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Author Topic: Need ID on old Simplex Christopher Dodson Film Handler Posts: 4 From: Jamestown, ND, USA Registered: Nov 2019 posted 11-15-2019 01:57 PM                     I hope this is the right place for this question. I am working with a state hospital to record its history. A Simplex projector was found in storage. It was used at some point to show movies to patients. We are not looking to restore it, we would just like to get some information on when it was made and possibly used. It looks to have a serial number of 14428. I can post a picture if necessary. Can anyone help give us a time frame for this projector?  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-15-2019 02:34 PM                     There should be a model number on the name plate near the place where you found the serial number. That would be helpful in pinning down the identification. A picture would also be helpful. There are various types of Simplex projector. The ones I am used to working on have model numbers like “PR-xxxx.” However, there was also a portable version of the Simplex, IIRC. That would be a different animal from the “Simplex XL” version that was common in movie theaters. There might be other versions of Simplex projector but my memory is spotty. Get us a picture and a model number, if you can find one, and somebody should be able to zero you in on the information you want.  |  IP: Logged Christopher Dodson Film Handler Posts: 4 From: Jamestown, ND, USA Registered: Nov 2019 posted 11-15-2019 02:59 PM                     Here is a pic of the front.  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-15-2019 03:07 PM                        Looks like a Simplex standard (predecessor to the Super Simplex). Here's a video of one that I only post because the guy describing it has almost no idea what he is talking about. Simplex and a Guys Who Knows Nothing  |  IP: Logged Phillip Grace Expert Film Handler Posts: 164 From: ACMI. Melbourne. Australia. Registered: Mar 2004 posted 11-15-2019 05:19 PM                     Here is what I can call to mind. The photo shows a Regular Simplex projector head. The original design dates to about 1909. It was a highly successful machine and may be found all over the world. Production of this model continued at least into the 1930's. Precision Machine Company was taken over the International Projector Co. in 1926 which indicates this unit was made prior to that date. The manufacturers made various improvements as the production run continued. There were also many companies which produced after-market spare parts and modifications. The original version was a front-shutter machine. In the 1930's both front shutter and rear shutter versions were available simultaneously from IPC. As these machines were so well supported world-wide many of them had very long working lives. I know of one installation where a pair of P.M.Co. built Regular Simplex ran for over 60 years, finally being taken out of service in 1999. Hope this helps.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-15-2019 08:33 PM                     That's a pretty high serial number so I'm going to say 1926 to 1928. I think it was discontinued when the Super Simplex came out in 1928. A friend had serial #100 for many years. There does exist a list with SN and year made. But the person that had that list passed away a few years ago. Mark  |  IP: Logged Christopher Dodson Film Handler Posts: 4 From: Jamestown, ND, USA Registered: Nov 2019 posted 11-16-2019 09:18 AM                     Thanks for the help. With this information we might be able to track down a purchase date. Something like this probably was recorded in the hospital's records. State psychiatric hospitals in those days were like mini-communities. An "amusement hall" was built around that time.  |  IP: Logged Mark Gulbrandsen Resident Trollmaster Posts: 16657 From: Music City Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-16-2019 12:34 PM                     quote: Martin McCaffery Here's a video of one that I only post because the guy describing it has almost no idea what he is talking about. LOL! I just watched that... and what a joke. I never knew there was a lens in the front end of a Peerless. But he does have a nice Weber Synchrophone!! Mark  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-16-2019 01:19 PM                        Is this yours? It may not be the one you have in hand, as this could have been replaced somewhere along the line Jamestown Weekly Alert December 9, 1920  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-16-2019 02:43 PM                     quote: Martin McCaffery Here's a video of one that I only post because the guy describing it has almost no idea what he is talking about. It appears like the guy is a docent or tour guide at some kind of museum or visitor's center or some such place. He's probably a volunteer who has had only brief "training," if you could call it that. I've worked in and around places like that and most of what the docents say is hearsay that's been repeated over and over until they just get used to babbling out bullshit like it's the truth. Most people who go to these places and take the tours rarely pay attention to more than the most superficial of details. The most they are likely to remember is that they saw "an old movie projector."  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-16-2019 03:09 PM                        Randy: From the video description quote: This was filmed in a Burger King in Aurora Ilinois, USA  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-16-2019 03:26 PM                        Why would they have a film projector at a Burger King?  |  IP: Logged Martin McCaffery Film God Posts: 2481 From: Montgomery, AL Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-16-2019 05:36 PM                        Maybe they're built into an old theatre.  |  IP: Logged Randy Stankey Film God Posts: 6539 From: Erie, Pennsylvania Registered: Jun 99 posted 11-16-2019 06:39 PM                     That explains a lot! Why should some, seemingly random, guy at a Burger King have any knowledge of movie projectors? You're right. It is probably located in an old building that used to be a movie theater or something like that.  |  IP: Logged Will Kutler Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1506 From: Tucson, AZ, USA Registered: Feb 2001 posted 11-17-2019 01:22 AM                     Hi Christopher I have the Simplex serial number build dates thanks to Hank Taylor via Dick Prather. Looks like yours was built 1920-1921. Please also note that regarding everyone's favorite You-Tube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFrsaV8NvwE, I was the 1st to respond to it on You-Tube 5+ years ago and the originator never acknowledged or took corrective action as suggested.  |  IP: Logged

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