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Hi all. Greetings from down-under. I have an old Pathescope GEM movie film projector (over 100 years old). I was hoping that there is a way of determining the year of manufacture? The I.D. plate underneath only shows the Machine Number and film size (9.5). Hope you can help. Thanks in advance for all assistance. Cheers.
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Hi!
It looks like the projector was produced from 1948 to 1958 with a minor design change in 1951 and later with different colors:
http://pathefilm.uk/95gear/95gearpathe1gem.htm -
Hi Joerg. As I said, the projector is over 100 years old. My grandfather (a professional photographer) used it for movie nights in a mining community between 1915 and 1925. I'm assuming it could even be very late 1800's when it was manufactured. Thank you for your insight though. Much appreciated.Comment
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The Pathé 9.5mm format got introduced in 1922.Comment
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Hi Bob, joerg is quite correct in both instances. If your grandfather was showing films in 1915 it was most likely on 35mm or one of the other short lived gauges of that period.Comment
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Hi guys.
Thanks very much for the feedback but now I am really confused. As far as I am aware, this projector is the only one my grandfather had but obviously I’m wrong if he was screening old movies back in the very early 1900’s. I even have some old film (French style centre-slot 9.5mm but not labeled) from those days but as the projector is not in working order at present, I don’t know their content. I will endeavour to find out off other relatives if another projector exists (or existed) that I’m unaware of. Many thanks and regards.
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There are a number of prints of films made during the early days of cinema on 9.5mm. The Pathe company were world wide film distributers for a number of other film producing companies as well as their own. These were mainly European companies but included some American ones. Many of the longer films were abridged to make them more affordable to purchase. Also, right from the start of their home cinema days on 28mm, the film stock was non inflammable. If you grandfather was showing films in the early 1900s they would likely been on highly inflammable cellulose nitrate 35mm film unless, as previously mentioned, one of the other short lived other gauges were available and used the non inflammable cellulose acetate film. Just another thought. How old would your grandfather have been when showing the films? The first ever public demonstration of a projected film was in 1895. by the Lumiere brothers!😏Comment
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BobOriginally posted by Bob Breedon View Post
It is also possible that your grandfather may have started with the earlier Pathe safety film format which was 28mm (which was introduced in 1912), and then progressed to Pathe's 9.5mm (introduced as they have. said in 1922) in later years, but I would suggest that the most logical answer is that he used the 9.5mm Gem and someone over the years just got the dates he was using it wrong. As for the films it is fairly easy to pick up a simple photographic Lupe like the one featured in this link to identify the films in question. If you send us the names of the films, or even images from the films we could let you know what films they are and even when Pathe released them on 9.5mm (as most all 9.5mm films are known and cataloged in the excellent Encyclopedia by Garth Pedler/David Wyatt and Patrick Moules) so you could really have a more precise idea of when the films/projector were in use.Comment
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