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. CHARLES FRANCIS JENKINS, OF RICHMOND, INDIANA, AND THOMAS ARMAT OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA. PHANTOSCOPE. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent Wo. 586,053, dated July 80, 1897. IpplioftUos filed Angrut 28, 1895. Serial H«. 860,783. 'So model.) to all whom, it may concern: Be it known that we, Charles Francis Jenkins, residing at Richmond, in tho county of Wayne and State of Indiana, and Thomas 5 Armat, residing at Washington, District of Columbia, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Phantoscopes; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and ex10 act description of the ioveution, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. This invention relates to apparatus for exhibiting pictures so as to produce the appear15 ance of objects in motion; and the. primary ' object of the invention is to provide efficient means whereby a series of photographic or other pictures, show-ing successively the different positions or attitudes assumed byaper 20 son or object in motion, may be displayed in such 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. 25 A further object is to provide means for effecting the displacement of a picture and the substitution of another in its stead in an interval of time less than the interval of illumination and exposure of the picture, so as to 30 cause the interval of illumination to predominate aud render the act or effect of a change imperceptible to the eye. Another object is to provide means for accomplishing the results stated withont using J5 a shutter or equivalent device, such as has heretofore been necessary in apparatuses of a similar character, so as to utilize continuously and to the best advantage the light afforded by the illuminator and to avoid caat 40 iug shadows or cloud effects produced by the passage of the shutter across the light. The invention will first be hereinafter more particularly described with reference to the accompanying drawings, forming a pHrt of 45 this specification, and then pointed out in the claims at tho end of the description. In the drawings, Figure 1 represents aside elevation of an apparatus or combination of devices which may be employed in practicing $0 the invention. Fig. .2 is a detail side view, on t a slightly-enlarged scale, of the drum and mutilated gearing tor iutermittingly moving the tape-like film or other surface carrying the pictures to be exhibited. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the drum and larger mutilated gear 55 shown in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 represents in side elevation a modified form of a device embodying the invention; and Figs. 5 and C represent, respectively, ~. detail side view and a rear view of a tension device for yieldingly 60 holding the film or picture-carrying surface. In devieesorapparatnsessuchas have heretofore beeu devised for exhibitiug life-like pictures or producing the" appearance of motion it has been considered most feasible to 6< keep the_series of similar pictures (whether on a dis*k, tape, or other surface) constantly moving at a regulated speed, corresponding wi^h the speed at which the pictures were taken, and by means of a shutter or light ob 70 structing surface to alternately cover and expose the pictures successively in a manner quite similar to the method of "exposing the sensitive film or substance in taking the photographs, so as to bring the opening through 75 the -shutter centrally over a picture at intervals practically equal to the intervaih between exposure in taking the pictures, so I hat each picture may be seen only when it is in such a position that it will be exactly soper 80 posed upon the image not yet (owing to the persistence of vision) faded from the eye. The openings in'such shutters, which are ordinarily in the form of revolving disks having openings uear their circumferences, usu 85 eily cover but a fractional part of the circumference of the disk, so that a view of the picture is afforded through an interval of time much less than the period of interruptiou,and • as the illuminated pictures and the cloud ef oc feet or darkness of interruption caused by the passage of the shutter across the light are blended or mixed together in the eye of the observer the darkness continues to impress upon the retina so much longer than the light 95 that the value of the illumination is very greatly diminished and 'the picture appears to be poorly lighted or blurred. In the case of our invention tho conditions are quite different and the results produced ;os