Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Interesting Reel end Alarm

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Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-25-2005, 03:27 PM:

Here is a reel end alarm that I've not seen before. Anyone else seen them anywhere?

Mark

Posted by Aaron Sisemore (Member # 145) on 07-25-2005, 06:46 PM:

Yep, there was one of those (the part with the label on it) in a bin full of parts when I worked at the Phoenix in the 80's. When I visited the booth there (it was called the ShowCase then) in 1978 when it was still changeover they were still on the machines. IIRC, as the reel got empty, it would spin a little generator (similar to the generator one would attach to a bicycle wheel to power a headlight) inside the casing faster, and when the voltage got high enough, it would make a buzzer buzz (sounded more like an old-time car horn, only quieter) and a small light flicker.

-Aaron

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-25-2005, 08:41 PM:

Holy Crap! I haven't seen one of these in years! One theatre I used to work at (which burnt down in 1980) had these oddball reel enders on the upper spindles.

What these did at this theatre, we would have a socket mounted on the wall with a lightbulb in it and with the end of the cable from the device heading towards the socket. This was so that it was a "quiet alarm" instead of hearing the one ding for a drop ding arm, which had a small wheel that would physically ride on the film itself, or the more common spindle mounted "3-dinger" type.

One didn't work, so I got the owner of this horse barn to get a pair of the real mcCoys (in which I now forget the brand name - the one with the "three ding ball drop") to replace these electrical, light flashing, oddballs.

-Monte

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 07-25-2005, 09:56 PM:

The "three ding" model would be the "Hatke Reel Alarm"; this is the sales brochure for it circa 1970. The crossed-out price is $25 per pair.

Posted by Dick Prather (Member # 1136) on 07-25-2005, 10:32 PM:

Mark,
That was the electified version. In Portland several theatres used the mechanical versions from the same company. They had a flat hammer hitting a bell when the reel got up to a certain speed. Still have several of them in pieces.
Dick

Posted by Monte L Fullmer (Member # 2797) on 07-25-2005, 10:48 PM:

quote: Scott Norwood
Hatke Reel Alarm

..thx Scott on this info. Funny, I've ran bunches of theatres with the Hatke's - tore them apart, cleaned them, retimed them for a one minute ding until the first cue comes on the screen, but do you think now that I can remember the brand name of them until you showed this sales page?

thx again-Monte

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 07-26-2005, 01:29 AM:

The ones I worked with were by the same company, but they had a bell, mounted on the top.

Up here in Washington, SRO really liked that version. They were in most of their booths I worked in. As the film diameter got smaller (and the reel started turning faster), the alarm would start going "click, click, click...", eventually getting to the point where the hammer would actually hit the bell... "ding, ding, ding, ding,"... louder, louder... then eventually stopping. It was a sequence that allowed the projectionist more lattitude to gauge how long he had before changeover. As with the "arm on the film" alarms though, shipping reels screwed up the timing... going off far earlier than with larger-hubbed house reels.

As I recall, a very reliable & trouble-free alarm.

Posted by Bernard Tonks (Member # 809) on 07-26-2005, 04:31 AM:

I fitted end of reel alarms to the three projectors at the Carlton Theatre, Haymarket in London. These were made by a Mr Buckley, who also supplied Westrex with Zipper changeover devices.

The alarm was a bicycle bell revolving on a pendulum. The lovely story to this was that on installation the bell rang after the changeover! [Big Grin]

I had to return them to Mr Buckley for modification, as I omitted to tell him, that we always put 100 feet of protection spacing on the end of reels.

These alarm devices were 100% reliable and would sound accurate to the frame. The Carlton was the last West End cinema on 2,000’ changeovers, and almost with carbon arc lamps until closure in 1974.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 07-26-2005, 11:52 AM:

The Drive-In here in town had alarms very similar to the one in Mark's post. The theatre has been replaced by a motel and a funeral home.

Posted by Bob Koch (Member # 1062) on 07-26-2005, 02:56 PM:

This is the "Cant Scratch" reel end alarm patented by Bobby Tansome an operator in the Orpheum theater in Oakland Ca about 1938-40. He got Elmer Hanks, purchasing agent for the old Fox West Coast circuit, in on the action and soon the damn things were all over the pacific coast and distributed by National Theatre Supoply. Thie first ones were strictly electric, later on he put a bycycle bell and clapper on top and did away with electric. Nobody liked the bell.

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 07-26-2005, 07:42 PM:

Actually I thought they were prettyn cool. Sionce the Cody Theatre was built about that time line those being in there makes sense. I just thought they were unique.... heck, I thought they might also even re-charge the Western Electric batteries while the film is running.

Mark

Posted by Bob Koch (Member # 1062) on 08-01-2005, 08:07 PM:

Mark:
Leave it to you to think about charging the ERPI batteries with this damn thing. We should have had guys like you around in the old days.

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 08-04-2005, 04:44 PM:

The "Can't Scratch" was intended to get out of service the old type with the arm and little metal wheel which rode on the film inside the upper magazine as they scratched a lot of prints because operators failed to keep the wheel clean and lubed. I've worked a lot of booths for Fox West Coast, Sterling and others with the "Can't Scratch" up and down the West Coast and found them very dependable.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 08-08-2005, 11:38 AM:

Those alarm arms look so simple and deceptively benign. But the little wheels do more than just scratch film. They can be vicious little Tasmanian devils. The first theatre I worked at had them and I quickly learned what havoc they can reek. If the reel wind isn't perfectly symmetrical concentric which can easily happen in a splicy reel, as the film winds down to the point where the wheel is just about to fall, a slightly off center wind will cause the arm to jam against the film pack and tear the film. I hated them so much that I began running without any alarm, just being attentive to the end of the reels. OK, so I couldn't read the paper or do home work, but you didn't have to repair ripped film either. It was a stupid idea from the get-go and I would love to hear one of Joe's scathing reviews of one in the Reviews section.

Posted by David Buckley (Member # 2600) on 08-08-2005, 02:58 PM:

You can read the patent number on Mark's photo, 2,124,084, and if you pop over to the Patent Office number search you can have a gander at the original patent...

Another Mr Buckley :-)

Posted by Tim Reed (Member # 137) on 08-11-2005, 09:39 AM:

Try patent number 2,123,084... Centrifugal Switch, R.L. Tanson, July 5, 1938.

[ 08-11-2005, 03:05 PM: Message edited by: Tim Reed ]