Identify a Light Box??

[shiben]

I would NOT plug it in if I were you...at least not without it being in a PROPER test enviroment away from flammables/combustables, and especially not while it's still in the air.

Oh exactly. Unhang it, bring it into a bunker or room without flammables or lots of sawdust, and get a very very long extension cord, etc. Wear safety goggles. But the only other option I can think of is take it apart bolt by bolt and try and figure it out that way. It looks to be a custom job, so the chances of someone on here being able to say what it does are next to nothing, and unless its got a lot of high explosive pyro in it, you probably dont need to worry too much about structural damage to your facility.

 

[Studio]

I will see if the drama teacher that has been there for ages knows what it is before I plug it in.

 

[ship]

I will see if the drama teacher that has been there for ages knows what it is before I plug it in.

Some form of breakup of the beam but certainly no made factory fixture. This is a mystery fixuture I have never seen before. Home made and well done in an interesteing way but what is it for? Very fascinating fixture, almost art in a way in if it don't get figured out, leave it there for a future generation as with your own tagged (don't get plugged in) observations as to what it is or what you so far know about it.

If you cannot solve the mystery as to what it is and what it does, put it back for a future generation but keep it in the back of your head and write notes on it as to what you find. If nothing found, Scooby Doo mystery hunt for another generation to further research further based off your notes. Amongst them, not designed per a normal fixture in rigging or how its made.

 

[erosing]

Oh exactly. Unhang it, bring it into a bunker or room without flammables or lots of sawdust, and get a very very long extension cord, etc. Wear safety goggles. But the only other option I can think of is take it apart bolt by bolt and try and figure it out that way. It looks to be a custom job, so the chances of someone on here being able to say what it does are next to nothing, and unless its got a lot of high explosive pyro in it, you probably dont need to worry too much about structural damage to your facility.

I was more picturing a nice hot glass shower, assuming it still works.

 

[gafftapegreenia]

I doubt anything will explode, it will probably just get stupid hot.

 

[church]

the lamp looks like an old tungsten projector lamp - I have some like this on a shelf. I wonder if this a simple effects projector for doing a Pepper's ghost type effect. the levers may be for adjusting the mirror

 

[Van]

Looking at the rods sticking out the back and assuming the knob back there tightens down to lock them in place. I'm going with some kind of Linnenbach projector.
Seems to be a home made whatever it is. But I'm sticking with Linnenback

 

[Synchronize]

Since it is pointed toward the house, my guess would be some sort of crude signal light for somebody the the back of the house. Followspot ops perhaps? I've heard of facilities that have a small signal light near the followspot(s) that is controlled by a switch near the board-op so that s/he may signal when the followspot(s) need to turn on. Since its such a small opening with quite a large lamp inside, I would guess that it wasn't designed for throwing light effectively. Maybe when the facility was built, they plugged that light into a circuit and brought it up to cue followspots or something else in the back of house.

 

[church]

the pepper's ghost and linnebach projector are very simple:

A linnebach projector theatrical lighting device by which silhouettes, colour, and broad outlines can be projected as part of the background scenery. Originally developed in the 19th century by the German lighting expert Adolf Linnebach, it is a concentrated-filament, high-intensity lamp placed in a deep box painted black inside. One side of the box is open and contains a glass or mica slide carrying the design to be projected; it can be projected from behind onto a translucent screen or from the front of the stage onto a backdrop.

 

[Studio]

Since it is pointed toward the house, my guess would be some sort of crude signal light for somebody the the back of the house. Followspot ops perhaps? I've heard of facilities that have a small signal light near the followspot(s) that is controlled by a switch near the board-op so that s/he may signal when the followspot(s) need to turn on. Since its such a small opening with quite a large lamp inside, I would guess that it wasn't designed for throwing light effectively. Maybe when the facility was built, they plugged that light into a circuit and brought it up to cue followspots or something else in the back of house.

Actualy it hangs right above our curtian and points at the back wall/balcony of our stage, I don't know it is a projector because there are steel support beams infront of it, however it may have been moved throughout the year.

This theater still has a record player and reel to reel tape player sitting in the corner, so it could be very old.

I belive there is a dimmable outlet near it.

 

[fredthe]

This theater still has a record player and reel to reel tape player sitting in the corner, so it could be very old.

Hey! I still have both, and I'm not that old!

I belive there is a dimmable outlet near it.

If it's got a motor, DON'T plug it into a dimmable outlet.

-Fred

 

[fredthe]

Actualy it hangs right above our curtian and points at the back wall/balcony of our stage, I don't know it is a projector because there are steel support beams infront of it, however it may have been moved throughout the year.

It might just have been hung there for storage, so its present location may not be a clue as to its use.

-Fred

 

[MillburyAuditorium]

What company did the lighting system in the theatre? ColorTran, ETC? Or mixed?

 

[fredthe]

What company did the lighting system in the theatre? ColorTran, ETC? Or mixed?

If ship can't ID the fixture, it's likely not a commercial fixture. Also, if the theater was opened in '72 (and is still original equipment), the lighting system is not ETC. It might be Strand, Colortran, or any number of other manufacturers.

-Fred

 

[shiben]

If ship can't ID the fixture, it's likely not a commercial fixture. Also, if the theater was opened in '72 (and is still original equipment), it's not ETC. It might be Strand, Colortran, or any number of other manufacturers.

-Fred

Quite frankly, I agree that it looks like a homebrew. Non-standard rigging devices, the fact that a lighting device of any type is chained straight to the truss, and the fact that Ship hasnt seen it all point to the fact that its homemade.

 

[cbenjes]

Brian:

Looks like it's on old scene projector. We had one very similar in my high school theater that was built in the mid-1960s. Basically, you place a transparency over the opening and the image is projected onto a white cyc. When I visited my old school a few weeks ago, it was still hanging there, and I'll bet there are only a few people still around who remember what it was used for.

We used ours for things like the final scene in the production of "Sound of Music" where we had a transparency of the Swiss Alps projected on the back wall as the cast was "escaping over the mountains" out of Austria. If the image is decent, it works OK. The problem is that if it is mounted on chains (Ours was and still is) the image tends to sway back and forth unless you stabilize the projector somehow. Even the slightest movement gets magnified by the projected image, and sometimes if there was a good breeze from the air conditioning, it looked like our "Alps" were having an earthquake.

Seems like your old theater and my high school theater have a lot in common.

Chris

 

[calkew5]

I'm leaning toward it being a projector, too. Looking through a box of old lamps the other day, I found a projector lamp that looked just like the one in your photo.

 

[venuetech]

It looks to be an attempt at making a linnebach projector
Linnebach lantern -- Britannica Online Encyclopedia
the distance from the lamp to the media is much closer than the unit that we had in my old school.

The one we had worked great and had a 14x14" slot for the media, that was about 12-14" away from the lamp. any detail in the image had to be larger than the lamp filament. we cut gel and taped it onto the frame for the scene. and had multiple frames for the show.