compared to this machine!
The large disk that supports the KODASCOPE MODEL B logo is functional. It conceals a large rotating wheel to which is fastened a perpendicular rim through which is located a slot that allow light to impinge on the film once per revolution of the rotating slot. While a given frame is momentarily stationary, the light strikes this particular frame twice to fool the viewer’s brain to suppose there are twice as many independent frames available per second as there than actually are.
Said another way, a given frame is parked — not moving — while the slot make a full revolution and allows light to hit again that same frame for a second time! Of course, the same end result could be achieved with use of a 12000-foot reel of film instead of a 600-foot reel, and then each frame would only need to be illuminated once. Yes, but that is a pricey solution!
That’s right: every frame is actually projected and seen twice, to do combat with our physiological persistence of vision. Our eye can discern if something changes too infrequently. If the picture changes (or seems to change!) more often than 30 times per second, the motion appears on the screen without interruption. It is fluid motion. Truly, all our senses lie to us all the time; and, sadly, we believe them!
