Technicolor Wonder?

Technicolor Techni-Pak 1

I received a surprise package in the mail about 6 months ago from a friend in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.  She sent a still-unopened single-use camera from the early 1970s called the Techni-pak 1, sold under the Technicolor name.  The camera is a compact 35mm with a 20-exposure roll of color film.  I opened the plastic wrapper, and everything was pristine.  The back of the camera had all the instructions one needed to operate it, and in 1972, one could mail the camera with the finished roll to Delta Sales Corp. in Cincinnati OH + $5.95 and receive back 20 3.5" square prints, negatives, and another camera loaded with film.  Appearance-wise it looks like a small Kodak 126 Instamatic.  There are two aperture settings -- bright (f/11?) and cloudy (f/5.6?). The simple lens looks to have about a 40mm focal length. The camera was made in Hong Kong.

I was originally going to go ahead and shoot the film that came with the camera, but sanity prevailed.  It's probably C-22 process film, and over 40 years old, so the results would have been predictably abysmal.  I opened the back of the camera (there are two plastic tabs that hold the back on, along with the sticker with the instructions.  I was surprised to see sprocketed 35 mm film.  The supply side was rolled up into a tight coil inside a plastic sleeve.  The take-up spool is also unique, with plastic vanes inside that meet up with the film advance cogs.  Pulling up the film winding wheel releases the take-up spool. This of course, all has to be done in the darkroom, and the loading and unloading is actually fairly easy.

The back is easily pried open with a screwdriver. Two tabs hold the
 back closed, along with the label.

I tossed the original film and replaced it with a short length of Arista 100 film.  This allowed me to develop the film last night and scan it this morning.

Shooting with the Techni-Pak1
It's basically a mini Holga with the square format.  One must press in a small button before advancing the film.  It looks like there are flash contacts on the top of the camera for something like a Diana-F style flash with two posts. You can do multiple exposures if you want.

The supply side is rolled inside this sleeve.

The take-up spool has the film leader taped to it.

pressure plate on back

All the instructions you need!

Results --
Impressive for this type of camera!  The square format is perfect, and the 10 images I shot on the Arista 100 film were properly exposed.  Take a look for yourself: