A vintage Bell and Howell Filmosound 1540 16mm Projector

The Bell and Howell Filmosound 1540 16mm Projector and similar models were almost ubiquitous in schools, colleges and universities in the 1970s and 80s. I show you the one I have. The one innovation that sets projectors from that period apart from the previous decades: a projection light bulb with a dichroic reflector which reflects visible light but is transparent to infra-red radiation keeping the film cooler. Although filters like this were nothing new in optics at the time, they only seemed to come in widespread use in the 70s along with halogen bulbs.

[@tsbrownie]

Back in 1968/6th grade I was the nerdy kid who helped out our less-than-technical teacher. I grew to be familiar with those projectors. The trackway behind the lens needs to be very clean. There should be a loop of film above it just before it enters (you can see it on the projector) to buffer the jerks and help ensure a straight in approach. Oh, and the really big reels never worked well. Too heavy, even when those projectors were new. We often had to help them along by hand the whole time. I know we had them at least when I was in 4th grade. Lots of good educational films from AT&T and Bell Labs. Weather, phone systems, health (smoking, alcohol), can't remember what else. Thanks for the memories!

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

Ha - I was that kid 10 years later! I'll bet you had the previous generation of Bell and Howell projectors that were built into the case and had much more nicely machined parts and film spool holders that you had to take out of the projector and stick in holes on the top and sides. There were a few of those left in the 70s - I wish I had one - but most were like the one in the video. We were overseas a lot so a film was an extra special treat since TV was nothing like at home if available at all. And today most kids wouldn't understand the joy of watching a movie in class now that a million videos are available at their fingertips. Glad it brought back some memories!

[@10meandyou]

Hi Thanks for the video I still have one of these Bell & Howell 16mm projectors. But haven’t used it for years.

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

Glad you enjoyed the video! Sadly, as a number of commenters have pointed out, some of the plastic gears in those Bell and Howell projectors deteriorate and crack over time. Cracks are visible in some shots of the projector in this video. So if you do have issues whenever (if ever) you use the projector again, the good news is that replacement parts are being produced by various individuals and are available online at times.

[@bd764]

Great stuff.I could spend a whole Sat afternoon with you tinkering with those old projectors.I was VERY into Super8 for many years,but always dreamed of having a 16 mm.Mainly because of the much better picture quality.Many memories from school regarding these 16mm projectors.One of my fondest memories was 11th grade(1982 for me),when the last few days of school,our science teacher would bring in prints of Star Trek.I sat in awe of the big ,clear picture.It looked so much better than watching it on tv. But for sure,that projector needs alot of work.

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

They are really neat technology. I wish I had one of the previous generation B+H before auto threading. They were really well built - all metal construction and no plastic work gears to deteriorate over time. Print of star trek - wow - must have been fabulous to watch those. What lot of people dont appreciate was how back then standard definition TV was way poorer in quality than what it is today with digital signal processing. From the time period you mentioned we must be almost the same age and had the same TV and film experiences. Its funny - I have also dreamed of having a 16mm camera. Maybe one of these days - I was looking into it a few months ago and while film+ developing is crazy expensive these days, 16mm seems to be only a bit more expensive than super 8, so thats really the way to go these days. Thanks for comment - always great to hear from someone who know the old analog technology!

[@joshhoman]

Interesting. Just take out the sound bulb and shine a strong flashlight into the photo cell to restore the sound.

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

You know, I should have done that! I'll bet it would have worked!

[@joshhoman]

@@ElectromagneticVideos Given today's high-power flashlights, I thought that that idea would have half a chance of working!

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

@@joshhoman I think it has more than half a chance! Looking at the size of the original bulb and how its housed (ie no much opportunity for heat to escape) I would guess its about as powerful a vintage Christmas light bulb - maybe 5 watts. I sure a modern LED flashlight would do it. Sometime I will have to get the old projector out and try it and make a video .....

[@Sparky-ww5re]

24 volts, 250 watts definitely seems like an odd ball rating, maybe that's common to all projector bulbs. Another rating I common see in office depot and staples, is 82 volt 360 watt, for use in overhead projectors, the kind with the transparent film where the teacher would write on with erasable markers. I remember those being used throughout the 90s and well into the 2000s. I went to a two year trade school for industrial electronics from 2013 -2015, and they still had a few in use, though by that time most of it was digital and used the LCD projectors with HDMI inputs, wifi connectivity what have you. Speaking of the compact filament size, many modern projectors use metal halide lamps or, in the case of very large projectors used in theaters and drive in movies, xenon short arc lamps, which consume several thousands of watts and often requires water cooling, the brightness is comparable to a welding arc.

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

24V was common in 16mm projectors 50 years ago. I think partly because the film frame was so small you wanted as small a source of light as possible. I guess I didn't mention it - the bulb for this project was halogen, used there before they became common for household lighting. I never heard of a 82 volt 360 watt bulb - thats is an odd voltage. Was there a power transformer in those projectors? Or did they use some sort of triac based dimmer type arrangement to keep the weight and cost down? I have never seen a xenon bulb in real life other than photo flash units which of course are only operated for 1/1000 of a second at a time. I remember reading how early Imax projectors used a xenon bulb type that was used by the US Navy to burn barnacles off the sides of ships and submarines in dry dock. Apparently they had to jump through a number hoops to get permission to use it for civilian uses. It also cracked the condenser lens the first time they tried it. Did you get to work with any of the larger movie projectors you mentioned in the industrial electronics program you were in or elsewhere? I always though they would be interesting to take a close look at!

[@Sparky-ww5re]

@@ElectromagneticVideos not sure about how the 82V bulbs were powered. If I had to guess, it was probably a resistor, or maybe an autotransformer, I have never worked on those particular overhead projectors, but the 82V 360W seems to be pretty common here in the U.S.A anyway, for overhead projectors. My uncle Chuckie worked in a theater while he was in high school in the late 40s /early 50s. The old theater had been demolished about 15 yrs ago, around 2007 or '08 after having been abandoned since the late 1960s. Anyway when he worked there it was used as an Oprah house, and he worked with carbon arc fellow spots, and salt water dimmers, as well as resistance dimmers aka rehostats, and autotransformer dimmers aka variacs. A salt water dimmer was a container of salt water with two electrodes, one fixed and one movable. Moving them closer decreased the resistance and made the lights brighter, and vice versa. He also used to call them piss pots, for two reasons. One being the ammonia like odor as the salt water boiled away from the large currents flowing. Second reason, legend has it that operators and projectonists would sometimes replenish the salt water by urinating in the container. If that's true, hopefully it was done with the power off😵

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

@@Sparky-ww5re Salt water dimmers - that a new one for me! But it did suddenly remind me of a humidifier we had when I was a kid. It had two electrodes that dipped into the water and heated it up from the current between then. My guess is salt was put in the water. I'll bet that salt water dimmers or humidifiers would not be close to passing any safety regulations these days - and thats a good thing. At least the dimmer was in a "professional" environment. I wonder how many humidifiers were knocked over (and the containers was breakable glass) with salt water and energized electrodes landing on the floor and zapping people. I'm sure the only thing worse than electricity + water is electricity + salt water! I do wonder about the urinating story - I would think the resulting smell would be a deterrent to doing that more than once! Working with carbon arcs must have been interesting - I'll bet a lot of delicate adjustments as the carbon rods gradually got shorter.

[@nardopereirapinto3760]

@@Sparky-ww5re I use a simple diode 400 V 6A in series with lamp 82 v 360 or 410w .Kodak carousel.

[@joshhoman]

Another thing is, that thing would be a cornucopia of parts for a project builder. The AC motor would be of no use to me as I use small DC motors, but there are plenty of gears as well as a nice belt and pulley mechanism and even a flywheel in case I wanted to build anything larger.

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

Yes - load of mechanical parts from the days when mechanical engineering ruled! And the older ones had tube amps for the audio that people now remove for thing like guitar amps.

[@mreuphoria2]

So recently got b&h 1692. Works well. Waiting on film n reel. Back not accessible. Yet. Cheers. Thanks

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

Looks like yours is a bit newer and more solid than mine? "Back not accessible"? Screws stuck? That could be a pain to try and solve without doing damage... Good luck getting it going and have fun!

[@pascualleal3945]

Donde puedo encontrar esta pieza (sin- fin de naylon para mí 16 mm?? Gracias

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

Hay algunas personas que los han estado haciendo. Creo que algunos de los nuevos están hechos de metales para que no fallen como los originales. Los he visto en ebay. Busque en Google, ya que es posible que también esté disponible en otros sitios web de comercio electrónico. ¡Buena suerte!

[@MichaelCarter]

Cracks are visible on that worm gear.

[@BADBIKERBENNY]

I have this very projector, but it needs A LOT of work. Where can I get it serviced?

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

Thats a good question! If you need parts, there are people manufacturing new worm gears and other parts that are known to fail - look on ebay. In terms of who could service one, I would ask local camera stores if they know anyone who does it. The weight of the projector certainly makes getting it repaired locally preferable!

[@cougsjohnson1]

Why were these Film Projectors always that "Army Green" color in the Classroom? I used to call it the "Green Machine"

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

I have another old one that actually was from the military and is more of camouflage green than this one. I'm guessing that since the military was a major purchaser of projectors and had a specific color requirement, the easiest thing for the manufacturers to do was to simply make them all them all a color that was acceptable to the military since other customers really weren't too concerned about the color.

[@swedishlutheran]

Hello. Just found a B&H model 1585 from 1979. Auto thread. Yep they tend to get gummed up vs the Singer Instaload and Kodak Pageant models. Like your videos....must be in Canada? Did you ever get this projector lubed? I find the worm gear gets seized up on these. Are you a professor or a Pyro with your burn videos that are interesting. Lol 😆

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

Sometime when I have time I will try and lube it! I am in Canada and am closer to Prof than a Pyro but am neither - I'm an engineer. The burn videos happened by accident - the first two were just on a whim when I was about to throw out some old wires. But people liked them and I did the rest because I though they would be interesting and useful from an educational point of view - there are all the rules and regulations about max current and seems to be little in terms of demos over what over current does.

[@swedishlutheran]

@@ElectromagneticVideos I found another way to get ot to run...put it in rewind with the arms up and rewind button pressed for about five minutes. Helps loosen up the gummed up gears. Then you can run it. It's like the tin man from oz seized up. Lol

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

@@swedishlutheran You know, I did find it ran better backwards! I'll have to try your fix and let it run that way for a while! Thanks!

[@MrEdkern]

Question- does your bell and howell 2585 projector get hot. Mine tends to get very warm to the touch. Is that normal? Thanks

[@burningdust]

The REAL Bell & Howell before the name was passed around and plastered all over late night infomercial crap.

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

Yeah - sad that many of those great companies only live on as names pasted on cheap stuff with no connection to anything the original company ever made. Even worse is when the company still exists doing some of their original stuff but has licensed their name to companies that make similar products to the originals but have no relation to them. I'm thinking of GE - still makes things like jet engines, but GE appliances now seem to have no connection to GE other than the logo.

[@burningdust]

@@ElectromagneticVideos agreed, many former large honourable names like Westinghouse, GE, etc have met the same fate. It really is a cheap marketing ploy. In my opinion it is a complete disgrace to the original name and legacy of such historic companies. Sad really.

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

@@burningdust Yeah - really sad. Year ago I read George Westinghouse's biography - an amazing story - few people even know we have Westinghouse and his company and Tesla to thanks for AC power and all the wonderful things it brings us today.

[@horsenuts1831]

Bell & Howell 16mm Filmosound projectors exist in two states. 1. they either don't work because the plastic worm gear has failed, or 2. they are about to fail because the plastic work gear is about to disintegrate. In your movie, at around 18:12, you can see the cracks in the worm gear. They are ALL like that. The worm gears on these fail due to age (and not because of use). They are now all about 40-50 years old, and basically junk unless the gear is replaced. There were better projectors coming out of Japan such as the Eiki machines. Obviously, the Swiss Bolex machines were many times better, and will last forever.

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

I never noticed. What a shame - like many things from that period where the plastic begins to deteriorate. I wonder why its the worm gear cracking like that as opposed to the other gears deteriorating too - its certainly a different color so perhaps a different plastic?

[@MichaelCarter]

replacements are available

[@horsenuts1831]

@@MichaelCarter Replacement worm gears are available, but only if you have $400 to spend getting it repaired. Other, more reliable, projectors are available that don't require $400-worth of repairs (essentially, most Japanese Eiki & Elmo projectors, Swiss Bolex, and there is a French manufacturer whose name I forget). 99% of Bell and Howell machines are now beyond their functional/economic life, and are only good for landfill.

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

@@MichaelCarter Do you happen to have a source that your would recommend?

[@sparky60ful]

Nice video! I would recomend to clean it and lubricate with some proper oil or grease. Not that difficult. And keep it to view some great instructive films.

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

Thanks! And yes - sometime when I have a bit more free time I would like to do exactly that and also fix the audio (replace the the bulb). One things I would really like to do is also get a 16mm camera and make a short 16mm movie just for the fun of it!

[@sparky60ful]

@@ElectromagneticVideos That's what I do to. Filming with 16mm. Just got retired and "tooling up" to start this. I own Arriflex camera's, and a Moviola flatbed editor. Very handy! I could send you one of these exiter light bulbs if it is the same type. BSS/BSB 6 v-1 amp. if its not available in your area. I am in Holland.

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

@@sparky60ful What a wonderful thing to do in your retirement! I have often looked at 16mm cameras and get the impression that Arriflex is about the best you can get. Do you shoot with negative film or reversal? I'm sure either way the film + developing is expensive. I shot a lot of 8mm and Super8 as a kid - and that was not cheap even back then. I hope your post some videos or scan digitized version of your movies! I really appreciate your offer of a bulb - I'm in Canada and I'm sure the postage cost would not make it worth it, and I'm sure I can get one here. But thanks so much!

[@sparky60ful]

@@ElectromagneticVideos I shoot short films on glorius B+W no sound so far. I am searching for a perfotape recorder. Normal recorders I have (Nagra) but to run it in sync with the picture on the editor I need perfo tape. Yes, about the cost: Its 4 time more expensive as it was. But the format is having a revival at the moment so more manufactures are picking it up. Orwo is very active as an example.

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

@@sparky60ful "Glorious B+W" - how cool! I'll bet those perfotape recorders are hard to come by - hope you find one. Orwo - the formerly East German film maker right? Amazing how they managed to survive in a niche market while Agfa (and I used a lot of Agfachrome) seems to have almost completely exited the film business. When I was a kid we lived in Germany for 4 years and almost every drugstore had an Agfa sign somewhere outside.

[@glenpitts6813]

Your drive belt is worn out. That model is a SOB to change.

[@ElectromagneticVideos]

Not built to be repaired I guess :( Even worse, someone else noticed the worm gear has cracks - apparently happens to all of them.

[@ezequielsantananavarro8766]

Okey my teacher send me one or more projectors for my future myseum of cinema in canary island ..LAS PALMAS GRAN CANARIA YOUR donantion may be to acept ...the world bless you for you amablelity.