KALEE 19 Serial Number 19196
This bronze-liveried projector,
like its stablemates the 20’s and 21’s, were
usually found in Rank theatre projection rooms as well
as many others in the mid twentieth century.
Modern in design with their
film paths behind glass to effect cleanliness and safety
they were a highly adaptable projector in times when cinema
technology was in rapid development. This projector has
a British Accoustic (Rank Kalee Type 83) sound head and
a GB universal carbon arc lamp. It is fitted with a Variamorph
Anamoprphic lens for CinemaScope presentation.
This Kalee 19 projector's
history and from what cinema it was removed is not known.
19's were the forerunner of the very popular 20's and
21s. and themselves were a popular machine with projectionists.
This projector is fitted with
a Varimorf anamorphic lens and to the rear of that lens
the necessary 'backing lens' . The Gaumont Kalee Arc Lamp
seen fitted to this projector is standard. The small projector
seen by the side of the Kalee 19 is an early black model
of a Debrie D16 16mm projector. The most modern of the
projectors in the Collection the model could be found
in many cinemas across the UK in the early 50's onwards.
They were highly diverse-able and could be easily adapted
for most of the image and sound development experienced
in the Industry including the latter digital sound systems
The PICTURE HEAD of the Kalee
19 is compact yet the film path is easy to thread. the
film smoothing system below the intermittent is very efficient
passing the film towards the British Accoustic (Rank Kalee
Type 83) sound head (usually fitted to the latter Kalee
models). The film path through the sound gate can be seen
with the Exciter Lamp and the Sound Lens unit. except
for above and below the heads the film path was almost
totally enclosed ensuring good protection from exterior
influences.
The interior of the Arc Lamp
set up with the positive and negative carbons ready to
be energised for running. This arc lamp could run at between
45-50 amps DC which means that it would have perhaps have
been installed in a small to medium sized Cinema if, as
known, Cinemascope was shown.
