General Information

Serial #

417

Part Number

1

Total Parts

1

AKA

N/A

Patents

N/A

General Description

metal casing & parts/ synthetic parts/ glass optics

Dimensions

Note: These reflect the general size for storage and are not necessarily representative of the object's true dimensions.

Length

38.5 cm

Width

26.5 cm

Height

37.0 cm

Thickness

N/A

Weight

N/A

Diameter

N/A

Volume

N/A

Lexicon

Group

Photography

Category

Cine cameras

Sub-Category

N/A

Manufacturer

AKA

Red Lake

Country

United States of America

State/Province

California

City

Santa Clara

Context

Country

Canada

State/Province

Ontario

Period

circa 1969+

Canada

A piece of equipment used at a Canadian manufacturing facility. The donor's father was Roland Ouellette who worked as an electronics technician at the CIP mill in Hawkesbury, Ontario. He was self taught in electronics but still received 4 patents for his inventions. Canadian Patents: # 925285 issued May 1, 1973; class 33-176; # 925286 issued May 1, 1973;  class 33-179; # 1222319 issued May 26, 1987;  class 354-29. United States Patent: #4,644,174 issued Feb 17, 1987.

Function

The HYCAM is a high speed 16mm motion picture camera deigned for the acquisition of photographic data pertaining to high speed or short-lived phenomenon , and/or recording of cathode ray tube displays operating in conjunction with the photographed event for evaluation, performance and engineering. This camera was used in a pulp mill to photograph the mixture of wood chips in the slurry on the processing line, to make sure the mixture was in the right concentration & during tests to determine the effectiveness of various mixing equipment and procedures.

Technical

The HYCAM was a rare piece of equipment because of its high cost. The Red Lake Labs equipment was well respected and a similar model of camera is still available, often currently available from specialist camera supplies for rent. Other uses, besides, production line use, automotive (including crash tests) and aeronautical applications, would have been sports and wildlife photography. Hycams did not reach the extreme speeds as used by pioneers like Harold Edgerton, but they were according to various web sites, reliable mid-range instruments and are often used in courses for training in high speed photography. This appears to be a 16 mm camera with an operating speed to 8,000 frames per second, which accepts standard "C" type lenses. In the early 1960s, Red Lake Laboratories introduced a 16mm rotating prism camera, the HYCAM. The rotary prism camera allowed higher frame rates without placing as much stress on the film or transport mechanism. The film moves smoothly past a rotating prism which is synchronized to the main film sprocket. Each revolution of the prism "paints" the same number of frames onto the film as there are faces on the prism. A shutter also improves the results by only opening as the prism faces are nearly parallel, and then closing again (Ref. 4).

Area Notes

Unknown

Details

Markings

label on inside reads ""Red Lake Labs, Inc. [script]/ SANTA CLARA, CALIF./ U.S.A./ HYCAM/ 400' MODEL/ PAT./ PEND./ The World's Most/ Advanced Rotating/ Prism Camera"/ incised white lettering on inside reads "SER./ 417", "RED/ LAKE/ LABS/ SANTA CLARA/ CALIF." & "MDL/ NO./ K20S4E/ MADE IN/ U.S.A."/ label on camera top rads "Red Lake Laboratories, Inc. (script)/ PHOTO INSTRUMENTATION EQUIPMENT/ SANTA CLARA, CALIF. Made in U.S.A."/ black & silver plates on front & back reading "HYCAM"/

Missing

power cord

Finish

textured beige painted casing/ black synthetic/ brushed metal control & instruction panels, parts/ green wire covering

Decoration

N/A