2-3/16 x 11-1/4" film, ultra-panoramic?

[Dr Croubie]

In yet another of my 'ah, what the hell, why not?' moments, I just bought another buttload of old film for an opening bid (again, anyone would think I like this stuff).
This stuff here. 250 sheets of 50 year old Tri X.
Besides the age and fogging that I'm expecting, this one is really interesting size-wise.
2-3/16 x 11-1/4", which (after about 5 minutes staring dumbfounded at the calculator figuring out how to do fractions) I worked out to be 55.5 x 285.75mm.
I know I like my 6x17 panos on 120, and I've done a few 5.5 x 10" (bulk aerial film) and 4 x 10" (two on an 8x10") in my 8x10, but this exceeds even that.
No less than a 5:1 pano ratio, even the very rare 6x24 on 120 is 'only' 4:1.

So the question is, what was this originally for?
Cut it in half for stereoscopic and you're still looking at stereo 6x12 (ish) images?
Some kind of military / aerial camera? (I know kodak did a lot of weird sizes/shapes/emulsions for the military).
A tiny version of a Circut (Cirkut?) camera (the ones that rotate to take 360-degree shots)?
Some sort of multiple-shot-on-a-sheet kind of thing, instead of using rollfilm?
Dr Google is being rather unhelpful, at least on the info that I've got from the pictures.
Anyone else ever seen something this size?


As to what I'm going to do with it, no idea. I've had decent success putting 5.5" film in an 8x10" holder with sticky-tape, and I can do the same again, but even then I've got to cut off 3cm to fit even that.
Maybe pinhole, maybe build a special camera for it? (there's enough to experiment to make it worth while).
Going on the Cirkut idea, it would fit perfectly around a 90mm diameter, I might even make a multiple-shot 360-degree pinhole thingummy...

 

[Dan Fromm]

No idea. But not aerial. USAF used a variety of cameras that took 70 mm roll film. Y'r find is too short, aerial cameras generally aren't reloaded in flight.

 

[jimgalli]

Scratching my head. Most of the old swing lens panoramics used rollfilm. The one label seems to indicate a scientific use. Wonder what it was that needed pan film. Love a good mystery. Meanwhile you can put 6 of them on end next to each other in an 11X14 film holder and come up with a very unique panel picture.

 

[MattKing]

My guess is that the "General Scientific Company" packaging in the grey box is the best clue.

 

[winterclock]

Spectrograph recording perhaps?

 

[jimgalli]

Spectrograph recording perhaps?

A good guess, but Tri-X?? That's the weirdness kicker. It had to have been a pictorial use I would think. Maybe there was an early synchro ballistic streak camera that used something like this. You'd end up with an image of a bullet on the film.