A Pathe 17.5mm advert from the mid 1930s.

I think there is only a couple of these machines here in the UK still working.

The 17.5mm Pathescope Home Talkie was introduced in 1934 at a price of £60. The films were only available for hire in Great Britain. The 17.5mm sound projectors were highly praised in France where they were widely used by mobile operators, hence the projector's name there as Pathe Rural.

The death of the Home Talkie in the U.K. in April 1938 was caused by the introduction of the £60 Pathe Vox, a 9.5mm sound projector. The great beauty was that films were not only available for hire but they could be purchased for your home library. Pathescope were criticised for cutting their features but at generally a 6 x 300ft length they were reasonably priced (for the well-off!).

Pathescope sold off their 17.5mm library and concentrated on their 9.5mm for sound films. The Vox finished with the beginning of the war in 1939. After the war it was replaced by the humble Son, a sound version of the new Pathescope Gem.

Pathescope got into financial difficulties and by 1960 had passed into receivership.