Today we rejoice, for Twentieth Century-Fox Cine Simplex camera sn. 105 is finished! Or as complete as I can get it with the parts that I had. Despite its looks when I first examined this camera, the heart of the system was still in repairable condition. The most complicated part of this project actually turned out to be getting the screws to come free of the casting without sheering off. That took a great deal of time with penetrating oil, heat, and slow, constant pressure on the fasteners. Most of them came free eventually, though a few broke off. Once that part of the process was done, I removed some years of neglect, relubricated, re-aligned the main drive components, remachined some of the parts, and slowly and carefully reassembled the camera. Now, happily, I can give a working camera back to my client. The camera is still missing a few original internal parts, including the mechanical foot/frame counter and the tachometer. It also needs some external cleanup, but the client is planning to do that themselves. They also have some of the remaining accessories for the camera, such as the parallax-compensating sidefinder, the follow focus, matte box, magazines, and many more. This camera is destined for a life of leisure, demonstrating its extraordinary engineering and forward thinking design. I’m glad I could breathe new life into it.
