In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants (1914)

Record Details:

Title:
In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants
Date:
1914
Publisher:
New York, Appeal Printing Co.
Volume:
In the District Court of the United States, for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the United States of America, petitioner, vs. Motion Picture Patents Company, et al., defendants : record volume 6
Leaf #:
000236
Language:
English
Collection:
Government & Law and Early Cinema
Format:
Periodicals
Contributor:
The Museum of Modern Art Library, New York
Sponsor:
Media History Digital Library
Coordinator:
Media History Digital Library
Description:
These seven volumes contain the testimonies and supporting documents from the U.S. District Court's antitrust lawsuit against the Motion Picture Patents Company (MPPC). Formed in 1908, the MPPC (sometimes referred to asœ"the Edison Trust" or just "the Trust") sought to control the American film industry through pooling patents and demanding that producers and exhibitors acquire licenses to those patents. Independent producers and exhibitors, who refused to license the patents, argued that the MPPC was an unlawful monopoly. In 1912 and 1913, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania heard testimonies from both MPPC members, such as Siegmund Lubin, and "Independents" who later became Hollywood moguls, such as William Fox. Ultimately, in 1915, the case reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which found the MPPC in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act and spelled the end for the already weakening MPPC. -- Eric Hoyt, 2012
Date Added:
September 21, 2023
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3264 Harry N. Marvin, Direct Examination. It will be noted that this feeding mechanism engages the intermediate portion of the film, and is adapted to move the film across the lens at a high rate of speed and with an intermittent motion (the witness re-attaches the feeding device to the illustrative mechanism) ; the shutter adapted to expose successive portions of the film during the intervals of rest and marked "G" on the photograph ; the take-up reel connected with the main shaft and marked "CI" on the photograph. I have now arranged the illustrative mechanism so as to show the additional features described in the latter part of my former answer referred to, and the mechanism in this condition is now shown by the Photograph No. 2. Referring to the mechanism in its present condition (Photograph No. 2), the continuously running sprocket feeding rollers will be noted, and are marked "M" and "Ml" on the photograph, and the loop of slack film supplied to the intermittent feeding mechanism by the upper continuously operating feeding roller will be noted and is marked "I" on the photograph. The slack film delivered by the intermittent feeding mechanism to the lower continually running sprocket wheel will also be noted, and is marked "J" on the photograph. The illustrative mechanism also illustrates the mechanism of the projecting machines in commercial use in the beginning of 1908. In the machine as now arranged and as it is shown by Photograph No. 3, will be noted the upper and lower supports for the bulk of the film, marked "K" and "Kl" on the photograph; the transparent or translucent tape-like photographic film, marked "L" on the photograph, and one of the feeding mechanisms consisting of a pair of upper and lower continuously running sprocket wheels, marked "M" and "Ml" on the photograph, engaging the film and having an intermediate section of slack film, marked "N" on the photograph, between them and the lens which is marked "A." The stationary exposure window is obscured in the photograph. I now supply the other feeding mechanism adapted to engage the intermediate portion of slack film and feed it