Esoterica Aesthetica

A collection of obscure technology, analog media, and forgotten aesthetics.

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The Kodak Bantam Special

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Maurer 16mm motion picture camera.

The J.A. Maurer motion picture cameras is one of several well engineered cameras from the golden age of Hollywood. Designed as a competitor to the Mitchell pro 16mm cameras, it had several design innovations that made it’s simple mechanism achieve good results for cheaper. Additionally it had several features that made it attractive to film makers. They made a companion optical sound camera. They used C mount lenses in it’s lens turret. (Which where were cheaper and more ubiquitous than Mitchell’s custom made Bausch and Lomb Baltar lenses). And it was lighter than the Mitchell 16. However, fewer than a 1000 are know to have been made, perhaps because it was introced not long before the reflex mechanism Arriflex, cp-16, eclair, and other canera began to take hold.

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Accounting Machine, National Cash Register, Class 2000, 3000, 32, 33

In the mid 20th century, National Cash Register had become one of the most prollific manufacturers of complex machinery. Probably best know for their cash registers, (already a mechanical marvel in their own right) NCR had been one of the leaders of mechanical computing in American industry. In the 20’s, most machinery NCR produced either were cash registers, or tabulators, however, it quickly became apparent that tabulators by themselves created a risk for error. When transfering the calculations to a ledger, bank statement, bill, or other piece of stationary, from the tabulator’s roll, there ran the risk of human error. The solution came in the form of the tabulating typewriter, a hacked together modification that enabled the tabulating to be done on the same sheet of paper as one would type one. NCR would be quick to buy the technology and develop it further. The first major change was in the 2000 and 3000 machines. These were full typewriters and tabulators in one package. Unlike their predecessors, the machine could automatically perform basic arithmetic operations and was electricly operated. By the midcentury however, the technology would become increasingly advanced, pushing the limits of mechanical computing. The class 32, 33 accounting machines could type two documents simultaneously, print customer data by imprint card, perform more complex arithmetic sequences, and even perform certain logical operations. It would further be upgraded with a simple computer in later years. Accounting machines were quite ubiquitous in American industry through the 20th century; used from the 1920’s until the 1980’s. Ultimately however, like many things this blog will discuss, they would vanish from memory and fall into obscurity.