Total Ignorance - what was used to keep wires together before cable ti

[indyld]

A search of my lighting library revealed in A Method Of Lighting The Stage by Stanley McCandless, fourth edition 1958, on page 41 figure 8: Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlight shows a base up, medium pre-focus lamp, with less angle than the Patt 263/264.

 

This reminded me of a post from a while back on the Apollo blog "So who invented the ERS, anyway?" as the image in A Method brought Lekos, Kliegl, etc. to mind and I wondered what the cutaway in McCandless book showed. Perhaps a version of a 6x9 ( Century version)? I'm sure those more familiar with the US market would know.

Edited November 6, 2020 by indyld

[Junior8]

I've just been reading Stage Lighting on a Shoestring from Don's second link. Youngsters may find it amusing and enlightening in almost equal measure. £1 in 1961 is about £30 today making the minimum budget suggested £1000 at current prices. It also illustrates just who the Patt 45 was aimed at. Edited November 6, 2020 by Junior8

[Bryson]

 

I can't remember who said it (it might have been me - the little grey cells aren't what they were) but the noise we lampies and vidiots make with fans and motors is equivalent to the sound engineer mounting a couple of 60 Watt light bulbs on the main speakers and leaving them switched on.

 

Ah, you mean the Bose 802? :)

 

A search of my lighting library revealed in A Method Of Lighting The Stage by Stanley McCandless, fourth edition 1958, on page 41 figure 8: Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlight shows a base up, medium pre-focus lamp, with less angle than the Patt 263/264.

 

This reminded me of a post from a while back on the Apollo blog "So who invented the ERS, anyway?" as the image in A Method brought Lekos, Kliegl, etc. to mind and I wondered what the cutaway in McCandless book showed. Perhaps a version of a 6x9 ( Century version)? I'm sure those more familiar with the US market would know.

 

You made me go dig out my copy. It's an Altman 360. (Not a 360Q, which has the axial mounted lamp.)

[sunray]

I've just been reading Stage Lighting on a Shoestring from Don's second link. Youngsters may find it amusing and enlightening in almost equal measure. £1 in 1961 is about £30 today making the minimum budget suggested £1000 at current prices. It also illustrates just who the Patt 45 was aimed at.

An amazing read and I can instantly think of several venues with exactly that format, I gutted one from a junior school and rerigged with 24W dimmer pack /IWBs13 years ago and sadly they dumped all of the old lights almost as soon as I left the building [the installation included baby sitting focussing, dress rehearsal and first show] despite insisting they wanted to hold on to them. The strand junior board was still in use despite the purple twisted twin silk/rotten rubber flex with exposed copper laying on top of the rheostats and 2 pin plugs. They claimed it was installed new in 1968 but I think that version had been well and truly superceded by then.

I can also place a small hall which still has biscuit tin lights, albeit using Par38's and a row of angled batten holders with Par38 over the Proc.

 

[Junior8]

For the sake of clarity in most cases the biscuit tins were like these most even came with a pressing mark on the base and lid which was temptingly about the size of a standard lampholder and perfectly central (you can just about make it out on the picture). (They were also ideal for Christmas Trees) Further explanation for the young - these tins were used to supply biscuits to retailers who then displayed them in glass topped cabinets like this. Which meant a) you could have any weight and assortment you liked and b) bags of broken biscuits were readily on sale! Edited November 9, 2020 by Junior8

[David Ripley]

'Proper' Patt 263s are Fresnel lensed with one set of shutters, Patt 264 PC lens, two shutters - blades (straight edged) and Combs. The order in the gate is important. You can make either a wider angled unit by adding a 23 lens IIRC to the back of the lens tube (It's what the clips are for) and reversing the gate assembly.

 

As people say, no light came out of them and those that were sprayed gold for venues like the Albery (now the Noel Coward) the shutters were immovable.

 

The alternative to the Patt 263/264 is... pretty much anything else

 

David

[paulears]

This is good stuff - all my old 263's were 263W's - I never realised. I had one student at college who insisted on giving everything her own 'nicknames' - 264s became Beasts, I have no idea why? At the theatre we still have 8 T-spots, hated by everyone, on the FOH bars, and 8 of them can be seen when you raise the faders in a face light add in. Fair enough, 8K of white light is quite a bit, but they're far from useless.

[sunray]

For the sake of clarity in most cases the biscuit tins were like these most even came with a pressing mark on the base and lid which was temptingly about the size of a standard lampholder and perfectly central (you can just about make it out on the picture). (They were also ideal for Christmas Trees) Further explanation for the young - these tins were used to supply biscuits to retailers who then displayed them in glass topped cabinets like this. Which meant a) you could have any weight and assortment you liked and b) bags of broken biscuits were readily on sale!

The Tins still in use were the style used by Woolworths for their pick and mix [not self service]. I think a tiny bit bigger than your link,, they have a W pressing oneach side and rounded corners. About 25 years ago the hall had a suspended ceiling and glass fibre insulation installed, it steps up 2 to 3ft just behind the tins so they are not in the sight line.

[David Ripley]

Bananas was a fairly common name for the P263/4's. Tpots for the T-Spots, obviously, which are essentially a straightened out 264.

 

Whilst teaching at Guildford we had several ancient lanterns - Patt 143, for instance, a monster. Our 264 finally exploded on one show, emitting a marvellous mushroom cloud and pitting the reflector as the lamp went, making it even more useless had I been inclined to try and repair it.

 

Someone mentioned Jubilees earlier, I think they meant Pageants (Patt 50's)

 

David

[IRW]

Bananas was a fairly common name for the P263/4's.

 

I always thought the 263/264's were known as 'hairdryers' due to their shape? Am I confusing them with something else?

[xllx]

 

As people say, no light came out of them and those that were sprayed gold for venues like the Albery (now the Noel Coward) the shutters were immovable.

 

 

 

Back in the 80's I worked occasionally at the Donmar shop in Shorts Gardens, and Donmar Hire.

 

Anything from hire going to an Alberry theatre FOH had to be painted gold. There was a story that a previous tech on being told to spray some 264's gold had forgotten to mask or remove the lenses... This wasn't noticed until rigged apparently, when even less than usual light came out the end!

[sandall]

Someone mentioned Jubilees earlier, I think they meant Pageants (Patt 50's)

IIRC the Pageant was the original Strand beamlight (big reflector, giving a parallel beam), later replaced by the Patt 50, which had a much better output / weight ratio & was great for lighting through windows.

Also mentioned in earlier threads was the Ack-Ack (= AA = Acting-area flood), a slightly conical dustbin. We had several of both in the 1970s.

[alistermorton]

I could have sworn someone I spoke to a while back referred to the 263/4 as jubilees. Maybe I misheard. I know they're not pageants, though, cos we have some of those in the theatre loft, along with some of the hanging dustbins. Edited November 9, 2020 by alistermorton