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I wonder if anyone could kindly tell me the customary term to describe such a projector? If anyone has ever used one, I wonder if it was difficult or easy to get the hang of it? If you've never heard of one, it's a projector that - if it's facing the screen and you're standing behind it - you would thread on its left side instead of the right. I expect they were quite rare but I've seen a pedestal Hortson projector of this type. It was used in a small projection room where it was placed just behind one of the 35mm projectors, thus avoiding too much loss of space in front of the other 35mm projector there.
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The projection room of the old QE2 liner had two Philips DP70 35mm, and one 16mm projector, due to the small space this latter projector had an operational left side, but I can't remember its make.
There were two 16mm "left-hand" projectors that I have seen, but never actually used, The Carpenter and the Danson.
Click below for photos.
RARE CARPENTER 16MM SOUND PROJECTOR.BRITISH MADE. INC SPEAKER. | #279054198 (worthpoint.com)
16mm 20 (villagehallcinemas.co.uk) -
The only left-hand projector I've seen is the NATCO.
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Janice
The British "Carpenter" I mentioned above has a very similar design to the American "Natco". It was manufactured in Britain by Carpenter & Richardson of Wembley, they were a well known firm of precision engineers. It would certainly seem that their engineers must have seen a "Natco".
The "Carpenter" was never a very popular projector in the UK. It was beaten hands down by the British GB-Bell & Howell 601, this was a copy of the American Bell & Howell 179. It was introduced in 1947 by a 25 year agreement between Bell & Howell and Gaumont-British for the latter to produce Bell & Howell equipment for use in Great Britain.Comment
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A picture of a Hortsan, from the 2020 edition of the CTA's Picture House yearbook. The author of the article who used it the in review theatre at the BBC Wales Film Unit didn't use any special term to refer to it other than it operated from the left side.Attached FilesComment
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Here is some interesting data on the Hortson. It is said they were made "left handed" so as to be able to sit alongside two 35mm projectors, but that doesn't seem to be correct as a conventional "right hand" projector could also be fitted, but on the left side of the two 35mm.
Hortson Professional 16mm Movie Theatre Projector Xenon Arc vintage camera era | #1935946119 (worthpoint.com)Comment
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Many thanks for all the replies, which are very helpful as well informative. In fact the Hortson I referred to was used in exactly the way referred to by Maurice, in the David Lean Cinema in Croydon, from when this opened in 1995. Here's a photo from that year, in which you can see it in-between the two 35mm Kinotons. Although, as Maurice says, a conventional 16mm projector could alternatively be placed closer to the side of the projection room, I think Hortson were essentially saying with a 'left-handed' projector, you could avoid off-centre projection, and without any need to place the 35mm projectors significantly further apart. With a lengthy throw, the difference would be negligible, but the David Lean Cinema only has seven rows of seats and quite short throw, so having the 16mm in the middle must have seemed a good option.
Incidentally, it's known that David Lean's widow, Lady Sandra Lean, donated some equipment from his estate before the cinema opened. There is some evidence to suggest that part of this was the Hortson and another similar one!
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The Philips EL-5001 was a left threaded machine (or at least it some of them were).Comment
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Hi everyone I am new to the forum and was interested in this feed. I have always heard these reversed projectors being nicknamed as left hand drives, I own a Kinoton FP18 and understand that all of the range of projectors from Kinoton share the same base plates so it was possible to place them back to back and still be able to open the back doors on the machine for maintenance whilst saving space at the same time.
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There are about 15 left-handed 16mm sound projectors and one left-handed standard 8 magnetic sound projector that I know of. Perhaps more. The Movie-Mite 16mm (pictured) is probably the most popular having been made for a good 30 years starting about 1938-39.
Movie-Mite
Movie-Vox
Micron XXV
Danson (Safar)
Meopta Opefon
Natco
Forway Model 10
Philips
Hortson 16
Universal Tonemaster P-1000
Royal Garant SW-2
Carpenter
Hokushin (left-handed)
RCA PB-139 (first 16mm sound projector made ca 1933)
Marin 16mm
Norske Elite 8 (Standard 8 Sound)
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I really wish these were a lot more common: my usual setup is two machines side by side. It's workable, but access to the workings of the left-side machine is often a little awkward.
Right and Left twin machines you'd just set up back to back: Perfect!
(-doubly so if there were no power or signal connections on the blank sides...)Comment
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I had 3 different models of Movie-Mites and 2 different models of NATCO projectors.Comment
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Rob Koeling
The Philips EL-5001 was a left threaded machine (or at least it some of them were).
All the Phillips machines I’ve seen in left-handed it’s interesting to know that I produced some right-handed machines. I have a Philips machine which has been modified to take Standard quartz Lamps. I like it because of the Maltese cross movement and the long arms 4000 feet. Would be better suited to a more permanent environment than I can offer it.
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Here is a pic of the Philips EL5001
Philips EL5001 – Parts Finder – Van Eck Video Services (van-eck.net)
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