There are a few things to beware of when selecting a 16mm sound projector.

Bell & Howell is a very well known brand. However certain models have a fatal flaw. The problem ones are the Filmosound models 500, 1500 and 2500 series (such as 1545, 1550, 1552 and so on.)

These machines almost always develop a split worm gear with age. A split worm gear will cause unreliable noisy running, and even stalling and failure to run. Unfortunately this is about a $250 repair since the machine must be totally dismantled to get to the worm gear, and then special tools and gauges are required to get everything properly aligned again.

(If you care, the split comes about because the molded plastic worm sleeve is a very tight fit on a metal core. The petroleum based lubricant leaches plasticizers out of the plastic sleeve, causing it to shrink and split.)

Most of the 500 series machines have a power transformerless tube amplifier and a line voltage 1000 watt lamp. (750 and 1200 watts could also be had.) This makes them much lighter in weight than the 1500 and 2500 series which mostly have heavy transformers for the more efficient low voltage 250 watt lamps and the solid state amplifier. So (assuming it still works!) a 500 series projector (540, 550 etc.) is still my favorite for carrying around for portable showings.

The older models are fine in this respect, including the 100, 200 and 300 series (such as 398, 399 etc.) However these all have manual threading, vacuum tube amplifiers, and use lamps that are no longer made. Plenty of the lamps can still be found however. They are a bit less convenient to use as the reels must be swapped in order to rewind the film.

The 3500 series were actually made by Eiki for B&H.

Kodak Pageant projectors have been made in a couple of main series. The early horizontal AV- models (with the takeup reel hanging over the edge of the table) had a governor controlled motor (which leaks some static into the audio) and tube amps. The later upright AV- models had induction motors and solid state amps. All used line voltage lamps of typically 500, 750, 1000 and even 1200 watts but the light output was never quite equal to that of the B&H and RCA projectors.

All of the AV series had manual threading and were gentle on the film. They could be threaded to bypass the sound drum when showing silent film, for perhaps greater safety with old shrunken film.

To reduce the light deficit, many had a Super-40 Shutter which switched from 3 blades at 18 FPS to 2 blades at 24 FPS for a 40% increase in light level, hence the name. In my experience many of these shutters are contaminated with gummy oil and are stuck in one position or the other, or midway between them, causing flicker.

The Kodak CT1000 projectors were actually made by Elmo.

(To be continued)