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Author
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Topic: In Praise of the Ace
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted February 25, 2009 02:06 PM
Like many film buffs, my first movie projector was a hand -cranked 9.5mm Pathescope Ace. This little projector brought me so much pleasure, showing Disney and Popeye shorts, as well as many silent feature classics such as Metropolis, The Informer, The Ring and many others. It is easy to dismiss the Ace as a toy projector, but it is really a well designed and manufactured machine, capable of giving steady and really sharp pictures on a 24 inch screen.
All this came home to me in the past few days, when I have been modifying the little projector for Halogen lighting. First, the projector is a really solid and rugged little machine, the main body being a die-casting. The internal helical gears are very robust, being machined from brass and stainless steel, and the intermittent cam is a very clever and reliable design. For what it was designed to do, the ACE succeeds admirably. It's success can be measured by the fact that it was in production for over 30 years. The one bad point of the design is that sharp edge on the brake arm, which can severely scratch the film unless you cover it with a plastic tip. You have to wonder why Pathescope never corrected this problem.
The Ace today is still a really fun little projector to run, and is a real change of pace from the GS1200!
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted February 26, 2009 08:23 AM
Similar to my story Trev. I was 16 when I got my Ace. My first film was a little 60 footer western titled ' Northwest Justice'.I worked in a garage on weekends, and used the money I earned to rent films from a photo shop in Cardiff. I would pick the films up on a Saturday morning and return them on Monday morning. Over a period of a couple of years I must have rented (and hand-cranked!) most of Pathescope's library, and got to see many memorable films. I would show the films to my parents and grandparents and to kids in the shed in our garden, for a small fee to help offset the rental costs. It was during those days that I would spend hours gazing at the other projectors on display in the window of the photo shops in the Cardiff arcades, projectors like the magnificent Bell and Howell 606H, or the Bolex M8R, which were totally out of reach for me at that time. What I really wanted was a motorized projector, so I swapped my Ace for a 9.5mm Dekko. Big Mistake - even though the Dekko was motorized and looked like a great machine, the picture from the Dekko was nowhere near as good as that from the little Ace.
So, just like you Trev, the Ace had more impact on me than any other projector I have ever owned. Pathescope must have done something right! ![[Wink]](wink.gif)
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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Luigi Castellitto
Jedi Master Film Handler
Posts: 715
From: Campobasso, Italy
Registered: Jun 2013
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posted October 07, 2014 06:33 PM
The objective is original, a very basic, non-interchangeable, probably don't know the precisal exact brightness, but it's very good for distances not excessive and dark environments, in fact the Ace has a small image definition does not really bad! I had this curiosity to see if there were other tools to replace (for test only, preserving the original) the original plastic holder, that it be extracted, but I also fear of ruining a projector in excellent condition!
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Paul Adsett
Film God
Posts: 5003
From: USA
Registered: Jun 2003
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posted October 08, 2014 08:34 PM
I have both the Ace and the Baby. In some repects the Ace is superior to the Baby. The film transport through the Ace with 300ft reels seems smoother and less fussy than the Baby with the super attachment, and IMO it is easier to thread. Unfortunately there is no framing adjustment on the Ace, although this is not a show stopper as the Pathescope prints are usually pretty well centered on the sprocket holes. Both projectors are really well made, solid all metal construction and great at what they were intended to do, just dont expect either one of them to go beyond a 30 inch screen width. These projectors come totally within their own, nostalgia wise, when hand cranking early silent prints from the pioneer days of the cinema.
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The best of all worlds- 8mm, super 8mm, 9.5mm, and HD Digital Projection,
Elmo GS1200 f1.0 2-blade
Eumig S938 Stereo f1.0 Ektar
Panasonic PT-AE4000U digital pj
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UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
![[Frown]](frown.gif)
.Every week I'd go to SLYS LTD(the Pathescope Agents in Auckland)and fondle an ACE on display.On my sixteenth birthday I bought one!And then a motor.I had but one film,a 60fter featuring Spitfires and Hurricanes.I made the old man watch this flick every night!Later in life I bought up most of SLYS 9.5mm film library.........it comes to you eventually eh? 
![[Cool]](cool.gif)
Since these were not sold in the U.S., you are probably one of the few to own one here.![[Smile]](smile.gif)
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