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to this market. It was agreed with the film a pulley on the main crankshaft. The twin
manufacturers that the new gauge of 28mm horizontally disposed claws were spring-loaded
would be produced only on safety film. so that they rode against the film during the up-
stroke and a single-blade shutter obscured the
The choice of 28mm made it uneconomical for
gate during the pull- down. Because of the very
unscrupulous suppliers to slit down and re-
dim image the resulting flicker could be
perforate from 35mm nitrate stock. Also the
tolerated.
nominal dimensions of the picture frame of
15mm x 20mm with a pitch of 15mm had the
It took considerable effort to wind 400ft of film,
same ratio of image height to image width as
lasting some 8 or 9 minutes at a nominal 16 fps,
35mm silent film so that it was a simple
through the machine as I can testify from
printing procedure to produce 28mm prints
personal experience. A second French version
from 35mm negatives without image loss. This
used a large 'toast rack' dropping resistor to
was of considerable importance to Pathe
supply the lamp from any available 110 volt
because of the large number of 35mm films
supply but the mechanism still had to be hand-
they had already amassed. Unlike 35mm film,
cranked.
which has four perforations per frame each side
the 28mm format for projection prints has one After its introduction in France the KOK
perforation per frame on one side but three per projector was imported into Great Britain by
frame on the other; projector sprockets were Pathescope Ltd., a company set up to sell the
made similarly. This arrangement ensured that new machine as well as other Pathescope
the film was always correctly laced in the products. The same company also opened a
projector, both laterally and for correct framing. comprehensive library of films at offices in
(Fig l.) Piccadilly; these were released on 400ft reels.
(Ref 6). However, after the KOK appeared in
the UK in 1912 it was reviewed in Ref 7, which
states that it was sold, by Houghtons Ltd., 88-89
High Holborn, London. Attention is drawn to
this in Ref 8, which also goes into detail as to
how the original patents for the 28mm system,
and the KOK projector arose. Alternatively Ref
9 states that Houghtons were the British agents
initially and their advertising of 1913 stated,
"You have the advantage of being able to
choose your own subjects from the large
Fig 2 selection of films comprised in the Pathe list..."
The KOK (This raises the interesting question of which
happened first. Did Pathe use Houghtons as
In 1912 Pathe produced the well-known KOK
their agents to establish a foothold in Great
projector, (Fig 2), and this was patented in
Britain and later establish their own offices and
Britain on 2nd May 1 91 2. (Ref 5). It was hand
library in Piccadilly to take over from Houghton
cranked and power for the 6 volt 0.7 ampere
later? Or did Pathescope establish themselves in
lamp was provided by a small direct current
Great Britain and later employ Houghtons as
generator (described in some literature as a
their outlet/agents because they had many other
magneto), mounted under the claw and lens
projects to deal with? There is no indication of
mounting compartment. It was belt driven from