universal projector company, No. Hollywood, Calif.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

Now with the extra pics, hopefully you can tell me how to connect this up to an amp. There is that terminal strip you mentioned, but nothing labeled. There are 2 shielded 3 wire cables, so is this stereo? I have not cleaned the head yet to see how many gaps there are. There are no XLR (or any other) connectors on the cabinet, so I guess I would connect to that terminal strip and run the cable down that hole next to the strip and out under the pedestal (there are no exit holes in the pedestal that I can find). Is that projection lamp the 25 hr slide projector type you mentioned above? How big a picture should I get with this type lamp? Thank you again for all of your help. I'll keep an eye out for you for more of these. I work in Hollywood, so they do turn up, but not as often as the big, heavy theater units. Rick

Thanks for the info on the source. That was not too bad of a deal for what you got. (Although candidly ANY 35mm film projector these days is not really worth much more than scrap metal value.) I would be willing to pay you $400 for one of those machines however.

That was a VERY early mechanism, as all the ones I built had the newer Ultramittents and newer style gate/traps.

Ok, lots of questions spread out over the posts. so I'll address the sound first and get to the others after..

• The shielded wires on the left of the strip are one for the mag head and the other for the mono cell. Gently tug on the wires to see which one goes where, as it depends on who at the shop built them as to which was which. I always did mag on the left, optical on the right. When a stereo cell was installed I did left, common, right on the first three screws from the left. You will need at least a microphone mixer to get the sound boosted up to a level for an amplifier. Best to find (and you can get them cheap on ebay) an older cinema processor (Dolby CP50, 500 or 650 or any of the excellent Ultra*Stereo units) as you can get proper eq and levels from it. The mag head will also work with a mic input, but may tend to be bass heavy. Yes the wires go down the hole and usually in installs there were conduits under the base in the floor where the sound and power entered.
• I cannot recall the proper voltage for that exciter lamp. You can find the lamp type stamped on it, and a search will tell you the specs. It is low voltage DC (5-10 volts or so) at a medium current (3-5 amps.) You can probably safely light it with a 6 volt power supply that can do at least 3 amps. Simply connect the output of the DC supply positive to red, negative to white. (A 6 volt lantern battery will work for a test, but it will drain pretty fast.)
• Yes those are regular Simplex aperture plates, I may still have a few stashed away, if not, there are others on the forum here that will have them uncut. (BTW that is the same style plate I lost the bet with Charlie on.)
• Yep that is the 25hr lamp. It will do about a 10 foot wide screen ok. Its biggest drawback is that like any incandescent, at end of life it blows out when you switch it on. When I worked a room with these, I would always turn the lamp on the incoming projector on a few minutes before the reel change to give me time to pop in a new lamp if I had to. Xenons of course stay on at all times between reels, but these you had to always shut it off after the reel was done to help keep the run hours down. If you are skilled enough, one could convert these to another type of lamp with longer life, or maybe even a Marc300 from a 16mm machine.
• That mechanism was interesting as shown from the drive side. The belt path should look familiar to those who know the Christie p-35's. Notice there was also on the pulley above the intermittent a centrifugal mechanism, looks like this one had a fire shutter type mechanism. I had not seen this in my time at UPC, and knowing Charlie that was there on the very early models to get the safety lab listings, but was removed afterwards to save costs.

Speaking of the safety labs, UPC used "L.A. Testing", a local lab, to get a safety listing on the equipment. I asked about Underwriter's Labs testing, and he told me (and I since confirmed) that not only was the fee HUGE, but you had to supply FOUR of each complete product that was subjected to destructive testing so you never got them back. L.A. Labs was approved by the local inspectors, and required only one of each product and the tests were non-destructive, so you got your product back intact. The fee was still pretty hefty for the time, but at least is was far less than UL and they didn't destroy your product.

[Rick Force]

Hi Tony, thank you for the offer. I will think about it. How would you get the projector? You are in Idaho and i'm in Cali.? Since these are very early units, does that mean the mechs. are not good or reliable? These are for home use only, so they would not get many hours on them like in an industrial setting. Hope they hold up. OK, some more questions, sorry . How do I connect the change-overs to work? I didn't see the wiring for them (I have never used them on my previous projectors). What is the upper junction box for (top left in the motor/ gear area)? On the control panel buttons, 2 are marked pic-sound in or out, what is that? Seems strange there is no mfgr. data plate stating model # or volts/ amps (I do know this is standard 117v). Do you know what model this is? You mentioned earlier that the motor you saw was a replacement, both projectors have the same motor. Thank you again for all of your help, information, and putting up with my questions Rick

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

If I were to buy, I would come down to LA to pick it up. I have a few friends that I haven't seen for a while and would like to visit while I am there.

The mechs are ok for home use, and they did pretty good on location work. Some of the industry clients who had these early units and ran a lot of screenings wanted the later units as they were quieter and the picture was more steady (Plus they had Xenons, which meant you got the correct color balance in the projected image.) Those are, again if I recall, the later run motors that didn't have the starting issues. If those motors do have start issues, or run very hot, replace the big capacitor on the top right side (blue and red wires connected). It would, since these are so old, probably be a good idea to do it anyways. The type and specs are printed on it, match as close as possible, do not go lower on voltage or capacitance ("uf") ratings, a bit higher on either is o.k.

**Belt tension is super critical!! Too tight and the machine will have speed stability issues, too loose and the shutter will jump time and you will have loss of film loops. IIRC you want no more than 1/4 inch deflection at the middle of the rear belt in the vertical run on the left, and about the same on the main belt off the motor on the top diagonal run. Remember I did not build any of these early units so I am going on experience with later models and all generations of Christie P35's.

The changeover tie is the two terminals (7and 8) on the bottom of the control box in this picture:

You see the two where the wires were cut off? If you look in the other machine you should see the same two terminals with cut wires, you just connect the two projectors using those two sets. I can see that the color of the wire used is visible here, and hopefully is on the other as well. Match the colors when you connect them together. I think (you must remember we are talking about over 35 years ago now) that the connections are crossed (i.e. 7 on first machine connects to 8 on the other , 8 on the first connects to 7 on the other). If you connect them wrong, no harm will result, but the changeovers will operate together (i.e. both open or close with one button) rather than in opposition. Since there was no tie of the neutral (common) wire, for the changeovers to work BOTH projectors have to be plugged in for them to work. (the hows and whys are too complex to explain here in what is already a long winded post.)

The pic/sound In and out are the changeover buttons, it was just a poor choice of labeling.. And before you ask, I can't recall the function of, or wiring involved, the Remote button. I would have to actually tear down and operate one of these to figure it all out.

Speaking of changeovers, there is not (and never was) a built in contact for triggering a sound processor P1/P2 select. We used to use Potter and Brumfield 120v ac coil latching relays tied to one of the changeovers. That was usually mounted either in Projector #1 (Left side machine) or in the wiring gutter on the front wall.

Later units had a model and limited data plate (Required as part of the safety listing) but none of the early stuff did. And BTW if you don't see any label from LA labs inside, these were never tested. As an electrician by trade, and having done a lot of my own controls and design work, even though these aren't listed, I can say that Charlie was pretty good about using the right sizes of wire and observing good wiring practices overall, so I would consider these early machines electrically safe. (But I would replace the power cords as they look to be getting old and brittle.)

That said, I do have to add that in today's litigious society, (and this was not an issue 40 years ago) IF one of these machines fails and starts a fire in your house, your insurance company may refuse to pay out since these do not have a safety agency listing. So it is always best to make sure you unplug them when not in use, and if you install a booth for a "permanent" setup, make sure each machine is on it's own breaker (with those lamps you have to because the combined draw of both lamps and the machines is just over 20 amps IIRC.) with the breakers clearly labeled. Keep the breakers off unless you're running them. And of course, NEVER, EVER project any nitrate film on these (or any other projector) at home!

[Rick Force]

Thank you Tony for that wealth of information. You have helped me a lot! Yes, there are no LA labs stickers (or any other labeling, except for the motors) anywhere in these 2 machines (so far). Not sure about the rewinder, haven't had them long enough (got them last Tuesday 9-30-20) to really examine them. I don't recall seeing any wires coming out of the changeovers, so I have to assume they are wired directly to the control box somehow for those last terminals to be functional. I have more digging around with these to do to get more intimate with them . But thanks to you, I have a better idea how to hook these up and use them. These are quite different than the other projectors I have had over the years. I'll post my progress here as I make headway with them, Rick

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

The changeover wires are in the black heat shrink tubing, the white, black and brown attached to terminals 1, 3 and 4 respectively. That is a replacement coil as the older, original "Zipper" changeovers had cloth covered wire.

Good luck and keep us posted on the cleanup and running of these machines.

[Rick Force]

will do Tony Do you know what year this was probably made from what you see in the pics? Thanks again, Rick

[Sean McKinnon]

Thank you for posting the pics Rick! What a cool machine! It does look very much like a P-35...

[Sam Chavez]

One of the shortcomings of the Ajar and the subsequent Christie projector is the choice of sound lens. This lens was also used in Cinemeccanica projectors and featured a crude version of an iris to set the length of the slit of light. This lens was also used in some 16mm machines, hence the need for the adjustable slit. This compromised playback of Dolby Stereo film tracks on every projector so equipped. The main shortcoming was in lighting the edges of the soundtracks where the really loud peaks occur. Effects like gunshots end up sounding soft and mushy.

Another shortcoming was the shutter system which plagued Christie for a couple of decades. The Ajar was a nifty small home screening projector but as the quality requirements for both picture and sound came up, both revealed some shortcomings. Ancient history for sure.

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

This has been a really interesting thread, thanks for all the info Tony & Sam. But as Sam mentioned, there were a number of short comings with them. In servicing post centers around Chicago in the mid 80's I ran into a set of these at one place (I think it was Editel) and was the on call maintenance tech for their film projectors. I never could get very flat light out of them and the sound guys were never happy with the mag playback, plus those Moviola clutches were the real damning element. Strong also used those dam clutches on their review projectors. So when I was offered my first location movie gig I went in a completely different direction. I will mention that through out 45 films, no one ever wanted to go in reverse to see a reel or take over again. It's a good thing, because I did not incorporate reverse into my systems.

[Sean McKinnon]

I know one place where the use of a "Rock N' Roll" machine was necessary was the mixing/dub stage. From what I hear a lot of Kinoton E projectors got installed in those types of locations.

[John Eickhof]

i knew charlie and worked on servicing his high speed print inspection machines...ie simplex standards with modified high rpm bodine variable speed drives and 24 tooth sprockets, these were used in the pre shipping depts at the studios to inspect color and picture qulity running at 48-72 frames pe second, the standards were pretty much stock with gits oilers to the principal shaftsthat charlie fitted with sintered bronze insert bushings to support the higher shaft speeds plus reduce wear with simple changeout of worn parts... and they were mos or 'mit-out-sound' as they were for visual picture quality only, there was usually a bank of 12 or more in a room operated by female film inspectors and select reels would be checked, they ran 8-10 hours a day! it was amazing how the old standards held up! i used to service a few of the later upc xl machines in smaller home screening rooms, i never had problems with the moviola takeups (once they were adjusted) and they were necessary for 'rock and roll' or forward / reverse projection. Howard straight designed the forward / reverse film trap for the xl and was a good friend of charlie's also. . the earlier daily machines had a modified sh-1000 soundhead without the regular gearbox and dry gears on the drive with the motor directly driving the xl kind of like the century msa direct drive projector by gilmer belt with a pulley driving the soundhead and a custom cut gearset in the xl. the aperture plates were the regular xl slip in type, the standards used the stock apertures too. early machines used a 1500 watt mazda lamp, then kneisley developed the xenex pup with charlie in mind and he used them with a 500 watt xenon, then the later machines could be used with other larger lamphoses. my memories of him are good, he was definitely a charactor !

[Sam Chavez]

Speaking of characters, so happy to hear you're on this side of the dirt. Please PM me and let me know how you are. Also, someone told me you are way younger than I thought. I know, it's not the age, it's the mileage!

[Jim Cassedy]

When I was working at Diner/Allied Film Labs in San Francisco in the late 1980's, we had one of these projectors in a small screening room which they occasionally used to QC 35mm prints (most were checked on a flatbed Movieola) or if a client wanted to come in and run a few reels or to run "dailes" for out of town producers filming in here SF. It had a small Xenon lamphouse on it, but I really don't recall much about that. Their projector was also hooked up to an optical encoder/selsyn system so they could run separate sound tracks & there was also large film counter display that was positioned under the screen so they could log shots while viewing. I believe I made & saved copies of the tech docs for this projector, but I've recently had to re-locate and a lot of that stuff is still in storage. I know I don't have them "here" in my apartment now, or I'd be happy to share what I've got.

[Tony Bandiera Jr]

will do Tony Do you know what year this was probably made from what you see in the pics? Thanks again, Rick

Not sure, best guess would be early 1980's as I was there around 1986/87. I ran an Ajar machine on the Rom/Com "Surrender" with Sally Field.

Not only did I get to slate a few shots, (the scene with Sally and Steve Guttenberg in the limo) but I also did get my first (and only) screen credit:


https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094078...=tt_cl_sm#cast

(Scroll down to "Location Management" , IMDB gave me promotion evidently, I was originally listed with the camera crew...)

[Rick Force]

Hi Jim. I would love to buy a copy of any documentation you have on this projector, Rick
Hi Tony, thank you for the info. Yeah, I found you way at the bottom of the list , Rick