A PAST ARTICLE FROM REEL DEALS
The Aussie Film Collectors Magazine
In
1932, Kodak introduced a sound version of their 16mm gauge. Pathe followed suit, and their 9.5mm sound on film system appeared in 1934. A
range of sound films and their first sound projector; the Vox (Latin for
voice), appeared. Amongst their mainly British ‘B’ features and
shorts, by arrangement with Paramount Pictures, Pathe released onto
9.5mm sound a range of the immensely popular Betty Boop and Popeye
cartoons.
Pathescope
Gem on Klee Sound sound adaptor Pathe
produced two more sound-on-film projectors after the war, the Pax in
1949 and the Son in 1951. The Son was basically a Gem with an extended
chassis containing the sound section. These projectors all utilising
photocells and valves for amplification were quite expensive, and in
many cases beyond the pockets of would be home showmen.
In
the early 1950s, here in Australia, an enterprising engineer in the
employ of Home Cinemas, the Melbourne distributors of Pathe products, designed an add-on attachment for the popular Gem 9.5mm silent
projector.
This
unit took the form of a base containing an amplifier and the necessary
optical train to
recover the sound from the tiny optical sound track on the 9.5mm film.
The rotary stabiliser and scanning system were based on the Pax design.
The engineer was Alan Kleeberg, and the unit became known as the Klee
Sound Adaptor.
Close-up of Sound Head It
is not known how many of these ingenious devices were manufactured, but
estimates put the number in excess of 50.
For
many of us in the Australia of today, where virtually no domestic
electronic equipment is produced, the manufacture of such a specialised
piece of equipment would seem all but impossible. Prior to the early
1980s, Australia had a very active radio and television manufacturing
industry. With this background, and the availability of locally
manufactured components, the production of this unit went ahead.
The
Klee Sound appears to have been manufactured from all Australian made
parts, and used the following valve line up.
927 PE Cell, 6J7 Preamplifier, 6SJ7 Intermediate Amplifier, 6L6G
Output and a 5Y3GT Rectifier. The speaker was a 10-inch Rola model 10G,
which was mounted in the combined carry case–speaker box.
Under
view of Klee Sound Unit
The overall construction of the
unit is very good, even the amplifier sub-chassis is rubber mounted to
eliminate vibrations from the projector motor.
In
operation, the unit performs well. The biggest single drawback is the
variable speed of the Pathescope Gem projector. A strobe disc was
mounted on the main sprocket to assist with speed adjustment. The need
for the projector to be located close to the sound head (due to the
spacing between sound and image on the film) the motor and lamp switches
are difficult to access. However, a projector power (both motor and
lamp) switch is incorporated into the control panel of the Klee Sound
unit.
From
the above illustration, it will be seen that the exciter lens is located
within a locking
sleeve mounted on the deck. The light slit is projected upwards onto the
tiny sound track from the exciter lamp mounted under the deck plate. The
exciter lamp is a 6 volt ‘tail light’ type globe, fed by AC. The
hum, which would normally occur when AC is used on an exciter lamp, is
all but eliminated by the use of a high current filament, relying on the
‘thermal inertia’ effect of the filament.
A small mirror mounted on a hard wire arm just above the film reflects
the light variations caused by the sound track. The reflected light then
strikes the photoelectric cell, located in the vertical cylinder at the
bottom of the illustration. 9.5mm
optical sound film
Copyright
2002 Mike Trickett. Geelong, Australia
The Klee Sound attachment for
the Pathescope Gem 9.5mm Projector.
The
unit was supplied in a sturdy carry case, which incorporated the
speaker, and had sufficient room to carry both the Klee Sound
Adaptor, as well as the Pathescope Gem projector.
