Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Brenkert Question ????

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Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 11-09-2013, 05:21 PM:

I have always wanted to know if Brenkert was a division or subsidiary of RCA.Most of our older defunct Drive-ins here used Brenkert equipment.The oldest used BX40 Projectors and the newest used BX80s.The projectionist for the BX80s thought they were great and he rated them right up there at the Top.I know RCA made 16mm AV projectors as well as TV projectors like the TP6 & 66 but did they ever produce any 35mm projectors that said RCA on them besides the Soundheads?...TIA...sm [Confused]

Posted by Jim Cassedy (Member # 4115) on 11-09-2013, 06:30 PM:

I have a lot of old RCA sales literature here, and I know they distributed
Brenkert equipment and at some point took over the Brenkert company.
There's an old thread that has a lot of RCA/Brenkert info HERE

Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 11-10-2013, 01:02 AM:

Thanks Jim, That was a History lesson Galore...Great info...sm [Wink]

Posted by Robert E. Allen (Member # 1351) on 11-10-2013, 12:52 PM:

To confirm what Jim said I have run RCA machines that looked exactly like the Brenkerts.

Posted by Robert Koch (Member # 3728) on 11-10-2013, 05:32 PM:

Karl Brenkert made stage arc spotlights,Brenograph effect machines.arc steropticans long before he brought out his BX 80 projector in 1939. The association with RCA came later. RCA never ever manufactured a projector. They only had a decal that they applied to the Brenkert projectors. The original BX 80 was a radical innovation at the time. Full oil bath, counter rotating rear shutters and a fine intermittent movement among other things that I cant remember at my advanced age. The real bad thing about Brenkerts was that they drove so tough. You would lose the top bronze gear in an RCA or Simplex SH 1000 soundhead long before you would on Simplex, Century, Motiograph and other projectors. Brenkerts enarc lamp also could be operated with no cone, half cone, or full cone depending on which mirror you installed 34", 31" or 29!/2 " for drive ins. For this reason you could always get more lite than a Magnarc that could only accomadate a 34" mirror.

Posted by Barry Floyd (Member # 385) on 11-10-2013, 05:50 PM:

I ran a Brenkert BX-60 here at my drive-in in Tennessee for 5 years up until last December when we yanked all the 35mm stuff out for digital. Parts were very hard to come by, so I had several spare heads sitting at home int he garage to scavenge parts from if necessary.

I believe the BX-100's were badged "RCA" instead of Brenkert. I saw a pair of 100's at the Parkway Drive-in in Marysville, TN running 6000' change-overs. Don't know if they ever converted to digital or not, but I'm pretty sure the BX-100's were badged with the RCA plate instead of the Brenkert plate.

Posted by Richard Fowler (Member # 893) on 11-11-2013, 04:21 AM:

The late Charlie Wolk said he did active negotiation in acquiring stock and manufacturing rights for Brenkert and RCA in the mid to late 1950's. He expected the hardware sales would last 20 years, so he was happy when sales continued way past that time frame.

Posted by Donald Brown (Member # 5427) on 11-11-2013, 03:18 PM:

Were there any Brenkert 100s manufactured that carried the unique Brenkert manufacturer's label that was common to the company's earlier machines?
Don Brown

Posted by John Eickhof (Member # 323) on 11-11-2013, 04:45 PM:

No, all of the 100s I have seen through the years had the RCA 'meatball' in the operating door glass and the interior model ID plate was Brenkert Model BX-100. After Brenkert mfg. was shut down, RCA contracted with Century to supply a model P-100 which was a run of the mill HH model with curved water cooled trap and the RCA meatball on the door as well as a RCA ID plate where the normal Century ID plate was on the front of the machine. It was also painted the usual RCA brown wrinkle on the outside, and Navajo white (cream) colored interior. Normally coupled to a MI-9030 or MI-9050. They sold through the 1950s up until Wolk purchased all the motion picture assets of RCA and Brenkert in the very early 1960s. Of course, even with the Century, the supplied changeover was the H model Zipper but had the RCA name on it!

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 11-11-2013, 09:18 PM:

I saw the same thing as John, even the Zippers was RCA badged, plus Ashcrafts badged RCA.

I serviced a DI with an all RCA booth, even the indoor junction boxes were RCA brown.

Then there were the outdoor and indoor speakers...

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 11-12-2013, 01:43 PM:

There was even a Century branded with the RCA Meatball n the glass and I think it was the Model H. I;ve only ever seen one of those. Musta been sold after the Brenkerts were discontinued...

Mark

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 11-12-2013, 02:15 PM:

My understanding is also that Brenkert made their models up through the 80. RCA only branded the 100, which, as I recall, was the hardest to drive. Earlier Brenkerts seemed to be no problem.

It was a good marketing idea, I think... RCA branded everything, whether they made it or not. Made for a nice turnkey booth.

I don't recall seeing an arc lamp power supply though. The drive-in I grew up at was mostly RCA, except for the well-used Wenzel Ace projectors and the Hobart generator.

Posted by Scott Norwood (Member # 30) on 11-12-2013, 02:42 PM:

Hobart?!? As in, the people who make restaurant equipment?

Posted by Sam D. Chavez (Member # 1841) on 11-12-2013, 03:22 PM:

Reminds me of the shear pin in the Brenkert main drive. It would break from time to time as a testament as to how hard the sound head was working to drive the picture head.

Posted by Jack Ondracek (Member # 1466) on 11-12-2013, 08:54 PM:

quote: Scott Norwood
Hobart?!? As in, the people who make restaurant equipment?

The same. They make welders, too. Our generator was a 15 horse job. A fan was mounted in the middle of the common shaft, and blew on a side-mounted ballast. Other than cleaning the commutator now and then and giving the bearings a little grease, it was reliable up to the day they converted to xenon. I think we only changed the brushes once or twice in the 40 some-odd years it ran.

quote: Sam D. Chavez
Reminds me of the shear pin in the Brenkert main drive. It would break from time to time as a testament as to how hard the sound head was working to drive the picture head

I ran through a couple of paper clips before I learned to keep spare pins onhand.

Posted by Dick Prather (Member # 1136) on 11-13-2013, 12:03 AM:

The RCA 100 series was a updated BX-80 built by Brenkert after RCA bought them. 100's had an optional 4" lens barrel. We kept calling them Brenkert 100 projectors.

The two RCA machines I rebuilt were called a RCA 200. They were a standard 4" lens barrel Century C with a flat trap & gate. They were painted in Brenkert Brown & cream. They hade the RCA meatball in the glass and a red RCA serial plate in front.

Came out of a DI in Sweet Home, OR. One went to the Red Vic Theatre in San Francisco, CA and the other to a collection in Chicago.
Dick

Posted by Robert Koch (Member # 3728) on 11-22-2013, 07:06 PM:

Jack Ondracek
ALL models of Brenkerts drove"tough"

Posted by John Eickhof (Member # 323) on 12-05-2013, 05:56 PM:

Dick, you are correct about the model number, I went to the shop and my projector is a RCA P-200 on the nameplate, however, it is an HH as it has the double shutters, H style 4" lens mount and the hard curved trap and gate, plus the changeover is the H/SA type that mounts on top the head, not the rear like the C.
As for hard starting..when I had to equip the Crest Theatre in Sacramento 20 years ago, I had 3 days to come up with a two machine booth for 20min changeovers! I had a pair of BX-80s and Motiograph SH-7500s! They did not have the usual leland motors, but had GE split phase motors! They started so fast the pins would break almost every time! Finally found a couple leland double shaft motors, installed a flywheel on the open end, that helped reduce the shear pin losses until I replaced the motios with SH-1012 soundheads years later! The union operator could change out a shear pin in less than 60 seconds!! They bought them by the dozens and had the hanging on a nail in front of each machine!

Posted by Donald Brown (Member # 5427) on 12-05-2013, 08:44 PM:

John:
Do you know what distinguishes the RCA P 200 that you have from from the RCA 200 B that I have encountered?
The operator using it has never been able to locate a manual for that specific model.
Thanks,
Don Brown

Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 12-07-2013, 11:34 PM:

Just scoped this BX80 out on Ebay.Nice looking unit but whats the parts availability now days for these? I'll bet I can get it for a lot less than $1500... [Roll Eyes]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Brenkert-VINTAGE-CINEMA-Movie-Equipment-35mm-Film-Projector-HUGE-Complete-Extras-/221324453138?pt=US_Movie_Slide_Projectors&hash=item3387f72512

Posted by John Eickhof (Member # 323) on 12-09-2013, 02:38 PM:

Don, I don't know any differences, however if they were keeping with earlier RCA soundhead specs, the 'B' would indicate 'Brenkert colors' ie: 'RCA Brown' wrinkle exterior and 'Navajo White' interior (MI-9030-B) The 'A' would indicate Black wrinkle exterior and appliance white interior. (MI-9030-A) they were supplied for installations with non Brenkert projector heads. RCA magazines also came in the two different paint schemes. As for a manual, I have one for the RCA 200 but it is simply a Century H/HH parts manual with rubber stamped 'RCA-200' on the cover. Otherwise it matches my H/HH parts manual exactly.

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 12-09-2013, 04:58 PM:

Every BX-200 I have ever seen looked exactly like a C. You have one that looks like an H. that must be the difference and, the timing is right.

Posted by Rick Green (Member # 313) on 12-10-2013, 06:05 PM:

Hi John,
You're right about the shear pins at the Crest. I also got pretty good at changing out the fiber shutter gear in the Brenkerts. The fast start on the Motiographs had a nasty habit of munching the fiber gears!
Rick

Posted by Robert Koch (Member # 3728) on 12-12-2013, 04:51 PM:

I cant imagine a more nightmarish situation than a Motiograph 7500 reproducer trying to drive a Brenkert.

Posted by Gordon McLeod (Member # 33) on 12-12-2013, 05:18 PM:

Ballantyne Model 6 driving a brenkert is worse

Posted by Louis Bornwasser (Member # 3063) on 12-12-2013, 05:54 PM:

Gordon is right. I replaced a lot of Brenkert main drives (and safety fuses) until I tamed the Ballantyne. 200 watt 4 ohm adjustable resistor did the trick. louis

Posted by Mark Gulbrandsen (Member # 72) on 12-14-2013, 11:32 AM:

quote: Robert Koch
I cant imagine a more nightmarish situation than a Motiograph 7500 reproducer trying to drive a Brenkert.

How about a Motiograph 7500 driving a Super Simplex? Talk about going through a lot of G-87's!