Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Seeking Info On FP-20

This is topic Seeking Info On FP-20 in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.

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Posted by Michael Coate (Member # 757) on 07-01-2004, 11:47 PM:

Anyone familiar with the FP-20 projector? I'm seeking the following information: (1) manufacturer, and (2) 35/70mm capable, or 35mm-only?

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 07-02-2004, 12:25 AM:

Norelco, 35mm.

See one here:
www.film-tech.com/pics/empire2/empire2.html

Posted by William Hooper (Member # 71) on 07-02-2004, 12:28 AM:

Norelco, 35mm only.

There's a Norelco/Kinoton model list at

http://www.kinotonamerica.com/support/index.asp

Edited to correct hideous brain fart

Posted by Peter Hall (Member # 695) on 07-02-2004, 01:07 PM:

Did Norelco ever exist as a manufacturer or was it a rebadge ? Not sure if Norelco kit was both Philips and Kinoton ?

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 07-02-2004, 02:33 PM:

Norelco was the brand name for Philips projectors. When they exited the projector biz, everything was sold to Kinoton.

Edited to fix the mis-spelling in Philips.

[ 07-03-2004, 11:28 AM: Message edited by: Mitchell Dvoskin ]

Posted by Steve Kraus (Member # 476) on 07-02-2004, 03:48 PM:

Is Kinotone a spinoff of the former Philips/Norelco projection operation or did it previously exist in its own right? Is it presently part of some larger concern or independent?

[Only one "l" in Philips, btw.)

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 07-02-2004, 05:42 PM:

Kinoton was formed in Munich, Germany in 1948 as a service shop for the cinema industry. In the middle 1950's Mr. Zoller, an employee, and his wife bought the company and expanded it countrywide. Philips sold the rights to their projection equipment in 1972 to their capable hands. Renate Zoller, the daughter, continues the family involvement in operations worldwide.

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 07-06-2004, 09:02 AM:

Michael

Magna-Tech's version of the FP-20 is known as the PR-135 Studio Projector.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 07-06-2004, 09:07 AM:

The Magna Tech PR135 only had a visual similarity between the fp20 and it
The PR135 was a stepper motor drive system having no intermitent and the skates sprockets and pads were none interchangable. The only common element was the optical soundhead
MTM marketed an FP30 mounted in one of there dubber cases

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 07-06-2004, 12:26 PM:

The Loews Jersey in Jersey City has a pair of Magna-Tech P135's, which do NOT have a stepper motor, do have an intermittent, and use the identical skates, sprockets and pads. The Magna-Tech enhancements to these FP20's were the motor assisted startup of the sound drum, the ability to select electric back tension on the feed reel for both emulsion in or out, and the ability to run backwards.

/Mitchell

Posted by Bill Gabel (Member # 1105) on 07-06-2004, 12:39 PM:

The Magna-Tech's I have here in Manhattan are just as Mitchell discribed that are over at the Loew's Jersey.

Posted by Stephen Furley (Member # 1277) on 07-06-2004, 01:40 PM:

This is one of the machines at the Loew's:

I've never seen that design of lamphouse table before, and it has an interlock motor, but the rest of the mechanical parts look pretty standard for a lateish FP-20. Something else that is a bit odd, the take-up will obviously only take a 2000 foot spool, but the feed spindle is at the very top of the column, and it's not a short column version. The two machines are not quite identical, and one has a blanked-off position for a 6000 foot spool, while the other (this one) does not. At least one machine has about four or five blanked-off top spindle positions, maybe designed to be equipped for double head working, with 1000 foot rolls of mag?

I hope to get back o see the Loew's, and the Lafayette, Suffern, and maybe a couple of other places, again next year.

Philips/Kinoton have always tended to produce many variations of the standard machines, with lots of options available. I've seen many of them, and almost no two are identical.

Their equipment was also marketed under many names, their flashbulbs were sold in the U.S.A. as 'Amplex', and their video recorders in some parts of the world in the late '60s - early '70s as 'Peto-Scott' (I'm not sure if that had one 't', or two). I'm not sure where the 'Norelco' name came from.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 07-06-2004, 06:06 PM:

that lamphouse table was made by ballantyne when they were assembling the norelco line for them in the US and sorry i was thinking of the later 636 machine that is a stepper drive

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 07-06-2004, 09:16 PM:

The MTE version of the FP20 Optical soundhead is very similar but not entirely identical. The drum is a bit different and it as well as the casting was made by MTE and not by Philips.

Posted by Larry Shaw (Member # 388) on 07-13-2004, 09:28 PM:

Norelco was a wholly owned subsiduary of Philips that distributed certian Philips products in North America.

Kinoton's story is summarized nicely by Richard. For more see http://www.kinotonamerica.com/company/index.asp . Kinotone, Inc was a North American distribution division of Kinoton GmbH, which was later owned by US interests when Kinoton GmbH chose not to operate its own N. A. offices. Kinotone has been out of business for many years although some folks keep using the name.

The Philips or Kinoton machines have only been sold in N. A. as Philips, Norelco, Kinoton or Kinotone. That said, some buyers may put their own labels on after they purchase the machines, like MTE.

To further confise the PR-135 story, The early ones were in fact standard FP-20's that MTE bought whole and reworked. As time went buy they started copying more and more of philips' parts until the last ones were all MTE made, although some parts were essentially identical, for example the lens holder.

Posted by Ken Lackner (Member # 1002) on 07-14-2004, 12:50 AM:

Larry,

I've always been confused by Kinotone vs. Kinoton. I used to work at a theater that had FP-23C's, and the label on them said Kinotone. I could never understand why. If I am reading your post correctly, they used to be the American distribution company for Kinoton products, much like Kinoton America is now?

Posted by Larry Shaw (Member # 388) on 07-22-2004, 09:09 PM:

You are correct.