Projectors
are the best way to share information, art and films. It is one of the few
pieces of technology that I believe won’t be replaced only improved upon. Going
back to the Magic Lantern in 1659, which was used to show 10 drawings of a
skeleton removing its skull (Aleksandersen 2019), it
was only a matter of time before projectors would evolve to make those images
move faster and without the need of the user having to replace the drawing or
picture manually.
This
was achieved by the Zoopraxiscope, which created movement through “rapidly
projected images from rotating glass disks” (Aleksandersen 2019). From this the
Lumière Brothers invented an all in one camera, printer and projector that
screened their film Sortie de l'usine Lumière de Lyon in 1895 (Aleksandersen
2019).
For
home use not all projectors were pieces of complex technology, but were still
no more impressive, such as the object of film history that I will be
discussing in my introduction to this online museum/film technology
blog/Internet recording of film bits and bobs. (What exactly this blog is, is
still undecided.)
The item
presented today is the It’s Cragstan 8mm Portable Projector toy.
This
projector was sold by the It’s Cragstan Company and produced by Horikawa. The
It’s Cragstan Company was located in New York and distributed and imported toys
from post-war Japan up until the late 1960s (Fabintoys 2022). The company’s
name is believed to be a combination of the two owners: Frank Stanton (Creg)
and Stanley Kaplan (Stan), according to Carter’s Price Guide to Antiques.
The
8mm Portable Projector that this company sold was imported from Japan by the
Horikawa company, a well know wholesalers (Fabintoys 2022). It was founded in
1946 and focused on making tinplate toys (most notably battery operated robot
toys), such as the popular toy the Rotate-o-Matic Super Astronaut (to Carter’s
Price Guide to Antiques).
Even
though It’s Cragstan Company made sure to print its name all over the products’
boxes (Fabintoys 2022), you can tell that this projector came from the famous
Horikawa company because of the S.H. trademark that they used, appearing on the
box (Toys2Work 2024).
In
my research to find out the date when this 8mm Projector was manufactured and
sold I found two possible dates. One, according to Rogge (2017), is from 1949, but
this is contradicted by the second source I found from Fabintoys (2022), that
states: “From the start in 1959 it (all Horikawa products) carries the SH trade
mark.” Which this projector has on the box, so it is reasonable to assume (and
most likely) that this toy might have come out in the 1960s.
The
8mm Portable Projector is tinplate and of impeccable quality. It is powered by
three D batteries and uses a 1-1.5watt sub-miniature Light Bulb with a globe
made from magnifying glass.
The projector originally came with three 8mm films. Each film runs for approximately 6-7 seconds (at 18fps) on a continuous loop. The box is covered in beautiful and colourful art work, with the It’s Cragstan Company name, as well as the S.H. trademark.
The
only thing missing from this particular model is the magnifying lens that
projects the film, but other than that this toy is still in pristine condition,
this is because as Fabintoys (2022) writes: “Toys by Cragstan have more quality and are more detailed than
other battery-OP toys. The fine quality, litography, boxes and the more complex
actions and movements helped set Cragstan apart from other toy companies.”
The
Projector is motorised and uses what appears to be a two pin system, that hooks
into the Sprocket holes pushes them down, unhooks, moves back up, hooks into
the next two Sprocket holes and the process starts over again.
The
light bulb shines through the transparent 8mm film and the lens magnifies and
projects the silhouettes onto a screen. As mentioned each film is approximately
6-7 seconds and loops the film. Sort of like a GIF, except sending this to a
friend will be more difficult.
For
this final part I will go through the history of the 8mm film, which can be
described as a: “moving image format consists of B&W and color
photochemical emulsions on translucent plastic (acetate) backing with sprocket
holes running down one side. The film strip may also contain a magnetic soundtrack
running down one side. The width of this film format is 8mm (0.31 inches). It
is a format commonly found in libraries, archives, museums, and especially home
movie collections” (PSAP 2004).
Released
in 1932 by the Kodak Eastman company. It receives its name from the fact that
it has 8mm wide frames and funny enough came out after the 16mm film (Roemer). Can
you guess how the 16mm got its name?
But
to be more technical with its name: “the frame had a width of around 7.9mm and
a height of 3.5mm. Since it was close to 8mm, this became its name” (Reborn
Audio/Video 2024).
The
8mm film was the chosen alternative to the 16mm during the Great Depression,
due to it being cheaper and smaller. The creation of the 8mm film consists of
basically taking a 16mm film and splitting it into half (Digitalcopycat). Or to
put it into better terms:
“Regular
8 was sold in spools containing 16 mm film. However, the film had twice as many
perforations on its edges and traditional 16 mm film stock. The film passed
through cameras twice. On the first pass, the film was exposed along half its
width; on the second, the film is flipped and exposed on the other side. When
the film is developed, the processor cut it in half, thus resulting in two
lengths of 8mm film.” (Just8mm.com 2024)
It
was used mostly for home videos and hold a lot of significance when it comes to
documenting the everyday lives of enthusiastic filmmakers and their families
(Treadway 2009). Although it was filming silent films, eventually 8mm films
could record sound. This was done through a thin magnetic strip on the same
side as the Sprocket holes and a method known as sound stripping (Nostalgic
Media 2023).
Then
in 1985, Sony, released a camera that could record 8mm film that came in a tape
format, that was like a VHS tape, but at a quarter of the size and came in
three formats: The Video8, Hi8 and Digital8. The only difference of the three
formats is how the film is encoded and can hold up to 120min of footage
(Everpresent 2023).
 |
| Video8 tape. Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:8mm_video_cassette_front.jpg |
 |
| Hi8 tape. Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hi8_8mm_Videocassette.jpg |
 |
| Digital8 tape. Image Source: https://eachmoment.co.uk/we-convert/tapes-to-digital/transfer-digital8-to-digital-and-dvd/ |
The
8mm Portable Projector is one of the most interesting piece of film history I
have ever came across. Although not exactly a proper film projector, it is
still an amazing piece of machinery that proved it was (and still is) possible
to watch films anywhere. Thank you for
making it to the end and I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.
List of sources:
Aleksandersen, D.
2019. A Short History of Projection. https://newsandviews.dataton.com/a-short-history-of-projection
Carter’s Price Guide to Antiques. 1950s and 60s toys made in Japan, marketed by Cragstan Toys, New York. https://www.carters.com.au/index.cfm/index/13459-cragstan-toys-japan-united-states-toys/
Carter’s Price Guide to Antiques. Japanese 1960s and 70s Horikawa toy robots, battery operated. https://www.carters.com.au/index.cfm/index/13470-horikawa-toys-japan-toys/#:~:text=Horikawa%20was%20a%20Japanese%20toy,high%20quality%20and%20realistic%20designs.
Digitalcopycat. Cine
Film Transfer: History of Popular Home Cine Film Guages. https://digitalcopycat.com/history_of_popular_formats.html
Everpresent. 2023. Understanding
Your Video Formats: 8mm tapes. https://everpresent.com/understanding-video-formats-8mm-tapes/
Fabintoys. 2022. Cragstan
Toys. https://au.fabtintoys.com/cragstan/
Fabintoys. 2022. Horikawa
robot. https://au.fabtintoys.com/horikawa/
Nostalgic Media.
2023. Does a Film Reel Have Sound? | 8mm, Super 8mm, 16mm Film. https://nostalgicmedia.com/blogs/media-conversion/does-your-film-reel-have-sound#:~:text=Magnetic%20sound%20tracks%20were%20one,gold%20or%20rust%2Dcolored%20strip.
Reborn Audio/Visual.
2024. Everything You Need to Know about 8mm Film. https://vhstodvd.co/everything-you-need-know-about-8mm-film/
Roemer, C. History of
8mm Film. https://legacybox.com/blogs/analog/history-of-8mm-film
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