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Vintage Tape (Audio), Cassette, Wire and Magnetic Disc Recorders and Players Open-reel tape recorders, cassette recorders, 8-track players etc.

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Old 6th Aug 2007, 8:44 am   #1
ppppenguin
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Default "Autoreel" tape spool

I've found a slightly odd tape spool. It's marked Autoreel and is the usual 7" diameter. The odd thing is the centre hole which looks like a standard cine centre but with a slightly bigger hole, about 0.5" diameter. This means it doesn't fit normal tape recorders.

Any ideas? The only other clue is a set of markings in feet and meters (note US spelling) running up to 400 feet for a full spool. This suggests it may have been for cine film rather than magnetic tape.
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Old 6th Aug 2007, 10:08 am   #2
Tom_I
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Default Re: "Autoreel" tape spool

Hi Jeffrey

I think it's a self-loading take-up spool for an 8-mm cine projector. You can thread them up manually, as normal, or with an autoload projector, the machine threads itself when started, and then sprung fingers on the spokes of the reel grab the film and cause it to wind on to the spool.

A 7-inch spool would be right for 400 feet of 8-mm film.

Search for "autoload" on US eBay - there are a few on there at the moment.

Tom
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Old 6th Aug 2007, 10:33 am   #3
ppppenguin
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Default Re: "Autoreel" tape spool

That sounds right. It's got a pair of what look like sprung fingers. Still doesn't explain the oversize central hole unless there were 2 standards for cine projectors. The funny thing was that I found it on a tape recorder where the hub would just about turn it but it would have run very badly.
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Old 6th Aug 2007, 10:54 am   #4
TIMTAPE
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Default Re: "Autoreel" tape spool

The larger hole was a super 8 standard rather than standard or regular 8mm. All super 8 movies processed and sent back to the customer were on such reels. Dual 8mm projectors had a small sleeve which clipped on to the reel shaft to accomodate the super 8 reels and was removed for std 8 reels.

Tim
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Old 6th Aug 2007, 11:00 am   #5
arjoll
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Default Re: "Autoreel" tape spool

The oversize centre was common on Super 8 - all the reels that dad got back from Kodak came on 3 inch spools with larger-than-normal hubs, so he'd splice three (I think) together and put them on a 5" spool. Regular 8 had the standard centre.

His projector (brand escapes me at the moment) had an auto-loading 7" takeup spool with the larger hub, and an adapter to fit either on the supply reel. The take up spool also had some kind of clutch arrangement whereby you rewound with it in position - you flicked a small lever on the supply spool to the 'R' position and set the control to 'FWD' with the bulb off. The hub in the take up spool would move in the opposite direction to the spool itself.

(I'm sure I could make up a more confusing explanation if I tried!)
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Old 6th Aug 2007, 11:05 am   #6
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Default Re: "Autoreel" tape spool

A picture, as they say....
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Old 6th Aug 2007, 11:27 am   #7
ppppenguin
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Default Re: "Autoreel" tape spool

Thanks to all of you. Mystery solved.
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