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)

673,092 of the tension device to permit the next succeeding picture to be brought quickly into the field of .illumination and allowing sufficient slack in that portion of the film which 5 has passed the tension device to be taken up by the succeeding drum during the inaction of the film-advancing device. This operation will be repeated in regular sequence, the film being caused to move over the sur 10 face of the drums E and E* continuously, while that portion thereof which lies between the two drums is intermittently moved forward just far enough to expose a picture at each move, the film -advancing mechanism 15 being also continuously driveu, but adapted to only intermittently advance the film, the interval of illumination of the picture being made to exceed the interval of movement or change preferably very greatly or 20 in the ratio of about one to ten. In this manner the pictures on the picture-carrying surface or film may be successively displaced and substituted one for another with great rapidity, so that in exhibiting a series of simi 25 lar pictures representing the same moving object in different phases ol* its motion the impression may be given to the eye of persons or objects in motion and with a vivid or lifelike appearance. I thus provide means for 30 operating the film so that it may be moved the proper distance for exposing successive pictures without liability to injury thereto, aud whereby the knocking and jolting of the machinery incident to the necessarily rapid 35 movement of the parts may be effectually prevented. It is obvious that various devices may be employed for intermittently moving the firm so as to successively place the pictures in the 40 field of illumination. In Fig. 9 the film passes between two suitable tension devices m m , then around a roller m2, aud thence to the drum M, though other means for guiding said film may be used, if desired. Between the 45 guides /// m may be arranged an arm or crosshead vf\ adapted to slide in a suitable support m\ one end of said cross-head being provided with a roller or other engaging portion m3, and the other end thereof connected to 50 suitable driving mechanism, as a crank and pitman )nf' m~, respectively, so that when the cross-head is forced forward the roller will engage the film between the guides and force it outward,: thereby causing the slack portion 55 of the film above the guide or tension device m to move downward the desired distance to displace one picture and place another in its stead, the slack below the tension device m' in the film being taken up by the drum M or 60 in any other preferred manner. The roller for actuating the .film, instead of having a sliding reciprocating movement, as in Fig. 9, may bo arranged on the end of an oscillating arm or lever n, Fig. 10, pivoted, as at /<•', to 65 a suitable support, so as to swing in the arc of a circle. In this case the lever >? may havo a slotted portion in which a pin or stud n\ projecting from a rotary disk or crank »3, may woik,.so as "to tilt said lever on its pivot and force the film outward, as shown in dot 7c ted lines. Fig. II illustrates a modified form of ten siou a»-.d guiding device and means for inter initten-tly operating the film. The stationary member 0 of the tension device O in this in 75 stance may be in two parts, as shown,A (or in one, piece, if preferred.) and has an upper yielding member o\ which exerts a constant yielding pressure upon the film, and a lower pivoted or hinged and yielding member o*, 80 adapted to exert a greater pressure upou the film than the. member < >' in substantially the same manner as in the tension device E\ A lever o3 may be pivoted, as at o\ to a suitable support and mas on one end thereof a rod or 85 stem o'\ provided with an adjustingnut os, and a spring oT, interposed between said nut aud asuitable stop or fixture o\ through which the rod o3 slides, sothat the rod will be normally-forced inward, and on the opposite end 90 of said lever may be jourualed a roller o, adapted to engage the film and tendiug to normally force the same outward, as shown in dotted lines. The yielding member oz of the tension device is provided with a depend 95 ing arm or finger p\ adapted to be engaged by the cam-surface p* of thediskorcamPata predetermined time, so that when said member is thrown outward sufficiently to relieve the pressure on the film the spring oT will force 100 the end of the lever a3, with the roller p thereon, in the direction indicated by the arrow, until the lever reaches the adjustable stop jj\ at which time the picture in the field of illumination will be displaced and another F05 substituted therefor. At P' is a drum for taking up the slack in the film and holding the lever o3 against the tension of the spring 0"' uutil the pressure on the film by the member o* of the tension device is relieved bv the s 10 cam P. In Fig. 13 the film is shown as.a continuous strip or baud instead of an endless strip, as shown in Fig. 1. In this case the film may bo unwound from a reel or spool Q' aud af 115 ter passing around the feed-drums Eand E';, as heretofore explained, may be caused to pass around a roller q and then to the reel or spool Q','the latter being operated in any suitable manner, as by f fictional engagement 1 20 devices, to take up the slack in the film as it is uuwound from the drum E without causing unneceseary tension upon said film. The reel Q' may, however, be placed in such position that the film may b.e wounddirectly 125 thereon from the drum E2. It will be understood, of course, that the film may be fed to the tension device and taken up after leaving the same by othermeans than by the use of the feed-drums, M^ ! that certain parts of the apparatus may be ised with or others substituted therefor, that some parts of the operating mech* 1 anisru and other parts of the apparatus may