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)

United States Patent Office, THOMAS ARMAT, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. VITASCOPE. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letter. Patent No, 580,749, dated April 13, 1807, Application filed Rw«nl>e? 26, 1898. SwulEa 613,408. OTo model,) To all whom it may concern: Be it known that 1, Thomas Armlat. a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington, in the District of Columbia, have in5 vented certain new and useful Improvements in Vitascopes ; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to xo make and use the same. This invention relates to apparatus for exhibiting pictures, but more particularly to that class of picture-exhibiting apparatusdisclosed in my pending application, Serial No. 15 579,901, filed February 19, 1896, in which the impression is given to the eye of objects in motion. The primary object of the invention is to provide simple and efficient means for im ao parting motion to the film-operating mechanism, whereby a series of photographic or other pictures showing successively the different positions oj attitudes assumed by a person or object in motion may be displayed in such 35 a manner as to reproduce to the eye the appearance of the moving object through all the phases of such movement with a life-like and unblurred effect. Another object is to provide simple, and 30 efficient raeansf or relieving the strain on the film between the tension device and the takeup drum while the film is being intermittently moved, and to prevent the teeth on the takeup drum from enlarging or otherwise injur 35 ing the apertures or perforations in the film or strip, whereby the life of the film, as well as its efficiency, is materially enhanced. Further objects are to provide a simple and efficient guiding device for alining the film 40 and to provide means adapted to be employed in a photographic apparatus. The invention will be first hereinafter more particularly described and then pointed out in tbs claims at the end of the description. 45 Referring to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a portion of the apparatus embodying my invention with the film or strip removed. Fig. 2 is a side elevation 50 of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1 with the film in position, and Fig. 3 is a detail plan view of one of the spools or drums and the guide-fingers for alining the film. ta the drawings, A may designate a suitable frame or support, B a feed-drum, C a 5$. tension device, and D a rotating element preferably provided with an eccentricallyarranged roller d, adapted to engage the film or strip E at each revolution, so as to intermittently move the' film or a portion thereof 60 through the tension device, all of which ^nay be of any preferred form or construction or similarly constructed to that disclosed in my application before referred tpor in my pending application, Serial No. 607,058, filed Sep 65 tember 26, 1896. The operation and movement of the film may be such that each successive picture is held a muclt longer time than i$ required to remove it and substitute another in its stead, 70 thus prolonging the period of illumination very greatly as compared with the period of interruption or change; and there is no necessity for obstruction of the light by the interposition of a shutter or opaque substance 7s across its path, so that the impression of the picture on the eye is so much longer and more permanent than the distortion or shadow effect incident to its movement, and the interval of change or interruption is so infinitesi 80 mal that thei mage of the picture is readily, retained until displacement and substitution take effect; and owing to the inability of the eye to receive an impression from every phase of motion the interruption or change is 85 wholly imperceptible, and the result is a roost vivid appearance of an object in motion, otherwise unchanging, clearly exhibiting all the phases of such motion" with lifelike effect. 90 I have not illustrated an illuminator and a condensing-lens adapted to concentrate the rays of light upon a picture located in the focus of an objective lens, but this latter, as well as the illuminator and condensing-lens, may be 95 of the usual or of any preferred construction and arranged in any suitable manner. The film or strip may be composed of any suitable transparent or translucent flexible substance preferably provided with the usual 1 00 apertures or perforations near /to edges, and adapted to provide a surface for carrying pic