Posted 8 years ago
SpiritBear
(813 items)
I'm still not quite sure what all it is missing, but I figured it out to be a movie projector.
The newest patent date on it puts it at circa late 1926 for this old and early Kodascope.
It still retains its original Eastman-Kodak bulb (which looks like it would still work), but the mechanism inside for the shudder is frozen in place in the closed position so it cannot operate.
I'm also a bit afraid to plug it in as it seems to prefer DC albeit it will run on modern AC (we hope).
It resides on display in our basement next to a Boy Scout projector and one from a local school.
I dismantled all but the true guts, cleaned it up, and put it back together (minus one tiny screw that didn't want to go back in the case regardless of how much I tried).
I would love to find something like that. Old projectors will probably coming up as the trendy thing to collect soon.
They're the kind of collectible I'm not willing to make predictions on. I feel like they already had their day, that visual/audio recording/projecting devices of the past are of less interest to such a modern world. At the same time, people love "obsolete" technologies. It's less about the big-screen today than it is about the big-people on the screens.
I just found this one particularly interesting.
Keep an eye out for the "library" model from the same time, which has a stunning wooden cabinet around it.
As a note of interest on this one, I believe this sat on someone's basement floor for a long time as it had several dead "rolly polies" or "pill bugs" inside the bottom. Antique bugs-- delightful. LOL.
This is specifically a Kodascope, Model A. It appears in my Kodak catalogue library from 1926 to 1933-34. During these years, this Kodascope was the biggest projector. According to the catalogues, with a 200-watt bulb "it projects a brilliant 39 x 52-inch picture at 23 feet." Price was $180.00. Traveling case, $18.00 and Screen, No.2 rollable in case was $35.00.
The hand-crank Cine-Kodak, Model A movie camera was typically paired with the Kodascope Model, A in the catalogues. It might be interesting to find the movie camera as well and display with the projector. Several years ago a Cine-Kodak, Model A was posted here on CW at: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/32286-cine-kodak-model-a
As far as it being a collectable, there is a small group of collectors who specialize in cine equipment and projectors. However as with most apparatus, interesting designs, historic importance, rarity (etc.) determine desirability.
Thank you for your information and time, rniederman.
rniederman: You mention having a library of Kodak catalogs. Do you, perchance, have a 1925 Cine-Kodak/Kodascope catalog in your collection?
Hi luvantique ... I do not have a specific catalogs for Kodascopes. My Kodak library covers consumer based camera products from 1886 to 1941 which also includes listings for Kodascopes.