Improvements in Cinematographs and like Machines.
Year: 1897

page_text: Improvements in Cinematographs and like Machines.
I, HERMAN CASLER, of Canastota, in the County of Madison, State of New York,
U.S.A., Inventor, do hereby declare the nature of my invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:
My invention relates, generally, to web feeding and handling mechanism, and
more particularly to the mechanisms employed for feeding the picture strips of
consecutive view apparatus, such as the projecting machines which reproduce to
the eye the motions of a moving object or group of objects.
In the class of machines referred to, a series of pictures, usually photographs,
of a moving object, or group of objects, are imprinted on a long strip of photo-
graphic film, and this strip is drawn intermittently past a powerful light and before
a set of lenses which project an enlarged reproduction of each picture on a screen
in a darkened room. The pictures follow one another with such rapidity that the
eye cannot distinguish between them and the observer gets the impression of
motion on the part of the objects depicted.
In a machine of this nature it is evident that the band or web of photographic
film must be given a series of nicely graduated and intensely rapid motions with
as little injury to the film as possible, and that a long length of such web or band
must be handled. It is necessary that the film shall be moved intermittently
through the field of the apparatus, and not continuously, in order that clear
pictures may be obtained, and the very great rapidity with which the intermittent
movement must take place and the necessity of avoiding all jar and vibration both
of the mechanism itself and of that portion of the film which is in the field of the
apparatus, and the necessity of avoiding jerking the film severely, which might
tear it, makes it desirable to use main feeding and take-up mechanisms which
operate continuously, and to employ an auxiliary feeding mechanism for feeding
the film through the field of the apparatus; and for the-same reason it is desirable
that this auxiliary feeding mechanism shall be in continuous movement at all
times.
My invention consists in the novel main feeding, take-up, and auxiliary feeding
mechanisms employed, in the novel means employed for causing the main feeding
and the take-up mechanisms to act uniformly upon the film or strip; in the novel
means employed for compensating for slipping or shrinkage of the film; in the
Price 8d

page_text: novel automatic self-adjusting winding up gear hereinafter described; in the novel
means employed for retarding the unwinding of the web from the supply reel,
thereby keeping a constant tension upon the web; in the novel construction of the
reels; in the novel means employed for facilitating the removal from the reel of a
web wound thereon, without unwinding it; and in the novel combination, con-
struction and arrangement of the various parts of the web feeding mechanism.
The objects of my invention are, first, to provide improved web feeding apparatus
for feeding webs or strips intermittently and at a high rate of speed, which shall
operate without jar or vibration, and shall cause no injury to the web or strip;
second, to provide improved means for causing the main feeding and the take-up
mechanisms to feed forward and take up the strip or web at the same speed, so as
to avoid either the accumulation of loose film in the machine or drawing the film
too tight; third, to provide an improved intermittently acting auxiliary feeding
mechanism; fourth, to provide improved means for compensating for slipping or
shrinkage of the film or strip, and for varying the length of film fed forward each
time the auxiliary feeding mechanism acts; fifth, to provide an improved winding-
up gear for the strip or web which shall compensate automatically for variation
in the speed with which the film is fed to the winding-up gear and for the gradually
increasing diameter of the winding reel; sixth, to provide an improved reel for
holding the web, so constructed, that a web wound upon it may be removed
laterally without unwinding and another web placed upon it; seventh, to provide
means for retarding the feeding of the web from the supply reel, so as to keep a
constant tension upon the web; and eighth, to make the whole apparatus simple,
compact, not liable to derangement, and comparatively inexpensive.
These objects are attained in the web feeding and handling mechanism herein
described and illustrated in the drawings which accompany and form a part of
this specification, in which the same reference numerals indicate the same or
corresponding parts, and in which:-
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the web feeding and handling mechanism of a
consecutive view apparatus, together with the supply and winding-up reels;
Fig. 2 is a similar elevation of the opposite side of the apparatus, showing the
variable speed gears which drive the main feeding and the winding-up mecha-
nisms, and the friction brake which retards the feeding of the film from the supply
reel;
Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the mechanism, looking from the right hand side
of Fig. 1, the counterweight of the friction brake not being shown;
Fig. 4 is a detail view of the variable speed gear, which drives the winding-up
reel, showing the use of a spring to reinforce the weight of the worm shaft in
regulating the speed of the winding-up reel;
Fig. 5 is a detail elevation of the reel upon which the web is wound;
Fig. 6 is a transverse section of the same;
Fig. 7 is a front elevation of the reel with the surrounding band, this band
being broken away from about the centre of the figure to the top thereof; and
Fig. 8 is a perspective elevation of the band, showing particularly the projec-
tions by which it is held to the reel when in use.
In the drawings, 1 is the main frame of the apparatus, and may be of any
suitable material. 2 shown in Fig. 3 is a boss projecting from the frame 1, in
which a shaft, which is the main driving shaft of the machine, has its bearing.
This shaft is provided with a belt pulley 3, over which passes a driving belt 4,
running over an idler 41, and carries also a friction disk 5, which is one element of
the variable speed gear by which the main feeding mechanism is driven, the other
element being the friction wheel 6, mounted upon a shaft 7. The shaft 7 has a
bearing at its lower end in a sleeve 8, itself supported by a sleeve 8' upon the rock
shaft 9. The rock shaft 9 has a bearing in a boss projecting from the frame 1.
At its upper end, the shaft 7 has a bearing in a universal joint bracket supported
by the boss 10. Upon the upper end of the shaft 7 is a worm 11 meshing with a
worm wheel 12 mounted on a shaft 13 which has a bearing in the boss 10, and

page_text: passes through to the other side of the machine and there carries a pulley 14, (see
Fig. 1), which is the driving pulley of the main feeding and take-up mechanisms
and belt 15.
The sleeve 8 is arranged to permit rotation of the shaft 7, but to prevent end-
wise movement of said shaft relative to the sleeve. The sleeve is provided with
rack teeth 16, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and is arranged to move endwise in the
sleeve 8 by which it is supported from the rock shaft 9. The rock shaft 9 has a
pinion 17 which engages these rack teeth 16, and is provided with a handle or
crank, shown in Figs. 1 and 3, by which it may be rotated. The sleeve 8¹ is
capable of movement along the shaft 9, and a spring 18 tends to press the sleeve
inward, in so doing pressing the friction wheel 6 against the friction disk 5.
Referring now to Fig. 1, and considering particularly the web feeding devices
there shown, 14 as already stated, is the driving pulley. A belt 15 passes under
and around this pulley and also around other pulleys 19, 20, 21, 22,
23, 24, 25 and 26. The pulleys 25, 26 and 14 with the portion of
the belt 15 which is upon them at any instant, constitute the main
feeding mechanism, and pulleys 21, 22 and 23, with the portion of
the belt 15 which is upon them at any instant, constitute the take-up mechanism.
Pulley 25 is mounted upon a swinging hanger 27, which permits it to be moved
out of the path of the film, in which position of the pulley. the belt 15 is slack. A
latch 28 is provided for holding the pulley 25 in either of its positions, the
latch being controlled by a spring 29, shown in Fig. 3. The pulley 22 of the
take-up mechanism is also mounted on a swinging hanger 30, and a pivoted
latch 31, which normally engages this hanger, may be dropped, thus permitting
the pulley to drop out of the path of the film, so slacking the belt The pulley 24
is a belt tightener. It is mounted on a swinging hanger 32, and its weight and
that of the hanger keeps the belt tight when the pulleys 25 and 22 are in the
position shown in Fig. 1.
33 is the web or strip of photographic film carrying the views. It is drawn from
a suitable real 34, and after passing through the field of the projecting apparatus, is
wound up again upon a reel 35.
The web or strip of photographic film passes from the reel 34, as shown in
Fig. 1, over guide pulleys 36 and 37, and then to the main feeding mechanism,
passing over the pulley 25, the idler guide pulley 38, over pulley 26 and between
that pulley and the belt 15, and thence over the stud 39 into and through the
hinged guide 40, which holds the film against lateral movement while passing
through the field of the projecting apparatus, and also retards the film sufficiently,
by friction, to hold it stationary during the intervals when the hereinafter
described auxiliary feeding mechanism is not feeding it forward, thence between
pulleys 41 and 42 of the auxiliary intermittently acting feeding mechanism, and
thence by a loop through the guide 43, around the pulleys 22 and 23 of the take-
up mechanism, passing first under the belt 15 and then over it, and then around
the guide pulley 44, through the guide 45 to the winding reel 35. In passing
through the main feeding and the take-up mechanism it is brought into close
contact with the driving belt 15, and is therefore drawn from the reel 34, and
taken up, after passing through the field of the apparatus, by friction with this
driving belt. The object of feeding the film by a belt and not by pulleys driven
by gearing or belting which does not come in contact with the film, is to avoid
the unequal feeding of the web in the main feeding and in the take-up mechanisms,
which results from the practical difficulty in making two feeding rolls of precisely
the same size, and in driving them at precisely the same peripheral speed.
The illuminating apparatus is designed to be placed upon the shelf 46, the
light passing through apertures in the hinged guide 40 and through the barrel 47
and lens of the projecting apparatus.
Pulleys 19 and 20 are idler pulleys, pulley 19 being so placed as to increase the
surface of contact of the belt 15 with pulley 14, and pulley 20 being so placed as
to keep the belt away from the illuminating apparatus on the shelf 46.

page_text: The main feeding mechanism and the take-up mechanism operate continuously.
The auxiliary feeding mechanism, however, operates intermittently. It consists
of two pulleys 14 and 42, driven at uniform peripheral speed by a belt 48 which
passes over these pulleys and over a belt tightener 49, adjustable by means of a
bolt 50. This belt 48 is out of the line of the film, as shown in Fig. 3. The
pulley 41 preferably has an adhesive surface formed by covering it with some
substance like felt. Pulley 42, which may be termed the gripping pulley, has a
portion of its surface of a diameter sufficient to press the film tightly against the
pulley 41, while the remainder of the surface of the pulley is of less diameter, so
as to leave the film free. In the drawings, the portion of the pulley 42 which is
of greater diameter amounts to about one-third of the circumference of the pulley.
But this portion of the surface of the pulley which is of greater diameter may
be more or less according as it is desired that the film shall be stationary in the
field of the apparatus for a less or greater period. When the portion of the
gripping pulley 42 of greater diameter is adjacent to the pulley 41 the film is
pressed tightly against the pulley 41, and is fed forward by these two pulleys.
But when the smaller portion of the pulley 42 is adjacent to the pulley 41, then the
film is free, and is held stationary in the guide 40 by friction. The pulleys 41
and 42 revolve at a very much greater peripheral speed than the speed of the
belt 15
Pulley 42 is the driving element of the auxiliary feeding mechanism, being
mounted upon the main driving shaft.
The winding reel 35 is driven from the main shaft and friction disc 5 mounted
thereon, by means of the friction wheel 51, mounted upon a shaft 52, revolubly
mounted, and arranged to slide up and down in a sleeve 53. At the lower end
of this shaft is a worm 54 meshing with a worm wheel 55 upon the shaft 56, upon
which shaft the winding-up reel 35 is mounted. When the friction disc 5 rotates,
this movement is communicated to the reel 35 through the shaft 52 and worm
gear, the weight of the shaft 52 and parts thereon holding it at practically its
greatest distance from the center of the disc 5. But when the film 33 is drawn
taut the reel 35 can rotate only at the speed at which the film is fed to it, and
since, when the friction wheel 51 is at its greatest distance from the center of the
disc 5, it tends to rotate the reel 35 at a much greater speed than that at which the
film is fed by the feeding mechanism, as soon as the film becomes taut the speed of
the film becomes less then the speed at which the wheel 51 tends to drive it, and
the worm 54 climbs upon the gear 55, so raising the friction wheel 51 until the
speed of the winding reel is adjusted to the speed at which the film is delivered to
it by the take-off mechanism. As the film is wound upon the reel 35, the diameter
of this reel gradually increases; but as it does so the shaft 52 gradually rises so as
to keep the peripheral speed of the outside layer of film upon the reel 35 the same
as the speed at which the film is delivered to the reel. If the weight of the shaft 52
and parts thereon is not sufficient to balance to the proper degree the tendency of
the worm 54 to climb upward upon the gear 55, the weight of the shaft 52 and
parts connected therewith may be reinforced by a spring 57, as shown in Fig. 4.
The upper end of this spring may rest against the upper bearing of the shaft 52
and the lower end may rest against an adjustable collar 58.
In order to provide a constant tension upon the film as it is drawn from the
delivery reel 34, a friction pulley 59 (Figs. 2 and 3) is mounted upon the same
shaft which carries the reel 34, and a suitable friction brake is applied to this
pulley. This friction brake may be, conveniently, a band 60 with a weight 61
depending therefrom.
The mode of operation of my invention is as follows; the film 33, is in the shape
of an endless web, the greater portion of which is carried by the reel 34. To
introduce the same into of remove it from the machine, the driving belt 15, is
loosened by turning up the pulley 25, or letting down the pulley 22. When the
web has been threaded into the position shown in Fig. 1, motion is given to the
driving belt by rotating the main driving shaft, through the power belt. 4. This

page_text: rotates the worm shaft 7, and the pulley 14, which gives motion to the driving
belt 15.
This speed can be varied by turning the crank shaft 9, to right or left, which
carries the friction wheel 6, nearer to or farther from the centre of the friction
disc 5, through the action of the pinion 17, and rack 16.
The driving belt in cooperation with the pulleys 26 and 25, imparts this motion
to the web 33. The pulleys 41 and 42, act as an intermittent feed tending to jerk
the web 35, through the guide 40 of the projecting apparatus at regular intervals.
They tend to pull the web along at each operation by an amount equal to the
length of the full-faced portion 62, of the pulley 42. This amount is equal to
or slightly in excess of the greatest amount of feed which the variable feed appar-
atus above described can give in the interval of time of one revolution of the
pulley 42. The pulley 41, has its face felted as already stated so that the two
pulleys will have only a yielding grip on the film and can slip over it after it has
been pulled taut and the slight excess of motion above described is taking place.
To permit this action, a certain amount of slack must exist in the web 33,
between the intermittent feed apparatus and the take-up apparatus which operates
continuously. This is indicated in the lower portion of Figs. 12 and 3 of the
drawings. The web then passes through the guide 43, and around the pulleys 22
and 23, in contact with another portion of the driving belt 15. It then passes
around the pulley 44, to the reel. It is evident that the variable feed mechanism
and the take-up mechanism must operate at exactly the same speed under all con-
ditions. It is practically impossible to obtain this with any ordinary form of
gearing, but it is secured in a simple manner by my invention by reason of the
fact that in both of these two mechanisms the film is fed by contact
with what are simply different portions of the same driving belt 15, which of
course must travel at the same speed throughout.
It is evident also that the intermittent feed given the web of film must exactly
equal the distance between the centres of successive pictures on the film, otherwise
the pictures will gradually creep out of registry one way or the other, and instead
of throwing the whole of each picture on the screen, portions of two successive
pictures will be thrown on the screen and the illusion destroyed. It is impossible
to predetermine this distance with exactness and it varies in different films, in
the same film at different times, and even in different portions of the same film at
any one time by reason of the uneven expansion and contraction of the film in
drying and under differing atmospheric conditions. I secure this accuracy of
registry by making the intermittent feed of the cutaway pulley 42, slightly in
excess of the greatest distance between centres of adjacent pictures and placing the
variable feed mechanism under exact control of the operator who has his
hand upon the crank shaft 9. If he sees that the pictures are creeping off the
screen in a direction which indicates that the web 33 is not traveling fast enough,
he turns the crank shaft 9 to the left, thereby lifting the friction wheel G away
from the centre of the friction disk 5, and increasing the speed of rotation of the
worm shaft 7. When the portion of the web is reached that has shrunk a little,
so that a slower speed is necessary an opposite motion of the crank shaft 9 pro-
duces the desired result.
After passing through the machine the web is wound up on the winding drum
or reel 35. It is evident that as the web is wound up on this drum and the
diameter of the outer circle increases, the speed of rotation of the drum must
decrease so that the circumferential speed shall remain approximately uniform. My
invention accomplishes this automatically, by reason of the fact that the driving
worm shaft 52, is ordinarily held by its own weight and sometimes by the
additional help of the elasticity of a spring as shown in Fig. 4, in its lowest
position on the friction disc, as shown in the drawing; but when the worm shaft
is rotated by the friction disc, the resistance to motion of the worm wheel 55,
causes the worm 54, to start to screw up on the worm wheel, thus raising the worm
shaft and carrying the friction wheel higher up on the friction disc, and its action

page_text: continues until the speed of the worm shaft has become such as to put the proper
and predetermined amount of tension upon the web which is winding up upon the
reel 35 mounted upon the shaft 56 of the worm wheel 55, and it will appear that
as the diameter of this reel grows greater the friction wheel 51, will be carried
further up upon the friction disc 5, thus reducing the angular velocity of the web
reel and maintaining the tension upon the web practically uniform.
It is frequently desirable, after a strip of film has been wound upon one of the
reels 34 or 35, to remove the strip therefrom bodily, without unwinding it, and
to place another strip thereon. In order that this may be done, one portion of
the rim of the reel is hinged, as shown in Fig. 5, and as also shown in connection
with the reel 35, in Fig. 1. Being hinged, this section is capable of being swung
inward as shown in Fig. 5 and in dotted lines in Fig. 1, thus loosening the film
somewhat. Preferably the film is not wound directly upon the reel, but upon a
circular flexible band or envelope 63, preferably of metal, which is slipped over
the reel. The band 63 prevents the elasticity of the film from taking up the slack
which is produced when the hinged section of the rim of the reel is swung inward,
as shown in Fig. 5. The band 63 is provided with projections 64 which are
adapted to enter slots between the body of the rim and the hinged section. 65, so
holding the band in place on the reel. The ends of the strip of metal which
forms the band 63 overlap and are not riveted together at the very end, so that a
slot is left into which the end of the film, when folded over, may be placed, in
order to hold it to the band. A latch 66 is provided to hold the hinged section 65
of the rim of the reel in place when the reel is in use.
The advantages of my invention are its simplicity, positiveness of action, simul-
taneousness of action in feed and take-up mechanism, quickness and convenience
of removal and insertion of the web, accuracy of speed adjustment and the gentle-
ness with which the intermittent feed mechanism operates on the web or film.
This last point is of great importance as the film is of delicate structure and it has
been extremely difficult to jerk it through the projecting apparatus at the high
rate of speed necessary without tearing or otherwise mutilating it.
Various changes could be made in the details of my apparatus without departing
from the principle of my invention. Other arrangements of pulleys could be used
so long as the principle of causing the variable feed and take-up actions by forcing
the web against separate portions of the same driving belt, is employed. Different
variable speed mechanisms could be substituted for the friction discs and friction
wheel arrangement; other locking devices may take the place of the latch 66 and
other forms of friction brake could be substituted for the band 60, and so on.
More or less of the face of the pulley 42, might be cut away, and so on throughout
the mere details of the apparatus, so long as the principles of operation above
described are retained.
Of course it is evident that with two-thirds of the face of pulley 42 cut away,
the film will stand still in the projecting apparatus two thirds of the time. During
the remaining one third of each revolution, while the full faced portion 62, of the
pulley is in operation, the film is jerked through the projecting apparatus far
enough to bring the next picture in registry.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination of the web fed there-
through, a single feed belt and two separate sets of idler pulleys around which the
feed belt runs whereby it acts both as a feed and a take-up apparatus for the
moving web, substantially as described.
2. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination of a web feeding and
a web take-up device, and a single driving belt operating both, substantially as
described.
3. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination of a moving web, a

page_text: single driving belt and two separate sets of pulleys which force the web against
the driving belt at separate points, whereby one portion of the belt becomes a
feeding and the other a take-up device, substantially as described.
4. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with the web, of
pulleys around and over which the web passes in tortuous course, and movable
supports for the pulleys in the path of the web and about which the web passes,
arranged to permit said pulleys to be moved out of the path of the web, thereby
permitting more direct threading. thereof, substantially as described.
5. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination of a variable speed
main feeding mechanism therefor, and an intermittently acting auxiliary fric-
tional feeding mechanism therefor, which runs at a constant speed, substantially
as described.
6. In a consecutive view apparatus, the combination with a picture carrying
strip, and a continuously acting variable speed main feeding mechanism for
feeding the strip to the field of the apparatus, of an intermittently acting auxiliary
frictional feeding mechanism for feeding the strip through the field of the appar-
atus, which operates at a constant speed, and tends to feed the strip faster than the
main feeding mechanism, substantially as described.
7. The combination in a consecutive view apparatus, with a picture carrying
strin, of an intermittently acting feed apparatus for feeding the strip, composed
of the two constantly revolving, opposing pulleys, one of which has a portion of its
face cut away, substantially as described.
8. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with a friction disc,
of a winding drum located below the level of the same, a worm wheel on the axis
of the drum, a worm meshing with said worm wheel, and a friction wheel on the
shaft of said worm which runs on the friction disc, said worm shaft having freedom
of motion in the direction of its length, substantially as described.
9. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with a friction disc,
of a winding drum, a worm wheel on the axis of said drum, a worm meshing
therewith, a friction wheel on the shaft of said worm and coacting with the friction
disc, and means for continuously exerting a force tending to give said shaft an
endwise motion of translation away from the centre of the frictional disc in a
direction to wind up the drum, substantially as described.
10. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with a main driving
shaft, of a winding drum, a variable speed mechanism transmitting motion from
the main driving shaft to said winding drum, and means whereby the back pressure
from the winding drum controls said variable speed mechanism, substantially as
described.
11. In a mechanism of the class described, the combination with a winding reel,
of a variable speed gear for driving the same, controlled by the tension on the
web, substantially as described.
12. The combination with a winding drum having a segment of its circum-
ference hinged to the adjacent portion thereof, and an adjustable latch for forcing
said segment away from the centre of the drum, of a flexible circular envelope for
said drum of such size that it will slip off when the hinged section is released, but
will be locked in place when said segment is forced out by the latch, substantially
as described.
13. The combination with a winding drum having a variable periphery, of a
flexible circular envelope for said drum of such size that it will slip off from the
drum when the periphery thereof is reduced, but is held in place when the peri-
phery is increased, substantially as described.
14. The combination of the web, the variable feed mechanism for the same, the
supply reel on which the web is wound when introduced into the machine and from
which it is delivered to the feed mechanism, and the friction brake for said reel,
substantially as described.
15. The combination in a consecutive view apparatus, of a supply reel on which
the web is wound with a variable speed main feeding mechanism, an intermit-

page_text: tently acting auxiliary feeding mechanism, which runs at a constant speed, a
take-up mechanism and a winding drum and variable speed gear for driving
same, substantially as described.
J. E. EVANS-JACKSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.