Whenever I get a new 16mm film I am always interested to see who made the reels it came on and whether there are any made by a company I haven't heard of before. I have one 400ft reel with War Department markings, and the initials of the Army Kinematograph Services.

Robert, I am on the fanatical side about some things. For example, I received a 400' film on a currently made reel that had a website address molded on it. Something about that just didn't set well with me! After all, my collection was manufactured long before the days of the Internet. Am I extreme?

Hi Timothy, I know what you mean, a couple of years back I had a 16mm feature from 1950 on metal reels, and a 1930s film on plastic reels, so I swapped them over so that the reels were more in keeping with the age of the film. During the heyday of Super 8 (70s and a bit of 80s), I used to buy reels to put my home movies on, one reel was 50 feet, so I would often buy a 400ft reel. Maybe someone bought a new reel because the one your film on got damaged.

You can also see it from the bright side. Someone still produces filmreels!

What seems a bit odd in 16mm is that you get lots of different manufacturers, and each one has patent numbers. You can sometimes find the patents online but one reel seems very much like another, I don't know what the difference is that someone wants to take out a patent.

I see what you meen. I also like to have reels to fit the age of my films. I have som old standard 8 films on paper reels. I guess they where produced in the 40´s when metal was used for war production

That's interesting Mat, I never knew that.

Robert,
I'm sure the old reel was warped. The film was badly faded and saturated (not treated, but saturated) with Filmguard. My guess is that the print was found (dried out and brittle no doubt) in a very hot attic somewhere. But I can't complain too much as I did get a full refund for it.

That new reel also had an inferior quality to it (as if it was made from recycled plastics).

Here's a case about a reel. Going back about 7 years I bought a 400ft 16mm off Ebay for 99p, someone had not rewound the film on to the original reel, and it came on a 1600ft take up reel. The film was in a shocking state and I put it on a 400ft reel and gave it to a charity shop. The 1600ft reel has UK patent numbers on it, which I looked up and found the following.



Improvements in spools for kinematographic and like film strips. 563,004. Film spools. ACME SHOWCARD & SIGN CO., Ltd., and WISBEY, S. April 8, 1943, No. 5654. The core consists of a sheet metal strip 1 provided internally with spaced bearings or guides 4 housing the shanks 7 of rivets connecting the side plates together. The guides may be produced by forming parallel slits in the strip and pressing out the metal between them; one, two, or more such guides may be provided for each rivet, and three or more rivets may be used for each spool.

The full patent is available to read online and consists of 2 and half sheets. I don't use the reel, I prefer a plastic take up reel, but it's a nice item to go with a projector I have of almost the same age.

Reading the patent it seems that the usual method of joining the plates to the core was by soldering, then painting it after. The inventor said that the plates were liable to come apart with abnormal handling, so his design is one where the plates are held to the core with 7 rivets; mine has 8 rivets.

Here´s a photo of the paper reel

Thanks Mat. In England there was a shortage of metal and they would remove peoples iron railings and gates to melt down to use for the war effort. They also recycled paper.

Spools are a film collecting fetish of mine too. I am always interested by them on any gauge. I have some 9.5mm ones made of a fibre material.
I think they were made by Pathescope.

I don't collect them, but I am always interested to see if there is any manufacturer's name. One or two can't be found searching on Google?, I'll look them out when I have time. I have a couple of Pathescope films, I think one or both are on reels made of a brown material; don't have a 9.5mm projector.

I found one 400ft reel stamped 'Kino Reels' N.Y. City Patent Pending. Can't find anything on them on the internet.

You seasoned collectors have probably encountered reels like these, but I do find them unusual. The one on the left is from a Kodak projector and the one on the right is from a projector made for Montgomery Ward (a former U.S. retailer). I use the Kodak reel often as a take up reel. The one on the left doesn't get used at all and frankly, I find it kind of ugly. Both were made during the 1970's.

I bet some designer made top dollars to create these.

Oops! I meant to say the one on the RIGHT is the ugly one!

There aint half some crap looking film spools out there. hahaha !!!

Regarding the paper (or fiber) reels,I would most certainly bet those were produced during wartime due to shortages. On another hobby front,the famous model train company Lionel even made a paper train train set during this same period due to metal rationing.