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)

578,185 the drum F', preferably immediately inside of the upright or standard of the frame. This wheel or disk is provided with radial slots or recesses g'\ preferably four in n umber, ex tend 5 ing to the periphery of said wheel* aud may have depressed or concaved portions (f between the slots, so as to provide a wheel or disk substantially of the form of a Maltese cross. to Adjacent to the wheel g and preferably secured to the driving-shaft e8 is a rotating element H, provided with a lateral projection h, on which may be arranged a roller adapted to successively enter the slots or recesses gr* 15 and engage portions of the wheel, so as to intermittently move the latter when the element II is rotated. The element, Ilmayalso be provided with a disk or circular plate 7t', having a portion thereof recessed, as at h2, to to permit the wheel g to rotate while -engaged by the projection h, but which will engage the depressions in said wheel by its periphery as soon as the projection leaves any one of the slots, so as to cause the slots or re 25 cesses in the disk to always register with said projection and to hold the wheel and drum F' stationary for an interval of time in excess of the interval of time of each movement of said drum, the shafts e3 and e8 being so timed 30 relatively to each other that the feed-drum E' and the drum F' will move the film the same distance in the same interval of time. It is to be understood, however, that a separate disk or wheel provided with concave de 35 pressions may be secured to the shaft g' or arranged to rotate therewith and properly positioned with respect to a slotted disk and that a separate circular plate or disk may be provided for engaging these depressions, 40 the latter being also rotated and positioned with respect to the projection h of the rotating element. The rotating element is preferably of greater diameter than the wheel g in order that said wheel may be. rotated the 45 required distance and be held stationary as long as possible relatively to the time occupied by each movement. This arrangement permits very small and light film -moving drums to be employed, and, as will be seen, 50 the projection h will gradually enter and leave the slots or recesses in the disk* <j, so as fo gradually start and stop said drums, the 3 greatly removing the strain from the film incident to the necessarily instantaneous mo 55 tion thereof, and furthermore provides an intermittentl} operated drum which constantly engages the film, so as to prevent the possibility of tiie film slipping b}' reason of variations in its thickness. 60 The operation of the invention will be readily understood from the foregoing description when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings. The parts being in the position shown hi 65 Figs. 1 and 11 and the driving-shaft e* operated by an electric motor or in any other suitable manner, so as to rotate the shaft e3 and the feed-drum E' at the proper speed, the film B will be moved in the direction indicated by the arrows, but the pressure exerted by the 70 tension device F will hold the film stationary with the exposed picture in the field of illumination for a predetermined time, so as to provide sufficient slack in the film at the bend thereof above said tension device to permit a 75 rapid movement of a given length sufficient to displace any one of the pictures in the series and permit another to be brought into position for exposure-or reproduction. When the object has been held in the field of illumina 80 tion the proper interval of time, the projection 7i enters one of the slots in the disk g and rotates said disk and the drum F' and moves the film so as to displace the exposed picture and bring another into the field of illu 85 mination, the yielding members of the tension device permitting the film to be forced or drawn dowrward, but the instant the drum F' ceases to rotate one or mors of said members will engage the film and prevent further 90 movement thereof until the drum ,is again rotated. ^ The projection h is so arranged that it carries the wheel or disk g apart of a revolution equal to the distance between any two slots or recesses, in this case one-fourth of a 95 revolution, and simultaneously with the exit of said projection from any one slot the periphery of the circular plate or disk h' engages the depressions or concave portions §r*of said disk, so that the drum F' will be held perfectly 10c stationary in order to permit each phase or position at the object to be held in the field of illumination the proper interval of. time and the next slot placed in position for the projection h at the next rotation of the ele 1 03 jneut H. During this interval of time the slack in the film between the drum F' and the idler/ will be gradually drawn into the box or inclosure C by the feed-drum E', but not at such a speed as to exert a tension or pull ixe ing strain upon the drum F', and in the same instant of time, while the picture is being exhibited, the slack in the film between the tension device and the drum E', which has been partially or wholly taken up by advancing iij the film, will be compensated by an additional amount of slack paid out by said latterdrum, thus providing sufficient slack ahead of the tension device to permit the next succeeding picture to be brought quickly into the field of 12c illumination. Thisoperation will be repeated in regular sequence, the greater porti on of the film being caused to move continuously, while thatportionthereof which lies between the two drums is intermittently moved forward just 1*5 far enough to expose a picture at each move, the interval of illumination of the picture being made to exceed the interval of movement or change preferably very greatly, In this manner the pictures on the picture-carrying 13c surface or film may be successively displaced and substituted one for another with great rapidity, sathat in exhibitinga series of similar pictures representing the same moving