March 06, 2004
Prior Art: View-Master Projectors
View-Master Show & Tell Projector and the View-Master Projector and Telescope. DtM has bought one of the Show & Tell projectors to play with. At a retail cost of US$16, this Fisher-Price toy is an excellent model in terms of cost and robustness. See below for pictures of our projector, and design comments.
The View-Master Show & Tell Projector on my desk.
The View-Master projector under my desk. With the wall about two feet away, the image is about eight inches square. The original slide is less than an inch square.
The View-Master optics housing, showing (from L) the reflector, the incandescent bulb, and the two plastic projection lenses.
Some initial observations (without taking it to pieces):
+ the View-Master slides are roughly the same size as the microfilm images. They're printed at high-resolution and in full color. There are seven unique images to each View-Master reel, although you could fit fourteen if you didn't care about creating stereo effects.
+ in terms of design-for-repair, the View-Master projector could be greatly improved by getting rid of the reel-advance motor.
+ amazing toy for sixteen bucks!
