Moving Picture News (Jan-Jun 1913)

20 THE MOVING PICTURE NEWS MI ATT-P ATENTS D EPAR T M E N T 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 Apropos to the proposed confiscation of property in patents by means of compulsory license and other questionable expedients, proposed in the Oldfield Bill, the status of patent property as defined by Walker is worthy of quotation, i..e,: "Patents are property, the owner of a patent is legally and equitably entitled to the same protection that the owner of any other species of property may enjoy. . . . The right of property which an inventor has in his invention is excelled in point of dignity by no other property right whatever. It is equalled in point of dignity only by the rights which authors have in their copyrighted books. The inventor is not the pampered favorite of the Government or of the nation. The benefits which he confers are greater than those which he receives. He does not cringe at the feet of power, nor secure from authority an unbought privilege. He confers upon mankind a new means of lessening toil or of increasing comfort, and what he gives cannot be destroyed by use nor lost by misfortune. It is henceforth an indestructible heritage of prosperity. On the other hand, he receives from the Government nothing which cost the Government or the people a dollar or a sacrifice. He receives nothing but a contract which provides that for limited times he may exclusively enjoy his own. Compared with those who acquire property by gift or marriage, compared with those who acquire property by profits or sales or by interest on money, the man who acquires property in inventions, by creating things unknown before, occupies a position of superior dignity. Even the man who creates value by manual labor, though he rises in dignity above the heir, the dunce, the merchant, and the money lender, falls in dignity below the author and inventor." The chief objects of the improvements which form the subject matter of Letters Patent No. 1,056,794 issued to Albert S. Howell, of Chicago, 111., are: To provide a mechanism for photographically printing upon a continuous strip of prepared material; to furnish a film printing appliance that will operate while both negative and positive strips are fed through the printing chamber with a uniform and uninterrupted motion, and to produce an apparatus so constructed as to eliminate the transparent backing for the films heretofore employed, thus producing a free and unobstructed passage between the source of illumination and the negative film, avoiding the loss of intensity which follows the passage of the light rays through media having different refractive indexes; and as the full actinic action of the light is received by the exposed surfaces, positives of maximum excellence will be produced. Other objects of the invention are to provide means for varying the quantity of the light beams during the printing process, to furnish an automatic signal device for the purpose of indicating the proper point of time at which any change in the quantity of light is to be made, and to arrange suitable stop devices in connection with graduations which will enable the operator to bring the quantity of light to a predetermined degree with speed and accuracy. As a precautionary measure to prevent the exposure of the sensitized film to destructive rays when the conduit gate is in its open position, an automatic current interrupter is provided operable by said gate, and adapted to break the lamp circuit whenever the gate is opened. The accompanying figure is a side elevation of the apparatus of which there are 18 views in all, and as the specification contains over 800 folios and 21 claims, to give a full synopsis would be impossible within these prescribed limits. Film manufacturers, and manufacturers of Kinematographic apparatus generally, ought to be interested in a resolution passed at the Newcastle meeting of the Association of British Chambers of Commerce, urging the British Government, in a letter addressed to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, to press upon foreign governments the necessity of establishing an international law that "first public use" shall be the fundamental condition of ownership of a trademark. At present in some countries priority of registration is sufficient to exclude use by rightful owners, with obvious encouragement of piracy and unjust competition. This movement for a world-wide recognition of trademark proprietorship will probably be brought up for consideration and decision at the next International Conference for the Protection of Industrial Property. Charles Delac, of Paris, France, has applied for the registration of the trade-mark herewith represented, as applied to Kinetographic Bands and Films, Apparatuses or Cameras for Taking Up, Printing and Projecting Kinematographic Advertising Bills or Programs, used since January, 1910. Means for protecting the inflammable film against ignition are many and various. Charles P. Hulburd, of Los Angeles, Cal., proposes to do this positively, and reduce fire insurance rates, etc., by passing the rays from the condensers 2-3 through a sealed compartment 12 containing a light transmitting heat intercepting liquid composed of alum solution or the like, so that the light passing through the picture film 4 and projecting lenses 5 and 6 will be relative ly cool. A float in the container 12 closes the light apertures if the liquid is lacking; and official seals 10 and 27 will prevent unlawful tampering with the device, provided ordinances can be passed rendering the use of such devices compulsory. The inventor claims the combination with a motion picture machine having a base, a light emitting element, light condensing lenses and a motion picture film; of a container provided with transparent panes, a light passage between said panes, and a float chamber above the light passage; means to seal the container to the base; a transparent liquid heat-intersepting body in the container between the panes; a float in the container adapted to be held by the liquid above such