Tales out of high school - the overhead projector

[illusionofjoy]

Does anyone else remember overhead projectors? This piece of equipment is - or was - ubiquitous throughout elementary, high school and a smattering of college courses, never to be heard from again once one enters the workforce (unless one was teaching). In any case, you combine one of these glorified flashlight and mirror machines with a transparency and voila - you had the stone-age version of a PowerPoint Presentation.

Personally, I've always hated overhead projectors. They were bulky, noisy and - worst of all - named incorrectly. The overhead projector did not shine it's light from a position on or onto the ceiling. Usually these machines would sit upon a spare desk, shining their horizontally placed transparency sheet onto a wall that generally stood in the classic vertical position that walls do. There was no "overhead" about it, unless one counts the mirrors which moved a horizontal image to the vertical plane. To count that is flimsy in defining a whole piece of equipment in my book. They should have just called the damn things "transparency projectors."

It was rare that anything regarding these machines passed for entertaining. I remember one high school class I was in where I sat kitty-corner from a student whose desk was positioned directly behind the desk holding the projector. In fact, since the image went out of focus when moved closer the wall, this kid had the misfortune of sitting at a desk which was pressed against the desk holding the projector. Often this kid would lay his head down in the middle of class, a plaintive expression of malaise painted upon his face. He was obviously bored and didn't bother much with hiding it from anyone else in the class.

It was a day like any other as the "projector kid" laid his head upon his desk for the nth time. His hair waved in the breeze of the projector's exhaust fan. In his hands, he had torn up a few slips of paper and he was playing about with the strips, moving them closer to and father away from the fan, watching as they waved in the breeze. In one apathetic motion, he moved a strip of torn paper close to the grill of the fan yet again. His facial expression changed suddenly from boredom to mild amusement as the shred of paper slipped from his fingers and was sucked into the great metal belly of the overhead projector. The kid briefly glanced about to make sure the teacher hadn't noticed this abuse of school property. Confident that she hadn't, thus began an activity which would provide much amusement for this kid and his friends in the desks nearby for the next three months.

Throughout those three months, I had never thought much about the internal workings of an overhead projector. Of all the mechanical or electrical devices I could be thinking about, they were the most odiously boring. It didn't help that they represented years of boredom and being mentally indentured at the hands of a state-sanctioned education. Reflecting on it, I probably would have been happier going to the library every day and pursuing my own private course of study. But I digress...an overhead projector has three basic components: the first is the source of light, which shines through component number two: a glass pane upon which transparencies rest. The third and final component is the mirror and lens combination over the glass pane which reflects and focuses the image upon whatever surface the project is pointed at.

The light is housed in the bulky base of the projector. Behind it is usually a mirror, to better focus the beam through the glass above. Since high-wattage bulbs are necessary to compensate for the diffusion of light as it is focussed upon another surface, much heat collects around the light bulb and mirror assembly. An intake, exhaust fan or some combination thereof is required in order to prevent the unit from overheating and creating a potential fire hazard.

I don't remember much about the day; and I certainly don't remember the lesson being taught those three months after the "projector kid's" discovery with the paper strips and vacuum action. What I do remember is smelling something burning in the classroom and looking up to see wisps of smoke as they began to leak out of the overhead projector. At this point, the world went into slow motion as our teacher ran to rip the projector's power cord from the wall. Meanwhile, the kid sat with his mouth agape in silent shock that little strips of paper being fed into an overhead projector over a period of three months could possibly combust.

Once safely unplugged, the smoke dissipated and the teacher opened the projector to do a little investigating. The evidence was incontrovertible: inside of the machine, nestled in the mirror under the high-wattage projection bulb was a huge wad of now singed strips of paper, tangled up together. Being as our kid was the only one within reach of the machine, he was naturally indicted for his crime.

This had to have been at least seven to nine years ago. Honestly, I'm surprised that overhead projectors are still manufactured. I suppose that they have their place...I hear that PowerPoint presentations are less flammable, though.

Comments

[candyblades.livejournal.com]

Office Depot still sells those overhead projectors. :P lol

[slinkybetty.livejournal.com]

I remember those. You made me remember something from my schoolgirl days:

The huge reel-to-reel machines were still in full effect when I was in grammar school. I remember watching a movie about the Oregon Trail. The film melted and the machine started somking. It smelled something awful, and you could see the movie melt on the screen. I think the film was from the 1950s.

Just a random memory... carry on...