The Moving Picture World (1907)

Record Details:

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22 THE MOVING PICTURE WORLD. film. He was not the first inventor of apparatus capable of pro- ducing suitable negatives, taken from practically a single point of view, in single-line sequence upon a film like his, and embody- ing the same general means of rotating drums and shutters for bringing the sensitized surface across the lens and exposing successive portions of it in rapid succession. . . . Neither was he the first inventor of apparatus capable of producing suit- able negatives and embodying means for passing a sensitized surface across a single lens camera at a high rate of speed and with an intermittent motion, and for exposing successive portions of the surfaces during periods of rest." Also that "the real invention, if it involved invention as distinguished from improve- ment, probably consists of details of organization, by which the capacity of the reels and moving devices are augmented and adapted to carry the film of the patent rapidly and properly." Upon the record in that cause, however, we held that the "prior art did not disclose the specific type of apparatus which is described in his patent His apparatus is capable of using a single sensitized and flexible film of great length with a single lens camera, and of producing an indefinite number of nega- tives oh such a film with a rapidity theretofore unknown." The case was therefore an appropriate one for re-issue under Sec 4,916, U. S. Rev. Stat., since there is no suggestion of any fraudulent or deceptive intention in claiming more than the patentee was found to be entitled to. Upon re-issue with claims restricted to the specific type of apparatus described in the patent, the question would be presented whether those claims as thus restricted were properly allowed in view of the state of the art and whether defendant's device infringed them. The specific type of apparatus shown in the patent was thus described in our former opinion; it "is enclosed in a box-like casing from which light will be excluded except through the lens, and which embraces <an ordinary adjustable camera having the lens mounted in the side of the box. Two reels,' enclosed in suitable cases, are located on opposite sides of the camera lens. The -film is drawn from one of the reels on to the other across the lens. It is transparent or translucent, and tape-like in form, and is preferably of sufficient width to admit the- taking of pictures one inch in diameter between the rows of holes on its edges. These holes are for engagement with the feed wheels for positively advancing the film. When the film is narrow it is not essential to use two rows of perforation and two feed wheels, one of such rows and one feed wheel being sufficient. The two . feed wheels are carried by a shaft and engage the film on one side of the camera opening. The power is supplied by an electric motor which drives a rotating shaft carrying the feed wheels through a pulley held in frictional engagement with the feed- wheel shaft. The take-up reel, or the reel which receives the tape after passing the lens, is also driven from the motor shaft through a pulley which is frictionally mounted upon the reel shaft. The shaft carrying the feed wheels is controlled by a stop or escapement- movement which is driven positively by another shaft, so "that, although the motor tends to drive the feed wheels continuously, they are only permitted to turn with an intermittent motion by the stop or escapement device, the pulley which drives the feed wheels slipping on the feed wheel shaft while that shaft is held at rest by the stop or escapement device. A shutter consisting of a rotating disk having an open- ing in it is mounted directly upon the motor shaft and revolves past the lens, so that the light from the lens is intermittently thrown upon and cut off from the sensitive surface of the film. The camera is shown as a single lens, and is arranged to project the image of the scene being photographed upon the film when the openings of the shutter disk are opposite the aperture between the lens and the film. In operation the apparatus is first charged with a tape-film several hundred or even thousands of feet in length. The specification states that the parts are preferably proportioned so that the film is at rest for nine-tenths of the time, in order to give the sensitized film as long an exposure as practicable, and is moving forward one-tenth of the time, and that the forward movement is made to take place thirty or more times per second, and preferably at least as high as forty-six times per second, although the rapidity of movement or number of times per second may be regulated as desired to give satisfac- tory results, and there should be at least enough so that the eye of the observer cannot distinguish, or, at least, cannot clearly or positively distinguish, at a glance, the difference in position occupied by the objects in the successive pictures." The securing of intermittent action to the. parts which engage the film is effected by certain stop devices, the details of which need not be enquired into; they are equally adapted to other uses than those shown in the patent and are the subject of a separate patent to Edison No. 491,993. The important distinctive feature is the manner in which these intermittently moving parts handle the film. In addition to the references in the earlier case, there are a number of patents introduced here, of which it is sufficient.to say that we concur with the judge who heard the cause at circuit that the apparatus described in the patent exhibits patentable novelty. Such novelty, however, cannot be predicated solely on the circumstance that the intermittently moving parts operate directly upon the film; the meritorious feature of the device is that they seize hold of the film firmly, move it posi- tively, regularly, evenly and very rapidly without jarring, jerking or slipping, producing, a negative which can be printed from and reproduced as a whole without rearrangement to correct imper- fect spacing of the successive pictures. The specification states that when the film is clamped in the delivery case "the loose pulleys 7 18 slip without pulling said film along," and that when the film is released from that clamp "the pulleys operate to pull the same along." Loose pulley 18 turns the take-up reel and it has been suggested that the phrases quoted imply that such reel is, in fact, the feeding mechanism. A careful study of the patent has satisfied us that this is not so. The specification ex- plicitly states that the "teeth of the wheels 5 enter the holes along the edges of the film for the purpose of positively advancing the film." The-organization described shows that -the sprocket wheels are adapted to push the film along as they revolve, as well as to hold it back when they are at rest. The distance to be moved for each exposure is so short (an inch) that the film can ap- parently be moved forward by pushing as well as by pulling, since the guard or guide through which it moves protects it against buckling. While the film may at times be practically tense between the intermittently moving sprocket wheels and the take-up reel, it would seem that operation at high vspeed .would soon produce a slack or loop between the sprocket-wheels and the delivery reel, and the evidence of complainant's expert shows that in practice this is so. The specification states that when the film is narrow it is not essential to use two rows of perforation and two feed-wheels, but at least one sprocket wheel and one row of perforations are essential to the organization described. In succession each sprocket enters a hole, thereby holding the film firmly and positively, and either advancing it forward or holding it at rest by a method of engagement, which eliminates all chance of slip. The engagement between the feed-wheels and the film is not frictional; the film is continu- ously held by the interlocking of a sprocket and a hole; as one sprocket leaves a hole the next succeeding sprocket enters the next succeeding hole. Irrespective entirely of any action of the take-up reel the film tnust advance as the sprocket wheel moves and cannot advance when the sprocket wheel is at rest.^ Com- plainant's expert has operated a camera constructed in sub- stantial accordance with the specifications, and from which he had removed the take-up reel. He found' that the sprocket wheels alone moved the intermediate section of film across the camera at the requisite high rate of speed and with the inter- mittent motion. In the defendant's Biograph Camera there are the usual reels and devices' for giving to some parts of the apparatus a continu- ous and to others an intermittent motion. The. "intermediate section" of the film is moved across the lens by two friction rollers located just beyond the film-guide;. these move continu- ously and draw the film forward. The mechanism for holding the same stationary during exposure is stipulated in the record. "Mounted upon the motor shaft N is a grooved cam n, imparting ^movement to an arm n 1 (which arm rocks a shaft « s ). * * * Loosely mounted upon the journal tf (of the rock shaft) is a tension leaf W forming part of the film slide (or film-guide) F. The film 6 passes between this tension leaf and the back plate f of the guide. .* * * n s designates a projection mounted upon the rock shaft n~ and co-acting with the tension leaf W to throw the same away from the back plate and therefore out of engage- ment with the film when a portion of the film has been exposed and it is desired to again move the film relatively to the lens. The rolls, which draw the film, rotate constantly, and would feed the film past the lens with a continuous motion were it not that the film is gripped by- the tension Jeaf momentarily to admit exposure." • Figure 5 of the drawings of Defendant's Biograph machine will facilitate the misunderstanding of this description. It will be observed that there is a part marked n* called a "punch," which might be supposed to have, in part, the function of complainant's sprocket, holding back the film by interlocking engagement This is not so, as will be seen when the necessity for using a punch is pointed out later on. The engagement of defendant's moving parts with the ^inter- mediate section" of film is wholly frictional; there is no such interlocking as will hold the film firmly, advancing it with mathe- matical accuracy precisely the same distance between exposures, making its motion absolutely co-extensive with that of the' sprocket wheel from the beginning of the operation to the end, and .thus securing a perfection of spacing of the negatives upon the exposed film. It is apparent that in defendant's engagement ! i