Page 5 - 2014-12

On calling to his house, he brought out the little Ernemann, in a very dusty / dirty
condition in a very tatty cardboard box, commenting that it had been under his
bed for at least 20 years. We negotiated a price for it and he was very pleased
with the deal (so was I).

After a cup of coffee, which he insisted I must have to fortify me for the return
journey ‘all the way back to Geelong”, I was about to leave, when he said did I
want the films to go with it? What a silly question! Of course I did!

Out came another box, this time full of 35 mm films - nitrate of course - these
like the projector were covered in twenty years of dust, also being located under
his bed.

He didn’t want any money for the films, he assumed they were part of the deal,
even though I didn’t know about them and being perhaps, too naive to ask if he
had any films for the projector.

On checking them when I got home, I found that most of them had deteriorated
to the point that they were sticky and had obviously ‘gone off’ as poorly stored
nitrate is apt to do.
There was one film that I can remember, which I still have, minus the last few
feet which have ‘gone off’ and that is The Adventures of a Five Pound Note
Made in the UK in 1908 by Cecil Hepworth.

I had no reason to contact the elderly gentleman again, but I wonder what his
reaction would have been had I told him he was sleeping on a time bomb. The
nitrate was in very poor condition and at the stage when temperature or
humidity changes could have caused to to ignite.

Details of the projector

The little machine was made
in Germany around 1920 by
Krupp-Ernemann Kinoappa-
rate GmbH of Dresden.
(Roughly translated = Krupp-
Ernemann (company name)
Cinema Apparatus Co).
Of course the Ernemann
Company became one of the
world’s leading manufactur-
ers of 35 mm cinema projec-
tors.
REEL DEALS December 2014 5