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 object in different phases of its motion the impression may bo given to the eye of persons or objects iu motion and with a vivid and lifelike appearance. I thus provide simple and 5 efficient means for positively engaging and operating the film, so that it may be moved the proper distance for exposing the successive pictures without liability to slipping due to the varying thickness of the film and with 10 out the knocking and jolting of the machinery incident to the necessarily rapid movement of the parts or unnecessary strain and wear upon the film. Also simple means are provided for tensioning and guiding the film and 15 for placing and adjustably holding the film in a comparatively small space. The film-operating mechanism may be used to. advantage in a photographic camera, as' shown in Figs. 7 and 8. The camera may be •o of the usual or of any preferred .form, and the driving-shaft e8 may be provided with a flywheel i and a sprocket or pulley wheel i', adapted to have motion imparted thereto by a belt or chain connecting said pulley or 25 sprocket wheel to a much larger hand-wheel v, so as to permit very rapid movement of the film, though any other suitable means may be employed for rotating the driving-shaft. In this case, and in some instances with a re jo producing apparatus, the film is wound upon a suitable reel and held in a casing or closure J, supported upon the arm e', instead of the idler e, and after passing around the idler or roller /' the film is passed backward and 35 wound upon a reel j, Fig. 10, journaled within a casing J'. This latter casing is mounted and rigidly held upon a support, as at/, and the reel on which the strip is to be wound is rotated by a slip-belt j* or by any other suit 40 able frictional gearing. Each of these casings or closures, Figs. 9 and 10, preferably comprise two telescopic members adapted to be removably held together by friction or otherwise, and has a pin or shaft on which the reel 45 j is loosely journaled or to which the reel is secured, so as to rotate therewith. The members of each casing are provided with slits j8, adapted to register with each other and permit the film to be wound upon or from the 50 reel contained therein, the slits being provided with a suitable covering to prevent abrading the surface of the film. Such cas % ings protect the film from light or exposure iu a photographic apparatus and protect it 55 from dust and the like when used in a reproducing apparatus. Instead of the mechanism shown in Figs. 1 to 8, inclusive, for intermittently operating the drum and film I may provide a disk 60 or wheel, as shown in Fig. 13. In thi3 case the rotating clement K has a lateral projection k, adapted to enter the slots or recesses 1 and engage portions or arni3 ?' of the wheel L at each revolution thereof, so as to rotate 65 said wheel and the drum F' the prooer distance. The disk or circular plate /4'and the. cngagingportions therefor for positively hold ing the drum stationary and alining the slots or recesses for the projection k both in this and in the preferred form may be dispensed 70 with and the tension device utilized for stopping the film theinstant the projection k ceases to rotate the wheel and film -engaging drum. In some instances I may provide an inclo 75 sure or casing for the mechanism and arrange a mirror at an angle and at a convenient distance from the projecting lens, so as to reflect the rays upward and backward upon a screen located above the mechanism in order to se 80 cure as large a picture as possible within a compact Space when it is desired to place the apparatus in public places for exhibition by using coin-actuated mechanism or otherwise. While,as described, the pictures are brought 85 successively into an illuminated field and each picture . illuminated without interruption from the instant it enters such field until displaced by the next picture in the series, I do not desire to be confined to the use of the in 90 vention without a shutter, inasmuch as such a device might be used under some circumstances, as, for instance, when constructed so as to interrupt the illumination only at that instant of time when the film is moving 95 and .without rendering the interruption perceptible to the eye. It is obvious that the film may be fed tc the tension device by other means than the use of a feed-drum and taken up by other iro means than that shown, that certain parts of the apparatus may be dispensed with or others substituted therefor, aud that some parts of the operating mechanism and other parts of the apparatus may be employed with either a 105 photographic or reproducing apparatus without departing from the spirit of my invention. Haviug thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is — no 1. The combination with a film or strip, of a tension device for yieldingly holding said film, a drum engaging the film, a wheel or disk provided with projections or portions forming a series of peripheral recesses, and a 1 i5 rotating element provided with a projection adapted to successively enter the recesses and engage a portion of the wheel at each revolution so as to intermittently rotate the drum and move the film with a gradua) start-and 120 stop motion, whereby a very small and light drum may be employed and a positive inter mittent motion imparted to the film so as to avoid racking and jolting of the mechanism and unnecessary wear and straifi upon the 125 film, substantially as described 2. The combination with a film or strip, of a tension device for yieldingly holding said film, a drum engaging the film, a wheel or disk provided with peripheral slots or re 150 cesses, and a rotating element provided with a lateral projection adapted to successively enter the slots or recesses and engage a portion of the wheel at each revolution so as to