Video transmissions from beneath the battery

A few weeks ago when I first entered the coal bunker, amongst the load of paperwork I hauled away I found a videotape. Stupidly, I left it behind. When I got home, I realized I had a folder full of info pertaining to said videotape. You can read all of it over at the document archive. Bottom line: a few of these AV houses quoting Acme on a new orientation video offered a sample tape, something they had made for other clients. So when I returned I knew that this tape was probably not going to be what I hoped it would be, but I grabbed it anyway.

After scrounging up a VCR and a video capture device, I was able to check this tape out. Has nothing to do with Acme but still pretty interesting.

What was much more interesting was the tape you see at the top of this post. I also found this and now I knew I struck gold. This was the real driving force behind my quest to get a hold of a VHS player and I am sure glad I did! But first I had to deal with the accumulated filth inside of the cassette!

After taking this thing apart (entirely the wrong way), I cleaned it out and somehow got it back together. Then I sat down to try to do a little research on the minimal information listed on the label. A quick search for ‘Steve Buckner’ came across a patent assigned to his employer – who else – Acme! (click the image to read more about it).

This was exciting stuff – there had to be something good on this tape! Well there is – and there isn’t. It is black and white and has no sound. I think it may have been shot with some kind of exploratory camera. My minimal knowledge of coke ovens doesn’t lend itself well enough to understand what a venturi port is for but wikipedia shed some light.

At least 90% of the approx. 45 min tape consists of footage like this. I assume this is underground, beneath the batteries.

The good news (about 90 seconds of a 45 minute tape) is that every once in a while, you get to see some of the team working underneath the battery. Looks like battery #2, based on the placards held up that show D22 and D23. I sifted through it all and put together what you see below. It gives me chills to watch the guys working down there, and I wish I could head downstairs and lend a hand.

Really glad I got this working – I figured there was a good chance the tape would disintegrate or some other technical issue would prevent me from getting anything out of this. The screen caps below are almost even better than the video itself. It just seems so real, the quality is really excellent in a strange way, so vivid. I am blessed to have found this and gotten it to work!