I don’t usually take on new pieces of equipment, but the Kodascope Model B projector didn’t take up that much space – something that was probably a part of the intent of the item’s design back in 1927.
I’ve had a thing for the dawn of 16mm and its uses in 1920s for quite some time, going back to my 2012 Accidentally Preserved project, which debuted in a sort of “soft opening” on my YouTube channel and then became my first Kickstarter and my first home video DVD release. In addition to being able to make and watch home movies, one could also rent copies of movies that had been in theaters a few years prior. The 16mm home movie format hit the market in 1923, and 16mm film rental libraries opened two years later. These was the Kodascope Library, initially, followed in swift succession by Universal’s Show-At-Home Library, Home Film Libraries, Inc. (decades later it would become Films Incorporated), the Ideal Film Library, Mogull Brothers Library and the Select Film Library.
The Kodascope Model B seen in this post (above) has come to me recently courtesy of a silent movie friend who wanted to re-home the projector and wanted me to have it. There was also something I felt serendipitous to the fact that a model B was now in the position of B. Model.
I had first encountered this particular projector at the Library of Congress, where my friend Geo. Willeman, Head of the Nitrate Vaults, has one on display. I remembered him showing it to me and demonstrating its auto-thread feature, something I only associated with the Bell & Howell auto-loads I encountered in middle and high school.
Step one for me, before even plugging it in, was to get ahold of An operating manual, which I found here, and to follow its instructions on oiling all 17 spots, as directed on pages 31 and 32. I also spent some time carefully and thoroughly cleaning the film path with isopropyl alcohol and a couple dozen Q-tips.
The photos below are show the projector and some detailed views. Now that I have cleaned the film path thoroughly, the next step will be to plug this bad boy in and watch a 1920s Kodascope print that I have on it.
Here’s an ad announcing the Kodascope Model B, from the December 1927 issue of Amateur Movie Makers, which I found on the Media History Digital Library.
