Patent GB-373314-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to apparatus for reproducing combined photographic soundrecord and cinematograph films
IPC: G03B31/00
Filed: 1931-03-10
Abstract: 373,314. Sound reproducing apparatus associated with kinematographs. WESTINGHOUSE ELECTRIC & MANUFACTURING CO., East Pittsburg, U.S.A.- (Assignees of Reynolds, E. W. ; 4028, Sommers Avenue, Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.) March 10, 1931, No. 7376. Convention date, March 17, 1930. [Class 40 (ii).] Apparatus for reproducing combined optical sound-record and kinematographic films 18 comprises a plurality of film-reeling means 19, 49 disposed on one shaft 78, as shown in Fig. 2, and a plurality of film-advancing means 17, 42, 51 disposed on another shaft 43, at least one of said film-advancing means being resliently mounted. The apparatus is mounted on a baseplate 9 having an upstanding plate 8 and is disposed, together with a power unit 3, amplifier 4, transformer 5, &c., in a carrying- case 1, Fig. 1. A loud-speaker 7 and picture screen 6 are also mounted as shown. The film 18 is delivered from a feed-reel 19, Fig. 2, by a feed sprocket 17 on the shaft 43 and forms a loop 21 from which it is intermittently advanced through the gate 15 of the picture projector by means of a cam-operated arm 23 bearing claws for engaging the sprocket holes in the film. The gate 15 is provided with a number of tensioned shoe straps 24 such as described in Specification 367,113. The picture projection system comprises a light source 13 from which light is projected through an opening in the plate 8 on to a vertical mirror 27 and a projection lens 16. After passage through the gate 15 the film is formed into a loop 22 and is then moved by a sprocket 42 on the shaft 43 through a sound gate 29 provided with tensioned shoe straps which are mounted on a pivoted bracket adapted to be moved relatively to the sound gate 29 by the coaction of a bell-crank lever 34, a cam, and a roller. The sound-reproducing apparatus comprises a lamp 28, optical tube 31 and lens 39. After passage through the gate 29, the film passes over one or more rollers 47 and then over a film-driven roller 44 having a flywheel 46, Fig. 9, mounted on its shaft 45. The sprocket 42 forms the film into a third loop 48 from which it is delivered by a sprocket 51 on the shaft 43 to a take-up reel 49 coaxial with the feed-reel 19. The two outer sprockets 17, 51 on the shaft 43 may each comprise a toothed disc secured to a flanged film-supporting roller. The middle sprocket 42 is flexibly mounted on the shaft 43 and comprises a flanged film-supporting roller 59, Fig. 17, secured to a toothed disc 57, which is connected by a coil spring 64 with a collar 63 on the shaft 43. The reels 19, 49 are mounted on a spindle 78, Fig. 8, which is driven by a belt engaging a pulley 82 on the shaft. The reel 49 is mounted by means of a key 83 supported on springs 86 and slidable on a pin 84 in the shaft 78. The feed-reel 19 is freely mounted on the shaft 78 and is keyed for rotation with a bush 87 which is provided with a flange 92 adapted to be engaged frictionally between a washer 95 and flat spring 93 on a second bush 91. When the bush 87 is rotated by the reel 19 through the action of the film, the sides of a channelled bracket 97 mounted on the bush 91 are adapted to engage springs 101 so as to bring a pair of studs into engagement to complete the circuit of a relay 106, Fig. 9, in the driving and lighting circuits of the machines. When the last layer of film leaves the machine, the bush 91 is no longer driven and the circuit is broken. At the same time the mechanism is braked by a brake 121 on the armature of the relay 106 engaging a gear wheel 109, which is driven from the driving motor. The gear wheel 109 is mounted on a bushing 111 on the shaft 45, and this bushing has a support for a ball-bearing 112 for the flywheel 46. A gear 114 rigid with a gear wheel 109 drives the sprocket shaft 43, and a pulley 117 integral with the gear wheel 109 serves to drive the reel shaft 78. A number of eccentrically-mounted pads 68, Fig. 2, on a shaft 69 for pressing the film on to the sprockets 17, 42, 51 are adapted to be held in either operative or inoperative position by the engagement of a spring-pressed plunger in each pad with one of a number of grooves in the shaft 69. To prevent the film 18 adhering to the surface of a sprocket, a stripper 76, Fig. 18, mounted on the vertical plate 8 adjacent the sprockets, is provided with tongues 77 for engaging the sprockets. The Specification as open to inspection under Sect. 91 (3) also describes the provision on the ends of a film roll of a tongue 118 and slot 119, Fig. 22, (Cancelled), adapted to be interlocked with each other or with the suitably cut end of another film in order to facilitate threading of the film in the machine. A web of celluloid &c. having a tongue and slot at its opposite ends may be positioned in the machine by the end of the last film exhibited in order to prepare the machine for future use. A similar web may also be removably attached to the end of each roll of film supplied. This subject-matter does not appear in the Specification as accepted.