Moving Picture News (Jan-Jun 1913)

20 THE' MOVING PICTURE NEWS MIATT-PATENTS DEPARTMENT Recent Inventions, Letters Patent, Trade-Marks, Designs, Copyrights, Etc., Relating to the Art, Digested and Reported Exclusively for the Moving Picture News by Geo. Wm. Miatt, Patent Lawyer and Expert, Temple Court, cor. of Nassau and Beekman Streets, New York City Referring to the Oldfield bill and the pernicious efforts to tamper with the Patent Law and practice, the Inventors' Guild of New York City says that "Invention has contributed the greatest blessings of civilisation, and for America has laid the groundwork of our wonderful industrial prosperity. The American patent law. by its liberality to inventors, has fostered the inventive faculty and made us the foremost inventive people. If we value future progress and continued prosperity, we should change our patent laws only after the most scientific and searching studv, and only upon the most conclusive grounds." To "make any radical change in the present law or system would be like pulling up a healthy tree to see why it bore such an abundance of fruit. As an unnecessary appeal to legislation the proposed Oldheld recodification of our Patent Statutes has been, and continues to be a brilliant success in worrying manufacturers and needlessly alarming, business men who deal in patented articles, 'it is hard to tell what sinister influence is back of the bill, but it would seem to be mainly trust-corporeate in interest. Americans would be deprived of the present stimulus for invention and would find it even more difficult than heretofore to enlist financial support in new enterprises based on patent property (?) subject to confiscation by wealthy corporations and competitors. Furthermore the bill is based, as a pretext, on "evils" which do not in fact exist, or for which there is ample remedy under the present law and practice. The average politician does not know nor care about the merits of the matter and it behooves those who_ have influence with their representatives, and are interested in the industrial welfare of the country, to use that influence to defeat such a pernicious innovation. Here you have the whole art of taking motion pictures in a nutshell ; i. e.. the small hand camera 1, Figure_ 1. You do not even have to turn a crank, — simply squint through the sight hole 53 in the post 54, take aim by means of the field finder 55. press a button, and the Lilliputian interior department does the rest. This is a Muscovite invention by one Casimir de Proszynski, of Warsaw, Russia, and for dynamic c'i'.icentration it beats a bomb. Kinematographic mechanism "of appropriate construction" indicated by lens 12 and shutter 13, and operated by a moto: 23, of "appropriate type," is controlled by a gyroscope 17, which also is supposed to steady the camera in the hands of the amateur. Compressed air is stored in inter-communicating tanks 27 and passes through a reducing device 31 to the motor. The film passes from supply reel 9 to take up reel 10, being exposed en route. Figure 2 is a vertical section and Figure 3 a horizontal section of this unique device, details of which, too numerous to mention here, are described in this Patent No. 1,052,956; but we quote that "in operation the rear end of the camera rests on the chest of the operator and the forward end , is supported by the hands, as clearly indicated in Figure 1. The subject to be photographed is located by the operator through the medium of sight opening and the field finder, and with the fingers of one hand the button is manipulated to start the motor. The subject may make a wide detour, but as the camera is held by the operator, and as the latter is free to move in any direction, the position of the subject is of little consequence. If, perchance, the subject should suddenly run up or down a hill, the operator can conveniently tilt or turn the camera, to suit his convenience. In fact, because of the entire -operating mechanism being portable and in such compact form, and the power means being so arranged that it can be controlled by the fingers, photographs of animated subjects can be made under the most difficult conditions,and under circumstances which heretofore have been impossible to overcome." Yea, verily ! According to an exchange, correct table manners are being taught the students of the University of Minnesota by means of moving pictures. The subjects flashed on the chapel screen include eight "perfect lady" students seated at a dining table and deporting themselves in a proper manner. The abuse of table etiquette is shown by pictures of eight other students conducting themselves in a manner indicative of ill-breeding. This, of course, is an innovation primarily for the benefit of the rising generation; but why not thus "Teach your grandmother to suck eggs"? It would be much safer and more polite than the old method. The apparatus shown in the perspective taken from Patent No. 1,052,732 relates to the class of printing machines in which electric lights are automatically turned on by the closing of the platen and locking of the presser bar, and automatically turned off upon the release of the presser bar and opening of the platen. A designates a box casing on top of which is set the negative holder B, provided with a surrounding frame 17. 21 is the presser bar which operates the platen 20, and carries the springs 22, which cause the platen to press the paper against the negative. On the outer end of the platen is a