We manufacture a full range of plastic spools, boxes, cartridges, etc. For both 16mm & 35mm roll film systems in a variety of colours.
What is a roll film system?
A single 16mm x 100ft roll film (silver camera film) holds between 2,000 to 20,000 documents. The films can be stored in simple microfilm boxes although various types of sophisticated self-loading cartridges are also available.
A 16mm roll film system is the most variable and versatile microfilm system available. Roll film is used for retaining documents in chronological, alphabetical or numerical order. Alternatively, totally random filming may be indexed by bar coding and linking to a CAR (Computer Aided Retrieval) system.
Roll film is also available in 35mm width format. This film tends to be used for large documents, drawings and plans. For different types of roll film (silver camera film), please see the FILM SECTION.
Microfilm cartridges are used to contain a roll of 16mm microfilm once the documents have been filmed onto it. The cartridge is used for a number of reasons:
- It protects the roll of film from dust and scratching.
- It allows the microfilm to be used in sophisticated automatic loading readers and reader/printers.
- It allows for the microfilm to be rewound correctly back onto the spool ready for use.
- Cartridges are available in a variety of colours for the purpose of indexing.
The Microfilm Shop supplies 4 main types of 16mm Roll Film Cartridge:-
- i) CCMI cartridge
This is our basic cartridge, built to an economical price. Available in red, blue, yellow, green, orange, black, beige and white. - ii) CCMG cartridge
This is our premium quality cartridge made from ABS plastic to give a more professional and hard wearing finish. Available in red, blue, yellow, green, black, grey, orange, beige, brown and white. As the CCMG cartridge is made of 2 equal halves, it is possible to supply two tone coloured cartridges i.e. a blue base with a red top. This cartridge can be produced with your own company logo moulded onto the top case at no extra charge.
All of The Microfilm Shop’s cartridges are supplied with a clear leader, trailer and label at no extra charge. Leaders Cartridge leaders are available in 4 formats:- Clear (standard), opaque, black and ultra grip. All of these leaders can be bought with the cartridges or as individual product items.
The leader is provided loose with the empty cartridge. Once the film has been loaded onto the cartridge the leader is attached to the start of the film. Automatic readers and reader/printers grip hold of the leader and use it to pull the film into view.
Single labels are normally provided with the cartridges, however different formats are available at no extra charge as long as they are specified at time of order. All labels can be purchased separately. See below for available formats:-
The labels are in two parts:-
35mm box labels are also available on sheets of 4 (CFLS/35).
This is a plastic clip which fixes onto the centre spindle of the spool within the cartridge. As the name suggests, it is used when only a part film is loaded into the cartridge. It has the effect of packing the cartridge with an extra 15 meters of film so that the part film does not become loose and potentially jam within the cartridge.
Designed for specialist applications, this cartridge (CCMZ35) can hold a roll of 35mm microfilm to protect it from dust and scratching and to provide semi-automatic loading.
The Microfilm Shop can provide a range of 16mm and 35mm spools for use in non-cartridge roll film systems.
A roll film system using C-clips (ANSI) is half way between a spool roll film system and a full cartridge system. The C-clip clips around a conventional spool (MSNMAS and MSNMAR) allowing it to be loaded onto automatic Kodak type readers and reader/printers. Available in 13 colours. A range of labels suitable for C-clips are also available.
These are supplied in 16mm (MB16P – available in 7 colours) and 35mm (MB35P – available in 9 colours) versions. Both types have an angled, press click lid. We can also provide 16mm plastic boxes with a flat press click lid in black only (MB16PO8/K).
Available in a standard low acid card in both 16mm (MB16C17) and 35mm (MB35C17) format. Also available in acid free card in 16mm (MB16C17/AF) and 35mm (MB35C17/AF) format. All boxes are available in white only.
A range of labels for both plastic and cardboard film boxes are available.
These are special, self-adhesive tabs for splicing two pieces of film together. Available in clear (CCS16P), black (CCS16B), silver (CCS16S) and ‘with waist’ (CCS16K) in 16mm format. Also available in clear 35mm format (CCS35P).