Improvements in Apparatus for the Production of Animated Pictures.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Feb., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 14th Dec., 1899-Accepted, 14th Feb.,
1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for the Production of Animated
Pictures.
I, HENRY WILLIAM HAMBLIN PALMER, of 3, Marden Villas, Caterham Valley,
in the County of Surrey, Auctioneer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
The invention is to supersede the present cinematograph, camera, mutoscope
and biograph by such instrument doing away entirely with the present inflammable
celluloid films a circular glass photographic plate in place of films being used and
worked by a wheel at back of eccentroscope marked A with chain to cog wheel
marked B, this works a driving rod with cog through support marked C which
turns an upright archemedean screw D with three cog wheels attached, the top
cog raising or lowering the glass plate marked E and the bottom cog driving the
wheel and gearing marked F which controls the shutter in lens marked G.
The focussing is controlled by a screw upon the lens which reflects the picture
on the glass plate marked E which is made to revolve in an eccentric continuous
circle, consequently the pictures in an animated form appear upon the face of the
circular plate E from the outer to the centre of the circle.
The plate support in front marked II consists of a telescopic tube fitted with a
spring concealed in the base of the outer tube which rises and falls with the plate.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Figure Plate 1 shows side view of eccentroscope complete.
Figure 2 Plate 1 shows section with circular plate screw etc.
Figure 3 Plate 2 shows the back of plate with cog fitting.
Figure 4 Plate 2
shows the front of plate with eccentric motion and brass centre
fitting.
Figure 5 Plate 2 shows cog at back of circular plate with female screw.
Figure 6 Plate 2 shows the screw at reverse side of plate with male screw and
showing by dotted line square fitting to plate.
Figures 7 & 8 Plate 2 show front support of plate open and closed consecutively
with hinged base to enable the plate to be placed in position or removed at will.
Dated this Fourteenth day of February 1899.

page_text: and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement.
This invention relates to improvements in apparatus for the production of
animated pictures, and more particularly to improvements upon the present cine-
matograph camera, mutoscope and biograph; the main object being to do away
entirely with the present inflammable celluloid films.
The following is a description of my invention in its essential details of construc-
tion, reference being made to the drawings illustrating 'same; accompanying the
Provisional Specification.
Figure 1 is a side view of the eccentroscope complete.
Figure 2 is a vertical section through Figure 1 showing the picture bearing
plate, and upright screw and part of gear for raising and lowering, said plate.
Figure 3 is the back view of the picture-bearing plate alone with cog fitting
attached.
Figure 4 is the front view of the picture-bearing plate with eccentric motion
and brass centre fitting.
•
Figure 5 is a front view of the cog-wheel with female screw-thread is attached to
the back of the picture-bearing plate.
Figure 6 is a detached view of the male screw which is attached to the front
of the picture-bearing plate, and showing in dotted lines the square fitting on
said plate.
Figures 7 and 8 show the construction of the spring support for the picture-
bearing plate, open and closed respectively, with hinged base to enable the plate
to be placed in position and removed at will.
According to my invention a circular glass photographic plate E, is used in place
of the well known strips or films, the said plate being simultaneously rotated and
raised or lowered as desired by suitable driving gear. This gear may consist of a
grooved pulley hand-wheel such as A, supported in the side of the casing at the back
of the eccentroscope, which wheel through the medium of an endless chain, band
or cord and a wheel B fixed at one end of a driving spindle will communicate
rotary motion to said spindle, which is supported in a bearing block represented
by the support C. On the opposite end of the said driving spindle is fixed a mitre
wheel which gears with another fixed on an upright archimedean screw ]) which
higher up carries another mitre wheel which gears with a similar one on the back
of the glass plate bearing the pictures. These pictures are arranged on the plate in
a novel manner namely in a spiral or volute form, the centre of the said form being
that of the plate itself. There is a third mitre wheel on the screw D, at its
lower end which drives a wheel and gearing marked F, which controls the shutter
in the lens marked G. It will thus be seen that turning the hand wheel A produces
through the intermediate mechanism the simultaneous rotation and vertical motion
of the picture plate E.
The focussing is controlled by a screw upon the lens which reflects the picture
on the glass plate E, which revolves in an eccentric circle or cycloid, and conse-
quently the pictures in an animated form appear upon the face of the plate E
from the circumference to the centre of the circle.
The plate support in front marked H consists of a telescopic tube fitted with a
spring concealed in the base of the outer tube which rises and falls with the
plate E.
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. The improved apparatus for the production of animated pictures, constructed,
operated and working substantially as described.
2. In an apparatus for the production of animated pictures, the circular trans-
parent picture bearing plate the pictures being arranged on same in a flat spiral
or volute form, substantially as and for the purpose described.

page_text: 3. In the apparatus for the production of animated pictures the combination
with the picture bearing plate of the gear wheel on the plate, the archimedean
screw and the gear and driving mechanism connected therewith, substantially
as and for the purpose described.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.