Tin Mutoscope project

[treefrog]

I also have a muto project, which is missing a few bits.Bought at auction a year or so back, but has a mechanism, but not sure it is for this machine, also missing glass.

Question, mine does not have the box hanging from the bottom, some do and do not, what is it for?

[badpenny]

Punky alright?

Sadly Punky got sick in November and died quite quickly.

Sad news that .... pets just don't live long enough.

Have you seen this one? It 's like me when I can't find my car keys ...........You need the sound on.

[gameswat]

Tree, the missing casting below is the cashbox which had a locking door to the front. I seem to remember seeing a friends that was like yours without it, and from memory might have been made that way? There's a hole in the cast iron base below the coin mech for the coins to drop into that cashbox, so if the hole is there then it once had the cashbox. But if there isn't a hole in the floor then it never had the cashbox and would be early I think.

[jimmycowman]

Just repairing a mutoscope. Does anyone know what sort of lock they used on the main door

[gameswat]

Hey......what.......woah?! I wasn't asleep!.......Just resting my eyes for a minute I swear. Now where were we? The original US locks are VERY hard to find as I've needed them before for a few other machines of the same period and even living in the states for extended periods I think I only found maybe one. As you can see though Yale UK made a similiar shaped version with offset entry stem, though tongue is slightly thicker. These are also hard for me to find but I did manage to "liberate" a few from the cashbox doors of 1950's era Avery chemist scales.

[john t peterson]

"Liberate" indeed, my fast fingered friend. Is that your picture I see each day on the wall of my Post Office? (For the uninitiated, the FBI distributes the "Top 10 Wanted" on posters, usually posted at US Post Offices.)

J Peterson
FBI-nvestigating in America

[jimmycowman]

OK. Thanks for the info

[gameswat]

Hey all, just wondering if anybody has managed to swap the glass magnifying lenses around on the two different sized tin mutoscope models? The large head was first using recycled Clamshell mechanisms and when they ran out of those they started making new smaller mechanisms and smaller cabinets, with a smaller eyepiece castings too. But I'm not sure if the lenses are interchangeable? I'm asking as just purchased a small model eyepiece casting with lense in the US. I need the lense for a large head model. Looking at the back of the eyepiece in the sellers photo and comparing with my large model (but badly chipped) lense at the same angle they seem to match up exactly, but they might be a little different?

[gameswat]

OK, so I finally have the answer, my friend in the US who stores my purchases on the west coast just got back from holiday. I had him measure the lense for me:

Small model lense = 3 & 7/8" wide x 1 & 9/16" high.
Large model lense = 4 & 1/4" wide x 2 & 1/8" high.

The smaller lense would literally fall through the aperture in the large model, so not interchangeable sadly.

[stevem]

I too am looking for a replacement lens for my tin Mutoscope....the old one was cracked and sadly got thrown away! I am also looking for the 'framing' box that fits behind the lens...anyone out there know where I could source these?