Brass clips inside 50ft Kodak Super spools.

[David Strelitz]

A job came in for transfer this week, 50ft Kodak Super8 reels and everyone had the tail retained on the inside of the hub by a small brass clip. The clip retained the tail like the proverbial dog with a bone. What a daft idea. No way could the reels be run/cleaned or similar without snapping the end of the film. Needless to say every brass clip was snapped off, once discovered after the first reel.
Anyone ever seen these ridiculous clips before?

[Joseph Banfield]

Yes indeed!!! Those clips at the end of the films were used to activate an auto rewind system at the end of the film...a 1970's feature used on junk projectors to eliminate user intervention at the end of the film. Once the end of the film was reached the film would be pulled rapidly back through the entire film path back onto the supply reel often adding lovely vertical scratches to the film if the gate was dirty.

In fact all those nasty, plasticy Kodak Moviedecks from the 1970's had this so-called feature!

[David Strelitz]

Many Thanks for the explanation Joseph. I thought over the years i had seen most odd things 8mm and some 16mm ones too, but those Brass clips were something else. i suppose I (and the client) should be grateful that the films were actually pristine ie no scratches and very clean. I can only assume that the sensor on the "junk" projectors was quite sensitive when the resistance was detected.

[Brian Fretwell]

I think they were used on the short lived cartridge projectors too for the same reason.