Premier

PREMIER PATHESCOPE 28MM PROJECTOR

First, my very own beautiful Premier.

Dave Richardson found these pix in a cinema handbook dating to 1921. The case for the Premier is just like the one I have, tho' I do not have the resistance.

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Some splendid pictures of an American Premier Pathescope from Alain Gomet. It is in superb condition, with original packing case and instruction book and a classy, brassy switch with separate controls for lamp and motor. It also has a lamp resistance, something I had not previously come across; presumably it travelled in the upright position and was lowered for use.

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Dino Everett spotted a fascinating machine on ebay - an obvious clone of the 28mm Premier Pathescope - or vice versa. Dino tends to the view the 35mm came first, a notion which seems logical and is supported by the wonderfully primitive motor, with a very useful inching knob. But very few other changes apart from the obvious and the name plate. Imust admit I have always wondered how on earth Willard Beech Cooke came up with an excellent 28mm projector from thin air, and this must surely be the answer - he didn't, he just copied an existing 35mm machine. 

There is a shaft at the back, absent from my 28mm version, which may have been for an external motor, or an output to ...... what? The friction brake present on my 28 is missing, tho' there may be a hole where it fits...... The most difficult feature to reconcile is that tiny two-bladed shutter. Is it original? I can't see how anything that small could do the job, and a two-bladed one would maybe need to rotate faster anyway, which would require changing gear ratios, which could be tricky. I assume it is a purely cosmetic addition for display purposes by a sometime owner. So it appears Cooke  simply copied the 35mm machine - not much more than badge engineering - and bought in a batch of surplus sewing machine motors (mine literally states that on its maker's plate) for the drive, to overcome the shortcomings of the KOK and, no doubt, to cope with lack of supplies of the KOK from a France at war. I wonder if there is any link to the Peerless company that made the early Triplico-type machine and the SP Wundatone?

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These are from the New Zealand Chapter, ie Trevor Adams. I had meant to try them as a PDF, but the verdammten computer insisted on turning one group or another of the pix on their sides.

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Dino Everett has been selling the family silver and bought a Premier Pathescope 28mm. He has kindly sent these pix of the lamp and box he got with it.

After this general intro to the Premier, more detail can be found in repair work I did for a couiple of friends, chronicled over the following pages.