Original archived forum discussion thread from 22 years ago:
The Loop-Matic in operation today:
The Loop-Matic in operation today:
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Cool gadget!
Am I seeing something, or do you end up with a crease in the middle of the film where it switches reels? -
What a neat machine! I've seen this very example in person, but not in operation.Comment
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No crease is created. Blow the video up full screen and look closely. You will see it leaves a loop of film inside the hub. Incidentally, each time it reverses, the foot-long loop of film inside the hub moves slightly, so the first time the movie plays the entire film will be on the upper spool, but each subsequent time there will be more and more film on the lower spool at intermission.Comment
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What a Rube Goldberg device. I'm glad it died in infancy. I helped install one at the Geneva Drive-In in SF/Daly City. It ran with much trouble for a week or two and was gone forever. Prints look a beating and this was before Mylar film. Can't recall what was involved in fixing a film break or miss frame.Comment
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Sounds like that one either had the film initially loaded incorrectly (the starting tension is critical that it be correct) or the various settings on the side of the machine were not set correctly. This machine in the video runs quite smooth and is definitely not rough on the film. The original owner Fred Schoenfeld did make some upgrades to this one though, so perhaps that had something to do with your troubles as well.Comment
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That installation was a first attempt at full automation so was met with a lot of skepticism. The booth was quite filthy and that never helps anything.Comment
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What a beautiful and unnecessarily complicated machine! It’s a pleasure to watch running!Comment
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What an interesting contraption. I wonder at the people that had to have spent some considerable time "perfecting" its operation to only see it be declared junk and not gain market success. It definitely has flaws to it (having two layers of film going over the same roller all but guarantees that he layers will rub against each other but, given the target market of its time, such cinch marks would likely be considered insignificant.
I'd think the bigger issue would be, as other have pointed out, what happens when the film breaks? How easy is it to add/remove trailers? If you are eliminating the projectionist with this, who, suddenly, becomes an expert at dealing with the unplanned?Comment
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There was one still in place in the down town theater in Cedar City, Utah. The manager there said It was never used by him nor the guy before him. Clever for sure! No doubt this inventor went on to design the Kaman K-Max helicopter whose two rotor blades barely miss each other at every rotation.Comment
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Brad, thanks for getting this beast in video finally!! I was trying to get the idea of how it works from the original thread's discussions and pictures but it made no sense.
Now it makes sense sort of.
Would like to see the reverse side to see what's going on there too.
This would have been better for the Knott's old 3D movie, I had put a late model Christie ELF in there.
Is that Kinoton mounted to that MUT as a portable setup, or is it just sitting there for this demonstration?Comment
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When I can get the spare time I'll see about grabbing some video or photos of the rear. That Kinoton is just sitting on the MUT as a means to drive the film, nothing more.
Mark G - which specific theater in Cedar City?Comment
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So, when do we get videos of the makeup and breakdown process? The makeup procedure is addressed in the video description, and I am especially curious about how to break down a film from this thing.Comment
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Brad...
The Cedar Theater. This location was shut down back when Westates owned it, probably about 2009. Was a pretty awful theater overall and since they did not own the building they built a new Stadium 8 on the south end of town off of I-15. I do know the Cedar was gutted, likely rebuilt other purposes. There are a lot of other theaters there as well, but for live use by The Shakespeare Festival.Comment
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Wow! 22 years later!!! I was 17 when the original thread was started!!!
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