I have used the
strand Patt 23 since I was 14 back in the mid 1970s. I own six of them and they still see regular use.
When they were first introduced they made the same impact on the industry as the S4. I grew up in the U.K. and used them extensively in schools and profesional
theatre. They replaced the older generation of
stage spots.
When first introduced they used a large T1
tungsten lamp that had to be burned
base down and had a pretty short life about 150 hours if I remember correctly. The lamps were expensive i know in 1976 we used pay 5GBP a lamp which was a lot of money as a licenced electrician only earned 30GBP per week.
When first introduced they had a smooth rear and front
reflector and no shutters. The front refl;ector was if my memory serves unique at the time and would later be copied by
CCT as a midlife upgrade for their
SIL range of zooms.When the shutters were introduced they were available with a square
gate. Originally they were silver grey in colour. When the Mk2 came out it had a faceted
reflector which improved the light output although the front
reflector remains smooth.
Three of my fixtures were the square
gate versions which I have modified to a round
gate and they still have the originl
reflector even though they date from the early 1960s and show no signs of cracking, burnt spots or loss of reflectivity. these fixtures also have the ability to slide the
lampholder backwards and forwards to improve the
bench focus - it makes no difference and was not included on the Mk2 version.
They use a plano-convex
lens arrangement, the normal
fixture had a single
lens which givesa 3.5m spread at an 8.5 m
throw. In the earliest versions this was a stepped
lens. This
lens was soon replaced by a regular
lens and there was a Patt 23W version available which used two identical lenses which shortened the
throw to 4.5m, this was ideal for the typical English school where the 1st
electric was only 12 feet above the
stage. There was also a
fresnel lens version available. In all cases there is a halo filter required which is placed on the
flat side of the innermost
lens or where it would be if it was fitted, without this filter which is simply a thin metal disk with a large hole in the centre you will not be able to achieve a decent focus. The later units also have slots for an
iris or gobos. The gobos do not work well except for out of focus break up. Interestingly the full size S4
iris will fit this
fixture.
There is also a conical narrow beam
lens tube available called the 23N; which uses a 6*9
lens. This increases the
throw to 15.5m. Often used in schools with an
iris as a follow spot.
In North America we have the advantage that we can use the BTL lamp which really improves the light output - I use the
HPL lamp in mine which really makes these useful fixtures because they are small, relatively lightweight and outperform a number of newer fixtures by a significant amount.
Strand also made a 23N version which has a large diameter
lens tube which was re badged in the 80s as the Patt 823 and used a 650W
halogen lamp. The 650W lamp was available in a P28
base and could be used in any of the patt23s and worked really well providing a light output that held its own against the 1000W
tungsten lamps found in many fixtures at the time.
One advantage for cash strapped schools and
theatre groups was the 4in*4in colour frame which meant you could make filters out of the leftover offcuts from sheets or the corners of burn't out filters from the Patt137 floods and other fixtures widely used at the time. I know it sounds cheap now but in the days of three day weeks, miners strikes, dock strikes
etc this was important stuff.
When
Strand was acquired by the Rank Organisation the fixtures changed to a green colour. In the late 70s this was poorly applied and had a nasty tendency to depart from the
fixture in large strips.
Today when you see these fixtures they are frequently neglected and will not perform well, usually they are missing the halo filter which is still available from specialist suppliers in the U.K. and can be made from 24 guage steel sheet in 15 minutes and the
yoke clamp will normally be loose so the
fixture will
droop. This is easily fixed, just remove the four screws that hold the front
reflector in place and tighten the nuts on the bolts.
Overall a
fixture that was a major step in the industry and has survived beyond what could have ever been expected because the original design was good and the
build quality was for its time excellent.
Strand really got it right with this
fixture, the 123, the 223 and the 743 and sadly replaced these fixtures with inferior products.
As an aside for any of you Doctor Who fans have you ever noticed that their shape looks like a Cyberman's head?
