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74 A HISTORY OF THE MOVIES
the film for a fraction of a second while a photograph was registered and then moved it forward for another exposure — a sprocket wheel similar to the device used in watch manufacturing, generally known as the "Swiss cross" or Swiss watch movement. Several foreign manufacturers used this device, and as long as the cameras remained abroad they were legal, but whenever one of them appeared in the United States the patents company denounced it as "outlaw" and tried to obtain possession of it. A few other cameras had been made in Europe and America without dependence on this important mechanism, but none of them was practical. They might take photographs occasionally, but usually they buckled or twisted the film or failed to move it precisely, so that with them photography was not a reliable art or craft but a sort of sporting event. These defective foreign cameras were, however, a principal means of keeping the American independents alive during the years of vigorous trust litigation.
Nimble anti-trust producers evolved the ruse of buying a Bianchi, or other legitimate camera (i.e., one not based on Edison principles), and replacing its internal machinery with the mechanism of some camera containing the important Edison device. A genuine Bianchi would stand near the camera containing the imitation Edison equipment, and the trust detectives could not know without examination of the inside of the box which mechanism was legitimate and which could be declared outside the law. The only certain method was to arrest the operators, seize all cameras, and take them into court. This undertaking almost invariably resulted in a fight during which the doubtful camera disappeared and the defendant then appeared in court with a perfectly innocent instrument.
Another of the independents' annoying habits was the practice of hiring the most skilled employees of the trust. "Why waste time and money in experiments with directors, writers, and players," reasoned the shrewd independent, "when the well-established General Film studios have people who know the game backward and forward ? I'll offer them a litde higher wages than