Two or one pin claw?

[Joseph Banfield]

I had a conversation with a member on this forum who swears that many projectors other than the common Eumig 500 and 600 series dual 8 machines had a two pin claw instead of only a one pin claw. But as most of us know that Eumig series had a specialized two pin claw where the pins are seperated by a couple of inches to make this possible, not to mention a radical redesign of the pulldown movement that made it all work.

I always understood this was not possible as the pitch of the sprocket holes would be different between the two guages, which is why a single pin claw had to be used on dual 8 machines.

Am I going nuts or what? Were there machines that had two pin claws that could project both guages?

[Paul Adsett]

Joseph, I am with you on this, there is no way that a closely spaced 2-pin claw can be used on a dual gauge machine.

[Stuart Budd]

Before embarking on my projector collection, I had only ever used one projector. A Ricoh Auto 8P Dualmatic Standard 8/Super 8. It has 3 claws. The mechanism to change from one gauge to another, I think, simply moves a plate with two frame masks. Super 8 and Standard 8.

This pic is of Super 8 film pressed against the claw. The centre claw is slightly elongated compared to the outer two.



And for good measure, Standard 8.



I can't tell if all claws are in contact with each gauge of film in pull down but all go through the perfs. Looks like two out of three, which ain't bad (feel like a song coming on!).

I really should find out more. Video the claws in action.

[Tony Ferrara]

The Honeywell Elmo FP8-C and Honeywell 380 have 2 pins. Here are some pics to prove it, of the 380.