8mm/16mm Camera Device?

[Warlok]

I came across this very old unmarked item I think is for mounting a movie camera on and adding title screens to the film maybe. I could be way off but this is all I could think of. Any help on the maker, age and use is appreciated.

 

[astroNikon]

You may want to look under the base or around for any manufacturer markings or trademarks / copyright identification.

 

[petrochemist]

What you have is imo a part of a V ictorian stereoscope viewer, obviously altered, perhaps to view rolls of (stereo) drawings instead of stereo plates.
These were made in all kind of varieties, don't think it has anything to do with 8 or 16mm.
The most important part, the viewer, is missing. Value, I guess, is none.

I'm not sure you're right about that. They have no need of a winding mechanism or a mobile head. The bit on top of the central post doesn't look right for mounting a camera either, so IMO neither is a likely identification of its intended use.
FWIW the top of the central post is similar to the mirror mounting on old microscopes.
I think it's very likely that several parts are missing...

 

[dasmith232]

I was not thinking stereo viewer either. The center post looks suited for supporting an optic or a barrel containing an optic. The slotted bracket that extends to the left looks like it could align with the mounting bolt of a camera. The frame on the right looks like it would hold media of some kind. I was leaning towards 120 roll film or something like that but it's too big for (specifically) 120.

I'm thinking that it's something like a slide duplicator, but not for slides.

 

[Derrel]

Looks like it is designed to scroll titles on small rolls of paper. The "Y" looks like the camera lens support, and the slotted strip is where a tripod mounting bolt goes through, and the wing nut allows the camera support rail to be raised or lowered to get the lens into the "Y" and to be held at that height. I do not think this is a stereo viewer, but think it is a cinema camera accessory...most likely for doing scrolled titles.

 

[unpopular]

@Derrel take another look at the "Y". It's slotted, like something was supposed to fit inside it. Something thin. I kind of want to say it's some sort of optometry device?

If it is film- or animation-related, it's old. Like silent movie era old.

 

[Derrel]

@Derrel take another look at the "Y". It's slotted, like something was supposed to fit inside it. Something thin. I kind of want to say it's some sort of optometry device?

If it is film- or animation-related, it's old. Like silent movie era old.

Yeah...something thin--thin as in thin like the diameter of an old silent-era 8mm or 16mm camera lens barrel, perhaps? Yes, I think this is from the silent movie era--which lasted a long, long time for "regular" people who shot 8mm and 16mm film. The majority of "regular" prime focal length cinema lenses from that era had pretty small-diameter barrels. (There actually would not be any zoom lenses for another few decades!)

iIt looks like the camera was mounted on the back, and whatever was on the rollers was photographed as it was moved up and down....you know, the old Star Wars Crawl...done by hand with a single-frame release motion picture camera, or shot at the then-standard 16 frames per second rate, as a segment of a title was "scrolled up" on the roller advance?