At the heart of the Fox Cine Simplex camera is the film transport. The differences between the much loved Mitchell NC and BNC style movements and the Fox movement are very difficult to describe in words. The answer seemed to be a short video demonstrating the unique features of the Fox camera’s pulldown and registration system. As I was playing with the movement, it became clear just how much engineering and thought went into this design. In the Mitchell Standard and NC movements, two simple cams operate the pulldown claw and registration pins. With the Mitchell movements, there is an extremely brief time when neither the registration pins nor the pulldown claws are engaged in the film’s perforations. In the Fox camera, the pulldown claw and registration pins are timed so that there is never a point when one or the other is not at least partially engaged in one or more perforations. The engineers designed a series of radical cams and linkages that do a couple of amazing things: First, they shorten the pulldown cycle so that the film is at rest for the briefest amount of time possible. This design also helps to minimize noise generated by film slap as it moves through the pulldown cycle. They improved the pulldown pin mechanism by utilizing a pair of cams, one that operates the up and down cycle of the pulldown, and one that pushes the pulldown pin into a perforation to complete the pulldown cycle. This marvelous design also keeps all of this motion isolated from the camera casting to keep all of the sound inside the camera box. Still amazed by their design!
