Mystery of 1963 Optical Tape Player Solved

I picked up this cool reel to reel optical tape player in the 1980's, in a junkyard. I suspected it played analog audio, recorded on 16mm film stock, in 4 tracks... but really had no idea what it was for. It looked really high-end, and small production. The date of many of the components is 1963.

I recently sent pictures to my friends Berj, Greg, Dennis, Dana and Robert, who have delved in all sorts of technologies over the years... but we could not figure it out. Among the guesses we had were: audio track to be synced to a film, test data to be input into a radar or guidance system, tones or speech for the telephone system, organ music, musak player... and so on. But the truth is a bit different than all of these... Berj suggested that the audio was "crying to be heard", and suggested I listen to it, if I could. So I pulled out the nice old Bell and Howell projector my friend Lars gave me, hoping the optical track could be read on the projector's sound pickup and amp... the results of the experiment are in the video. After watching it, check out the link below. Don't peek until you watch it though:




http://www.thegeekticket.com/features/bell-telephone-1964-worlds-fair
And:
http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/2009/01/29/days-of-future-past-the-treknywf-co...

"Fairgoers ascended a ramp to a platform to reach the seats on the continuously moving 1,000 chair ride, that journeyed the the communication presentation."... this may be the soundtrack, and maybe the controller or syncing data, for that ride. Perhaps the additional tracks controlled the lights, the speed of the ride, and so on. It is an eerie feeling I get, having been on that ride at age 7; I actually heard these words, on this tape, twice... 47 years apart. And the best for last: From Bill Young's wonderful site on the 1964 World's Fair, an recording of this actual tape, made by a Ray Dashner, while on the actual ride:
http://www.nywf64.com/bell07.shtml

This was the final confirmation that this controller/player is the one used in the Fair, because you can hear the same words being spoken on it.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• worlds
• fair
• 1964
• bell
• laboratories
• optical
• tape
• reader
• pavillion

[Kinematographer]

Hi Im not sure why I ended up on your video, I play around with film, and specifically Bell Howell projectors, but that was really fun. I used to find old tape and make similar experiments when I was younger. I work at a lab where we have nearly every format and mag-perf, 35mm 16mm sound optical sound etc. We do a lot of historical film. Its always erie hearing a voice from the past suddenly springing back to life!

[proto57]

@Kinematographer Your lab sounds great... all that wonderful equipment should be preserved. I think I may be getting the original machine working... If I do, I will make a recording of the entire soundtrack. But even if I don't get it working, I may be able to use the projecter, if the speed of the sound track is the same. I'll just have to wind this audio film onto a reel, then make a wav and mp3 off the 1/4" audio jack of the projector.

[Penumbrus]

That's really amazing! What a find!

Robert

[proto57]

@Penumbrus Thanks Bob... it was a real surprise for sure.

[shadowman714]

Why don't you get that original playback machine operating, and replay the film/tape as it was intended? That will result in the highest fidelity practically possible. You should then dub the audio output to a digital audio recording to preserve it and share it with the world. If that is indeed the actual machine used at the fair, you may be holding the last surviving record of something so historically significant. Don't damage it!

[dairectionby]

@Kinematographer yeah!

[VAPEUR36001]

@Kinematographer Not unusual as the Germans used 35mm sound on film for their radio transcripts when we were using 16 inch 33 1/3 rpm records. The Disney film Fantasia had a separate sound track running in sync with the film. Selsyn interlock, also used in 50's 3D films and Cinerama. Fantasia was a four track optical whereas Cinerama was 7 magnetic tracks. Remember 16mm offers advantages that Mag tape did not in the era.

VAPEUR

[IExposeMormonism]

You will probably find that bulb on ebay. It's a vast wasteland of things for sale.

[patrickaubry]

Wow, this thing as to be know by the right persons. please update us when you have news