Why is it senseless to put the tower behind the machine? We've a lot of theatres where this is the only location it could possibly go. I have a couple of places with platters behind the mech.

If the tower is located directly behind the machine, with the running side spools absolutely parallel with the film path of the mech, you can safely run with the spools full to capacity. If the tower is to one side, then it is virtually impossible to get the film path accurately enough aligned to allow you to run with full spools. I've tried all kinds of things over the years, but the bottom line is it won't work. I've tried to fix rollers to the tower, but that doesn't work as no two spools are identical, and most tower spools are warped to one degree or another, even when new. ( I recently rejected several Goldbergs that were delivered to one of my services, brand new and all were buckled, the replacements were only marginally better)

Preferably the tower would be double- sided and supplied with 2 spares plates. A programme could still be moved to another screen when necessary.

It would all be possible, I have proved it by experimenting with a 22” diameter 6,000’ spooling off plate and a 4” plastic core. Works perfect, so how about a new Film-Tech Tower.

BTW in Sussex there is an old cinema from the silent days that has a Westrex tower situated the floor below under the tiny loft projection box.

The magazine (spool-box) doors on a Cinemecannica would work well, because the side flanges of the magazines are part of the door (rather than the fixed magazine), and so don't block the film. Although a Norelco AA2 has the right pedstal design, I don't think (trying to remember!) the magazine side flanges stay on the magazine, so don't allow the film to go straight back.

Towers seem like a way to keep your two projector c/o booth for one-off showings, but also make things easier for repeated showings.

One question, though; Could'nt the same thing be done with a regular platter? It does seem that towers take up less space, but since platters are avaible with smaller diameter decks, they might fit and avoid the problem of having to rewind.

What a lot of people did (unfortunately for those who wish to restore their Norelcos) is to cut a square hole in the back of the magazine to let the film pass into, and out of, to the rear of the machine. I have taken mine off completely even though someone had cut them previously. I use my tower directly behind the machine so the film doesn't have to go around corners. (Just a fetish of mine)

Those aren't really magazines, just "plate" to hold a spindle, if reel operation is desired. Not even a exhaust duct for the lamp, which might not be allowed in some places in the US.

Does the pedestal hold the projector firmly enough to prevent vibration while running?

I didn't notice that (it looks like) the tower pivots 180deg so you can thread a show on the other side.

Are those speakers above the ports?

Does the film pass directly over the lamp exhaust on the middle machine? (I can't tell from the picture.) If so, doesn't that cause problems?

Also, it's interesting that the film is wound emulsion-in on the feed reels. In the US, at least, standard practice is for the feed reel to be wound emulsion-out and the takeup reel to wind emulsion-end. (Insert debate from Brad, Steve G. and John P. on proper winding practices here.)

What kind of bases are those? They're certainly not standard Century models...

As for fade-outs at reel changes: I'm pretty indifferent on this, but would tend to be against it for platter use. Improperly blooped splices would cause an annoying 'pop' in the soundtrack and most changeover houses (at least the ones that aren't using exciter lamp changeover) have a 'tick' or 'pop' at every changeover, too. Also, as a print makes its way among many booths and an array of platter systems, large reels, and small reels, frames tend to get lost in the process ("film done wrong") and fade-outs would become cuts. Finally, there's the problem of making poor lab work more obvious, since 'black' tends to appear slightly different on each reel of a film...yeah, I know it "shouldn't" happen, but it does...

The pics of the original carbon booth in Fortuna are a funky mix of yellows greens and blues!

Below is the best way to set up the rollers:

Below is the severely outdated way to set up the rollers (due to magazines and techs who can't seem to change their ways). This sort of configuration also wears out the threading leader three times as fast. Clearly no thought has been put into this.

So Pete, are you telling me that if the rollers were set up according to the first picture that the tower would be fussy? No way.

Scott said: Nice picture! I've never seen a yellow-green booth interior before.
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Thanks for the compliments, the pictures of the projection box are of my cinema the Regal in Cranleigh, Surrey situated in a village 8 miles from Guildford where Odeon have a multiplex, and 42 miles from London. I have owned the freehold for the last 24 years, but sadly next year it will close and be demolished, as it is no longer viable due to ongoing building repairs and running costs. There is just not sufficient population to support it any longer, even for Harry Potter now showing on the release date. Apart from myself running the box, I am most fortunate to have a team of four fully experienced and dedicated part-time projectionists.

Now to answer the questions:

The pedestal bases are the famous Ross make, whose projectors were widely installed throughout the UK many years ago. They are very strong and firm, and will support any make of projector head without any vibration problems whilst running. Before the Tower was installed they were used with 6,000' reels.

The Tower is double sided and does revolve into position to show another programme, you can also rewind during projection. It is also on 8 caster wheels and can easily be moved into position behind No 2 projector.

The three speakers above the ports, well you've guessed it, stereo in the projection box, and with surrounds! On the far right of the picture out of view there is a very large port and a nice chair, which also has a set of stereo speakers and where the monitor amplifiers rack is. We have often been told that we have better quality stereo sound in the projection box than some cinema auditoriums. This is nothing new I know of a couple of other places this has been done, one being the old Leicester Square Theatre (now Odeon West End) in London.

The film does pass directly over the lamp exhaust. It is a large and high ceiling room, which is well ventilated. It does'nt appear to have ever caused any problems. Xenon bulbs were 1.6 kw but now increased to 2 kw.

Films were always wound emulsion-out only on Simplex projectors in the UK. I have no idea what the standard practice is now with platters.

I was told in my trainee days that a green decorated room eased the eyes and reduced tiredness, but made the place look smaller.

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