Pathex 9.5 mm:
The Original Home Movies!
Affordable home movie outfits
were in use as early as 1922. The Pathe company’s then unique camera
took moving pictures on a film strip just 9.5mm wide, and sprocket holes
were punched down the centre, between each frame. Projection was on the
Pathe “Baby” projector which, like the camera, was hand cranked.
It was all great fun, and easy to
use. The Pathe home movies were a popular success in Europe, and in the
Americas too, where the brand name was “Pathex”. Thousands of these
outfits were sold. But the Pathex and Pathe Baby cassettes were to
become obsolete by the early 1940s, and so did the projector that went
with them.
Just how many of the cassettes remain
stored away in the backs of drawers, cupboards presses and cabinets?
There may well be some in your home. The cassettes were made from
stamped tinplate and measured about two inches (5 cm.) across. A
modification in the 1930s enabled the introduction of a 2¾ inch (7 cm.)
version which held more film. 5 cm.cassettes hold about 30 feet (9
metres) of film, the 7 cm. cassettes hold 60 feet (18 metres). Examples
of both versions are still coming to light. It is of course the film
they contain that excites the imagination!
Happily, we can still reproduce the
original moving pictures, in up to the minute DVD digital format, and
you can at last view these glimpses of family life from so long ago.
Cost of transfer is £6.50 per cassette (5 or 7 cm) and includes mounting your film on a
9.5mm spool, cost of spool included.
Payment in £ Sterling, cheques or credit transfer please. Return postage at cost.
All our work is performed in-house!
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