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Author Topic: How Old Is Your Oldest Projector? Ian Price Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1714 From: Denver, CO Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-20-2002 06:55 PM                     My cinema supplier was here this morning doing a check up to see what our cinema needed. He was astounded when he read the serial numbers off of our two Simplex XL projectors. We have #318 and #1606. He figures that since XLs were first manufactured in 1949 that one of our machines is from 1949 and the other one is from 1950 something. So my oldest projector is 53 years old! I know a theatre that just opened using Super Simplex. Simplex Regular 1909 Simplex Standard 1916 Simplex Super 1928 Simplex E-7 1939 Simplex XL 1949 I work at the Telluride Film Festival that still uses Brenkers. Brenkerts were last manufactured in 1956. How old is your oldest projector? P.S. I'm thinking of getting rid of my 8-year-old car but I'm keeping my 53-year-old projectors.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 11-20-2002 07:06 PM                        It would also be interesting to know how many hours they have on them (if you know with any degree of accuracy).  |  IP: Logged Adam Fraser Master Film Handler Posts: 499 From: Houghton Lake, MI, USA Registered: Dec 2001 posted 11-20-2002 07:13 PM                        2 Simplex X-L's from 1954, 2 SH-1000's from 1941. My guess is a little over 50,000 hours on the projectors, about 68,000 hours on the soundheads. Neither of them have ever needed to be completely overhauled to my knowledge.  |  IP: Logged Joe Redifer You need a beating today Posts: 12859 From: Denver, Colorado Registered: May 99 posted 11-20-2002 07:15 PM                        My projectors are probably close to 40 years old, but they sure don't act like it! They act more like 426 years old.  |  IP: Logged Joshua Lott Expert Film Handler Posts: 246 From: Fairbanks, AK, USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 11-20-2002 07:30 PM                        I was working at a place briefly that had Simplex E-7. It said 1939 right on it. I converted it from carbon arc to xenon. WoW... that thing was old. The people that owned it had a "good" xenon bulb sitting in the lamphouse in storage.  |  IP: Logged John Anastasio Master Film Handler Posts: 325 From: Trenton, NJ, USA Registered: Sep 2000 posted 11-20-2002 08:40 PM                        My Brenkert and I are both over 50. I'll probably stop functioning before it does. It's certainly going to outlast my Christie! (Yeah, I know the picture shows a Super, but it's found another home...it WAS my oldest machine, but it found a new home.)  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-20-2002 09:10 PM                     My oldest at home is a Norelco DP-70. This is a unique DP-70 as it's original home was the Seattle Cinerama Theatre. Its mate was dropped when they were being removed, but its present owner has found another main casting to put its guts back into. Other unique features are that it has a "Cinefocus" 70mm trap assembly, and a RED LED reverse scanner of my own design . Have had many, many projectors at home over the past years, but keep going back to these beasts . In the field the oldest I service are a bunch of Motiograph AA's up in Idaho. There are 5 of them in a plex in Burley and one downtown in a single screen. They run like a top, but they are very boring and require VERY LITTLE service, sort of the Maytag of Movie projectors . All are equipped with RED LED reverse scanners by Kelmar.  |  IP: Logged Matthew Bailey Master Film Handler Posts: 461 From: Port Arthur,TX Registered: Sep 2000 posted 11-20-2002 09:15 PM                     6 Simplex 1014's & 6 5 Stars between 20 & 30 years of age since they were made by NTS/NSS.  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-20-2002 10:06 PM                        Last week, I ran film at a theatre which opened in 1938 and is still using their original Enarc lamps and Western Electric soundheads/bases (the ones with the gearing for Vitaphone turntables). They have Century C heads, though, which were apparently installed in the early '50s with CinemaScope. At the Williamsburg Theatre, we had Century MSA/2 projectors s/n 150 and 151. Can anyone date these? They were apparently installed there in the '70s, after being purchased used from a drive-in. I regularly run Century JJ s/n 118, which I assume is from the early '60s. Does anyone know when Century Cs switched from the small lens holder to the large one? I've worked with several Cs (great machines!), mostly with the small lens holder. Tonight I ran film on Simplexes built in 1998. My car is twelve years old.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Sisemore Flaming Ribs beat Reeses Peanut Butter Cups any day! Posts: 3061 From: Rockwall TX USA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 11-21-2002 02:02 AM                     The oldest daily operating projectors in my chain are the 4 Simplex XL's (most likely 1950's vintage, on 1940's SH-100x soundheads) in screens 1-2-3(soundhead only)-5-6 at our Fortuna, CA location. The other two projectors are a 1970s NSS Simplex 1014(on a SH-1000) and a 1980's NSS 1014 on a 5-Star. The newest projectors we have are 1992 model Simplex 1050's/5-Star in Cloverdale, CA (all 4 screens) and screens 5-6 in Boyes Springs, CA. -Aaron  |  IP: Logged Dick Vaughan Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1032 From: Bradford, West Yorkshire, UK Registered: Jul 2000 posted 11-21-2002 03:40 AM                        Lumiere Cinematographe Number 8 manufactured in 1895  |  IP: Logged Lindsay Morris Expert Film Handler Posts: 233 From: Darlington, WA, Australia Registered: Sep 2002 posted 11-21-2002 04:20 AM                     After seeing some of the dates listed re the Simplex series I don't know just which model my pair are. I was always under the impression that they were E7's but they have front & rear shutters which mine does not and the door is different as well. Mine have a hole in the casting to install a hand winder if I feel inclined... but I don't. I have a Simplex Parts Price List in my hand and it is clearly labelled 1936 and comparing the bits and pieces in there with what I have it seems that mine are Super Simplex. Both are fitted with double bearing intermittents and neither has an original Simplex serial number plate on them. These have been modified years ago with a heavier rear shutter housing and a sturdy front plate and top to allow mounting of the scope lens bracket which was all done in West Australia by a guy called Bernie Hartland. He had quite busy workshop machining parts and repairing assorted 35mm gear during the late 1940'2 thru to around early 1960's. I supsect that my pair were used in drive ins in the north of the state of WA as one of mine was labelled "Newman" which was Mount Newman of iron ore fame and did once have a DI. It has a fairly substantially shaved shutter which gives me a bit of the odd travel ghost top and bottom but a slight twitch on the shutter timing screw soon fixes that up. Before I set them up in the outdoor cinema I rebuilt both with spares from the pile I have acquired and for 5 years they ran each summer season without a hitch. (3 shows a week for 22 weeks) At the end of season 5 the upper feed sprocket shaft bearing was showing a bit of wear so I stripped them down and had a mate bore and insert a new bushing in bronze so they are nice and snug again. The shaft/s had almost zero wear at the point where they turn in the bearing which was quite amazing really as I have no idea just how many hours of film these old girls have screened. We have just started season 7 and after a bit of a clean up, some light oiling here and there, they are again just purring along with the traditional Simplex gear grumble and touch wood they have never failed during a show apart from the odd belt breakage. Truly amazing old ladies and I hope my car which is 3 years old is as reliable in 5 years as these are. Built like tanks, solid engineering and a testament to the era in which they were built. I would like to see a Monee do the same hours these have done. Even the soundheads are just as rugged. Westrex 206B's which I believe was about the second edition soundhead after talkies were introduced. They have a flywheel that weighs a packet sitting on a shaft that is about 3/4" in diam and bronze bushes throughout and even now I am battling to detect any wear in any of the shafts or bearings. Still running photo electric cells which are about the same size as a 40 watt bulb, no noise, no hum , no problems but Mono of course. Simplex may not be the most elegant looking beasts and not the easiest to thread but they are extremely functional and give a rock steady picture on a 10m screen. Lindsay Morris Kookaburra Outdoor Cinema Mundaring WA Australia  |  IP: Logged Jeff Stricker Master Film Handler Posts: 481 From: Calumet, Mi USA Registered: Nov 1999 posted 11-21-2002 06:38 AM                     Two Brenkert BX-40's from 1940. Two SH-1000's from 1941. A Motio AA built in 1948. Just acquired from a closed theater: Simplex E-7 (oblique shaft - probably 1938 - 1942) Brenkert BX-60 (Robert Sprague says circa 1950) RCA MI 9050 soundhead (No idea when) Most of this stuff predates me, I was born in 1947!  |  IP: Logged Geoffrey Weiss Film Handler Posts: 68 From: Lexington, KY, USA Registered: May 2001 posted 11-21-2002 10:28 AM                     2 Simplex Standards w/SH 1000 soundheads. I haven't checked the dates for sure, but probably about 1930, which is when the theatre I removed them from converted to movies. I just recently got one of them up and running--sans the original Magnarc, of course. I just don't have three-phase in my house. I did a little research around town and, as far as I could tell, everything I took out of that theatre had run from the time it was installed up to 1985. They didn't even convert to XLs when they started showing scope movies. They did have magnetic penthouses, but were still running mono phototubes in 1985.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 11-21-2002 11:30 AM                        quote: They didn't even convert to XLs when they started showing scope movies Can someone elaborate? Why would the introduction of scope possibly trigger an upgrade from Standards to XLs?  |  IP: Logged

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