Alan Smith Colour UFO photo 1965

[Z.W. Wolf]

Here's a good match.

The box is torn in just the wrong spot, but it says Spartus. The Spartus brand wheel in the Larry Robinson article isn't such a good match, but this one is.

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vtg-spartus-rotating-color-wheel-1695254374

The color filters are just cellophane rather than the thick and textured plastic filters you see on some other types, and that seems to fit visually. The colors are in the correct order. The shape of the spokes where they meet the outside rim is also a good match.

The ventilation holes in the fixture look right.

Good match for the one in the period photo too.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Another one. This one has the colors in the right order, others don't. I don't know whether that means the units got assembled at the factory in different orders, depending on the day and the whims of the particular person who assembled it. Or whether the wheel came without the filters in place and the user had to assemble it.

I'm guessing the former.

Robinson

The color filters can be rearranged on the wheel by the user, so they may not be in the same order on somebody else's wheel as they are on the ones in the photos.

It looks as if that would be possible. But I think the exact order could get changed up by the guy at the factory. Anyway the illustration on the box shows blue next to yellow... or I should be saying amber I guess.

This particular one doesn't have the correct ventilation holes in the fixture.

This shows the halo effect around the rim of the light fixture. It's due to the light spreading out before it hits the back of the wheel.

A different one with the colors in the wrong order.

"Hey, Mack. That's not what the picture on the box looks like. This one's got the colors switched around."

"Oh, yeah? Wanna call a cop or sumthin'? It's good enough for cripessake."

This one looks like it has a floodlight type bulb, but who knows what it came with in 1960? Quite possibly no light bulb at all. Both types have an E26 base, so you could use either.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

How do you get a dark rim surrounded by a halo?

The bulb is a floodlight type and is sticking out past the rim of the light fixture. As strange as it seems, the inside of the rim is in shadow and is relatively dark.

 

[JMartJr]

The bulb is a floodlight type and is sticking out past the rim of the light fixture. As strange as it seems, the inside of the rim is in shadow and is relatively dark.

For anybody having trouble visualizing this. or who perhaps live somewhere where"flood light" is not a common term, this is an old style flood light:

Note that it is designed to throw as much of the light produced forads, and is opaque to the sides (it is mirrored on the inside there.) Soemthing to the side of the "buld" will receive very little light.

This remains true of modern versions, in case it ever comes up again, here's an LED version:

It looks like that projecting lens (I guess that would be the word) on this one would leak a bit more light to the sides, but still, the design is to throw light out in front of the lamp.