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Australian Made Ciné Equipment …… (Continued)

This month, we look at a couple of accessories – an area of Australian manufacture
which is often overlooked.

The Easton Rewinder

Made in the Sydney suburb of Annandale by
A. Easton & Son, these rewinders are pretty
much the industry standard in Australia.
Produced in both 16mm and 35mm
versions, as well as a ‘universal’ version,
they are very robust and failures are
unheard of.
The rewinder uses a chain drive internally
and the handle is turned in the ‘logical’
direction for winding (clockwise rotation of
handle, results in clockwise rotation of the
film reel). A ‘dummy end’ version was also
produced, where rewind only is required.

Left: The Easton 16mm Rewinder

The Gilkon 9.5mm rewinder.

Best known for their projector stands, Gilkon also made a range of other equipment.
This 9.5mm rewinder is a good example of a great product. Again, good design was
involved, this
time the
rewind head
incorporate a
third gear
inside, which
made for
‘logical’
winding as in
the Easton.

The Gilkon company is still active in Sydney, having moved onto the supply of Audio
Visual and similar equipment.

“Australian Made” is an on-going series of articles documenting locally made ciné
equipment. If you have something in your collection, or can provide an article – we
would love to hear from you. It doesn’t have to be a major piece of equipment – many
accessory items (winders, reels, splicers, etc) were made here.
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