Spitlight Cloud Projector

Largest projector in the world

In the early 1950s, the Ticino engineer Gianni Andreoli constructed the "Spitlight P.300.S". This is a projector built on a truck, which Andreoli developed in cooperation with the company Dr. Gretener AG and various Lucerne companies.

Thanks to a powerful carbon arc lamp and a sophisticated cooling system, the Spitlight could generate a light intensity of 375,000 lumens and project images onto a surface of 600 by 600 meters on rock faces or artificial clouds. In 1985, the Spitlight was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest projector in the world.

The projection vehicle had its biggest deployment in 1956 at the Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. There, among other things, it projected the time, results or advertising emblems onto the rock faces of the Dolomites. Despite this and other successful deployments, Andreoli was unable to profit from his invention.

Due to unclear ownership and disputes over outstanding bills, Andreoli even hid the Spitlight for a short time in Ticino. After an odyssey of exhausting legal disputes, failed revival attempts and advanced standstill damage, the Spitlight first came under the care of the Swiss Science Center Technorama in Winterthur. From there, it finally moved to the collection of the Enter Technikwelt Solothurn in 2019.

Strong projections, weak engine

On the way to Grindelwald, the Spitlight had to be towed by a tractor in 1988 because the Bedford truck engine was too weak for the mountain road.

Attention, hot!

The beam of the projector is so hot that it can be used to light a cigarette.

High restoration effort

The cost of restoring the Spitlight amounted to around 180,000 francs. About a third of this was the Enter Foundation's own contribution.