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9.5MM EQUIPMENT CATALOGUE(Pathé, Pathéscope & Pathex apparatus - to 1939) |
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9.5MM EQUIPMENT CATALOGUE(Pathé, Pathéscope & Pathex apparatus - to 1939) |
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PATHÉ-BABY
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* The first 9.5mm cine projector. Made in France by
Continsuza for Pathé. Hand-turned. Launched in the UK in
1923. Sometimes marketed as 'The Pathéscope Home Movie
Projector' in the UK. Used 'notched titles' - a slot in the side of the film, to stop the machine on titles to economise on film. First model accepted 30ft closed cassettes, then 60ft cassettes. Later many accessories were marketed including a 'super attachment' to allow the use of 100metre / 300ft spools. There were also motor attachments, a dynamo, colour wheel, picture enlarger, and a device for making still prints from the films.. The basic projector sold for £5 in 1923, soon raised to £6 with the dropper resistance for UK mains supply an extra 10/-. This did include a heat-proof mat and case though! Various lamps appeared, all with small Pathe 'T' base and fed from an inbuilt dropper resistance in the base for 110 volts with extra UK 230volt external resistance - 6volt (for battery / accumulator); 12volt 0.5amp ; 18-20volt 0.5amp . |
These days an M29 6volt 10watt QI conversion fed from an earthed mains transformer (a 30watt toroid type will fit in the base and can supply 110 volts for the motor too), gives a brighter whiter picture and doesn't burn those still frames!
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PATHÉ-BABY
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* The first truly amateur cine camera in any gauge
(beat Kodak's 16mm by a few months!) Sometimes advertised in UK as 'The Pathescope Hand-Turned Camera'. Film loaded in light tight 'charger' which held about 8.2metres (27ft 6inch) The Baby camera was hand turned, two turns/second was 14fps - the speed Pathé initally intended for 9.5mm filming (later changed to 16fps inline with other gauges). Clockwork attachments were soon offered - the Camo (C.304) and the cheaper, user fitted Motrix (C.307). The basic model cine camera (C.201) was supplied with a f3.5 fixed focus lens at £5, a version with a Zeiss f2.7 lens was available at considerable extra cost (C331) £12. |
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PATHÉ
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* The first Pathé cine camera with integral
clockwork drive. Sometimes advertised as 'The Pathéscope
Home Movie Camera' in the UK. Black leatherette covered
metal case, somewhat larger than the Baby camera and
taking a physically larger film charger known as the 'P'
type, still containing around 8.2metres (27ft 6ins) of
filmstock. The basic model (C.268) had a fixed focus f3.5
lens £10-10/-, models were also offered with Zeiss
Tessar f2.7 (C.277) £18-18/-, and Zeiss Trianar f2.9
(C.277a) £14-14/-. * By 1933 this camera moved a little upmarket and became the 'Luxe' or 'De-Luxe' Motocamera and was also offered with an f2.5 Hermagis focussing lens at £16-16/- this enabled the fitting of a telephoto attachment (costing £3-3/-). Pathéscope soon ran into trouble trying to offer 'retro-fitting' to earlier models. By 1936 this cine camera was offered with variable filming speeds, waist level & direct viewfinder at £22 including the telephoto attachment. (C.318). |
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PATHÉ
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* A totally new design, normally supplied as motor driven as standard, although available as hand-turned to special order. Built-in 'timer' for the stills on 'notched titles' - originally supplied with a 40volt 50watt lamp. The first Pathé projector designed to take the full 300ft (100m) spools as standard. The film gate was originally made of a 'mazak' type casting which nowadays has either distorted or begun to crumble away. By 1933 an improved 'YC' version was offered (P.176) at £30 (very expensive in 1933), which had a proper plated film gate (same as the '200B') and extra cooling (with a larger 200B lamphouse cover). Brighter lamps were offered for the 'YC' model - first the 'S' type 80volt 100watt, and finally the 'SS' lamp 80volt 160watt. Of course these were too powerful for showing the still frames of notched title releases - much confusion occurred with customers burning frames of their (or the film libraries') treasured films. Even the Pathéscope Monthly for June/July 1932 got things wrong in their attempt to explain the finer details of the various lamps! |
Today notched title collectors often fit the A1/220 12volt 50watt QI 'peanut' lamp in the Pathéscope Lux, which gives good results without damaging the film on stills. A suitable transformer can be obtained from scrap Std 8mm machines like the Eumig P8 which will also provide a 110 volt tapping to drive the motor. To preserve the original appearance it is quite easy to build the transformer and switches into the original 'Lux' dropper resistance case. Don't forget the earth!
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PATHÉSCOPE
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* Introduced as a cheaper alternative to the Pathé
Baby projector (the world slump was hitting sales of
luxury goods). A very simple design, hand turned, the
basic version taking only the 30ft and 60ft 9.5mm closed
cassettes, although a British made 'super attachment'
(P.201) for the larger 300ft (100m) spools did appear in
November 1932. Whilst the lamp and optics were similar to
the Baby, the simple gate was non-opening, making
cleaning difficult and leading to scratched films! UK
examples are labelled Pathéscope and usually marked
'Made in England', actually at Salford, Manchester
probably mostly from French made parts. (With just a
warehouse and office facility at 5 Lisle Street, off
Leicester Square, London - the UK Pathéscope company had
opened a factory and film laboratory in North London at
Cricklewood by 1930 and began film printing and assembly
/ manufacture of selected products in the UK) (See October 1930 Pathéscope Monthly magazine) |
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PATHÉ
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* By now the world slump had begun to bite - hence here was a cheaper version of the motocamera, with a simple black finished metal body. This also accepted the 'P' film charger. Sold as the 'Mondial B' in France. Advertised as an ideal Christmas gift in the UK Pathéscope house magazine 'Pathéscope Monthly' for December 1932 - it was fitted with an f3.5 fixed focus lens, and priced at £6-6/- (£6.30). |
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PATHÉSCOPE
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* The first 'proper' 9.5mm projector marketed by the Pathé organisation. With sprocket feed and take-up, integral variable speed series wound motor and a 200watt 110volt fan-cooled lamp as standard it was cabable of good results on a large screen. Basic price was £15, dropper resistance or transformer extra of course! Variations were offered with a 50volt lamp and motor for running off a transformer and another with 240 volt (mains voltage) motor and 250 watt 240 volt lamp. Designed and manufactured in the UK, it was marketed in France as the model 'B'. Examples turn up with lenses marked 'Made in France'. A range of Dallmeyer projection lenses was also available. (see ACW Dec 1950 for '200B Update') * The 200B was dropped from Pathéscope catalogues for a year or so, then re-appeared in 1939 with a flourish as a dual 9.5mm/16mm machine the '200B Plus'. Spool spindles and sprockets were changed and the gate ingeniously had two openings, one for each gauge. The picture mask also provided a framing control and a simple motor clutch (by lifting the drive belt off the motor pulley) provided stills facility. A pair of arm extenders provided the option of 900ft spool capacity. The main target was the education market which had already begun to use visual aids. The war seems to have curtailed production of this improved version of the 200B which didn't reach France.. |
This was the first machine from the Pathé organisation that was unable to show still pictures and hence spelt the end for these notched title releases (at least in the UK - Pathé in France continued issuing many films with notched titles right up to the war in 1939). Here Pathéscope even issued sets of 'running' titles to convert popular notched releases for showing on the 200B..
As the special Pathé 'T' base lamps are long obsolete, it is straightforward to fit the A1/216 24volt 150watt QI lamp. A suitable transformer, lamp and holder can often be found from an old 35mm slide projector discovered at a car boot sale! The usual warnings about electrical safety mean that an only an experienced person should carry out these lamp conversions.
The lamphouse of the 200B was lined with asbestos. Unless it is beginning to powder it is still probably quite safe - however users may prefer to remove it and dispose of it safely. The lamphouse body will just be rather hot after showing a few films!.
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PATHÉSCOPE
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* This model was really the 'Kid' in an IMProved design - hence the name. The lamphouse dropped back to enable the gate to open for cleaning - a major improvement featured in the adverts! A change in mechanical design enabled a motor drive to be offered. Optics and lamps remained the same as the 'Kid' with a 'super attachment' for 300ft spools available as another extra. The basic model sold for £4.12.6d, but it was also supplied as a complete outfit with motor and super attachment for £7 (P.224) |
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PATHÉSCOPE
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* This little hand-turned projector heralded the
beginning of exclusive UK development and production of
cine equipment by Pathéscope - most of us can claim to
have started home cinema using one of these machines -
and that applies over two or more generations, as in
various forms it was in production till the collapse of
Pathéscope (Great Britain) Ltd in 1960, and was still
being sold by Great Universal Store's assett stripping
Pathéscope (London) Ltd into the early 1960's with
remaining stock sold off by D.M. Bentley (a major UK
9.5mm dealer in the 1960's) at 59/6d (£2.97). This
little machine was not marketed in France. (Operation & maintenance notes - ACW January 1952) |
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PATHÉSCOPE
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* Originally designed and manufactured in France and known there as the Pathé National, production was started in the UK even before WW2. Other examples are marked 'Made in Germany' and carry the Pathex brand name. This became the mainstay of UK Pathéscope's 9.5mm filming product for many years. The first model appears to have had a fixed 20mm f2.5 lens, almost immediately changed to an interchangeable screw.mount (actually the same pitch & thread as the later 8mm 'D' mount), allowing the option of a 20mm f1.9 focussing lens and a 50mm f3.5 telephoto. These were normally supplied by Som Berthiot, although post-war UK models were supplied with equally good National Optical lenses. By the use of a smaller, neater 'H' film charger the 'H' camera was only 4.75" x 2.25" x 4.5" and weighed-in at 2.25lbs. All models had a single picture device and tripod bush and quite accurate eye-level viewfinder marked with cross-wires and telephoto field of view. Originally the mazak type casting was finished in black, later UK post war models in a mottled grey. |
I have an early example with a non-interchangeable f3.5 lens, the f numbers are shown on the bezel above the lens. This is clearly marked 'Made in England' on the inside of the door - all looks original, but maybe this door is from a later model. Early 'H' models had push button door release, later examples have screw lockable door release buttons.
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PATHÉSCOPE
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* Another design from the UK, it had limited sales in France as the Pathé '38'. The Pathescope 'H' projector was fitted with the 80volt 100watt used in the 'Lux', fed from a transformer in the base. The cam/claw assembly was that used in the Super Vox projector. It had 300ft spool arms, sprocket feed and take-up and a light shut off device. Maybe this was fitted because the shutter was in front of the gate, meaning the film was heated all the time (instead of intermittently when the shutter is behind the gate). Production stopped with the war, some parts coming from France. |
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PATHÉ
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Actually the silent version of the
first optical sound projector designed for the nine-five
gauge - the 'Vox'. In the UK this 'S' model was
introduced in November 1937. A totally new design with
transformer fed low voltage lamp (15volt 200watt, later
31volt 400watt), a synchronous motor gear driven to
provide fixed speeds of 16/24 fps, 900ft spool capacity,
framing device and f1.6 lens. The reviews mentioned a
hole under the lamphouse giving a bit of light spill -
this was to be the position for the sound optics in the
'Vox' talkie version! An external transformer was
required for UK 200-240 volt mains to match French 110
volt electrical design. |
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PATHÉ
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* The optical sound version of the 'S' model
described above. In typical Pathé fashion it was
launched with a flourish at the 'Exposition de la Photo
et du Cinema' in Paris 18-28 Febuary 1937. At £60 it was
much cheaper than 16mm machines, performed well and soon
a good selection of films were also available for
purchase as well as hire at low prices. The 'Vox' used a new type 15volt 200watt lamp, the 'Super Vox' a 31volt 400watt type giving a very bright picture suitable for halls etc. Volume control was achieved by rotating a sleeve which cut off the light to the photocell. The speaker was a mains energised type, providing 'smoothing' for the amplifier. Just when 9.5mm was beginning to take-off for more professional work the second world war stopped production...... |
With the low voltage lamp, good optics and gate, results even now are rather good. Enthusiasts usually fit a modern halogen lamp (the 15 volt 150 watt A1/234 seems favourite for the 'Vox' to avoid a transformer change) and solid state sound (the original valves & photocell are difficult to find these days). The 'Vox' suffered from the offset film loop to the gate causing wear on the side of the gate. Drive gears are now often worn. Some sound flutter from the sprocket can be reduced by fitting a sprung roller in the film path after the sound head. The 'Vox' & 'Super Vox' look similar, but have different gears, castings etc. These machines are very heavy, even when the original transformer and amplifier is removed - beware!
In France the 'Vox' was also offered in a 16mm version. One was recently sold on e-bay. I don't think the 16mm version was advertised in the UK.
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PATHÉ
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* Another totally different design, not marketed in the UK. Designed and manufactured by Ateliers Vaucanson (Vaucanson had previously worked for Continsuza - designers of the original Pathé 9.5mm & cinema gear). Basically a hand turned projector for short films, fitted with the 60 watt lamp used in the 'Lux' projector, with motor attachment and super attachment for 300ft spools, it gives the appearance of being 'over engineered'. In France Pathé-Baby were still issuing films with notched titles, so the Coq D'or was fitted with a notched title device. A weird quite expensive projector which is very rare even in France. In the UK there are just two or three examples which have recently been brought back from France. |
In the April/May 1939 edition of the Pathé-Baby house magazine 'Le Cinema Chez Soi' a new 9.5mm cine camera with 'magic-eye' (photocell) exposure control was announced. Although sold in France at that time as the Pathé Motocamera "Etoile d'Or" it was actually the Austrian Eumig C39. See non-Pathé listing for full details.
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