Seattle FilmWorks 35mm Film Sorter (1991)
The famous Seattle FilmWorks film sorter (click "more" for additional details).. 35mm cassettes would come down a track at the top which ends above the curved yellow tube. Each roll of film had a barcode sticker which defined film type, print size, etc. The film passed under a scanner, the barcode number was looked up in a database, which determined the correct sort. The yellow curved tube would spin around to a matching tube with a tote on the other end. The film would then be dropped through the tube into a tote containing film of the same sort. Tis was the first sorter, which took a long time to debug, but it ran well it was finished. THis was replaced later by a similar unit which had more PLCs controlling it, and it took far less time to put into production. These sorters could sort thousands of rolls an hour. No video of it spinning, as the camera battery died.
The famous Seattle FilmWorks film sorter (click "more" for additional details).. 35mm cassettes would come down a track at the top which ends above the curved yellow tube. Each roll of film had a barcode sticker which defined film type, print size, etc. The film passed under a scanner, the barcode number was looked up in a database, which determined the correct sort. The yellow curved tube would spin around to a matching tube with a tote on the other end. The film would then be dropped through the tube into a tote containing film of the same sort. Tis was the first sorter, which took a long time to debug, but it ran well it was finished. THis was replaced later by a similar unit which had more PLCs controlling it, and it took far less time to put into production. These sorters could sort thousands of rolls an hour. No video of it spinning, as the camera battery died.