Improvements in the Mechanism of Chrono-photographic, Kinetoscopic, and Lantern-projection Apparatus.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date claimed for Patent under Sec. 103 of Act,
being date of first Foreign Application (in'?14th Jan. 1896
France),
Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 24th Mar., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Dec., 1896--Accepted, 13th Feb. 1897
France),
Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 24th Mar., 1896
Complete Specification Left, 22nd Dec., 1896--Accepted, 13th Feb. 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Mechanism of Chrono-photographic,
Kinetoscopic, and Lantern-projection Apparatus.
I, GEORGE WILLIAM DE BEDTS of 368, Rue Saint Honoré, Paris, France,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Hitherto chrono-photographic apparatus, apparatus for projecting animated
pictures, and that known by the name of the kinetoscope, have been independent
apparatus.
In chrono-photographic apparatus more particularly the main axis must make one
revolution for each photograph and attain a speed of from fifteen to twenty
revolutions at least per second, to produce which speed and also obtain an intermittent
movement of the film necessitates the employment of very complicated mechanism.
The consequence is that the parts become strained, the regularity of working of the
apparatus is impaired, and the force required to actuate the apparatus causes
vibration.
To remedy these objections I have devised a simplified arrangement of intermittently
moving mechanism which is chiefly characterized by a special form of toothed gear
for producing the intermittent movement of the film. The mechanism forming the
subject of the present application for Letters Patent enables not only an apparatus of
reduced dimensions to be obtained but also the combination therein of a photographic
apparatus an apparatus for projecting animated pictures and an ordinary kinetoscope.
In order that the invention may be readily understood I have illustrated an
example of the apparatus in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 represents
a side view of the apparatus the lower feed roller being removed, and Figure 2 a
rear face view with the reels for unwinding and winding up the film removed.
The same letters of reference denote like parts in both figures.
The apparatus consists essentially of a casing a enclosing the whole of the mechanism
mounted in a frame b. The film c the edges of which are perforated passes behind
the lens d. The movement of the film is produced by means of two wheels ef
having special teeth. The wheel e which is rotated by the crank handle g through
the intermediate spur gearing hi has three teeth only upon its circumference which
is thus divided into three equal parts, the segments comprised between the three
teeth having the same radius as that of the pitch circle of said teeth. The wheel e
drives a wheel of larger diameter divided into ten equal segments separated by ten
groups of two teeth each, the radius of said segments also being equal to that of
the pitch circle of the teeth. Each of these groups of two teeth gears in succession
with the three teeth of wheel e which receives continuous and regular rotary. motion
but imparts an intermittent motion only to wheel ƒ by reason of the difference in

page_text: length of the arcs of the segments. This difference in the length of the arcs or
segments being in the proportion of 1 to 2, that is to say the arcs of the three-
toothed wheel e being double those of wheel f, it follows that the movements and
intervals of rest of the latter will be equal in duration. During these intervals of
rest wheel is held stationary by the segment which now occupies the space between
two groups of two teeth.
The axisk of wheel carries the roller for feeding the film c by means of teeth
which engage with the perforations in the film. The upper feed roller m is not
toothed but feeds the film by frictional contact with guide roller so as to permit
of the necessary slip for forming the loop which forms of itself without risk of
tearing the film during its period of rest. The roller m receives motion from wheel h
through the wheel o keyed on axis p of said roller. The film strip c wound on
reel is unwound by passing between the roller m and guide roller n, then behind
the lens and between the guide roller r and roller and is wound upon reels to
which motion is imparted by a spiral spring band t passing round a pulley u on
the crank handle shaft and also around a pulley keyed on shaft y of reel s.
The spiral spring t which performs the function of a belt permits of the necessary
slip and extensibility indispensable for the intermittence of the movement of the
reels due to the film itself.
The feed mechanism for the film is entirely independent of that of the apparatus
itself. A disc shutter z having two diametrically opposite openings receives a
uniform continuous rotary motion in front of the lens by means of the mitre
gearing 1 and 3 keyed respectively on axes 2 and 4.
It is to be understood that the ratios of the wheels e fand also their diameters may
be varied by increasing the number of teeth in one of said wheels so as to enable
the number of photographs taken in the apparatus per second to be varied and also
permit of obtaining negatives of different sizes.
The materials of which the wheels or one of them is made may be varied with
the object of rendering them noiseless in their action.
It has been before stated that the combination of apparatus may also serve for
the projection of pictures. From negatives obtained of the scene photographed
positives are printed upon a single film-baud from which the pictures are projected
by the apparatus used for producing the negatives. Instead of small pictures only,
projections three feet and upwards in diameter are obtained thus exactly reproducing
the original scene in all its details. For animated projections it is necessary to
operate in the dark hut by placing the instrument in a well lighted position, such
as facing a window or lamp, and viewing through the lens the result is similar to
that obtained in an ordinary kinetoscope.
Dated this 24th day of March 1906
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.
Improvements in the Mechanism of Chrono-photographic,
Kinetoscopic, and Lantern-projection Apparatus.
I, GEORGE WILLIAM DE BEDTS of 368, Rue Saint Honoré, Paris, France,
Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
Hitherto chrono-photographic apparatus, apparatus for projecting animated
pictures, and that known by the name of the kinetoscope, have been independent
annamatue

page_text: In chrono-photographic apparatus inore particularly, the main axis must make
one revolution for each photograph and attain a speed of from fifteen to twenty
revolutions at least per second, to produce which speed and also obtain an intermittent
movement of the film necessitates the employment of very complicated mechanism.
The consequence is that the parts become strained, the regularity of working of the
apparatus is impaired, and the force required to actuate the apparatus causes
vibration.
To remedy these objections I have devised a simplified arrangement of intermittently
moving mechanism which is chiefly characterized by a special form of toothed
gear for producing the intermittent movement of the film. The mechanism forming
the subject of the present application for Letters Patent enables not only an
apparatus of reduced dimensions to be obtained but also the combination therein
of a photographic apparatus, an apparatus for projecting animated pictures, and an
ordinary kinetoscope.
In order that the invention may be readily understood I have illustrated an
example of the apparatus in the drawing accompanying my Provisional Specification,
in which Figure 1 represents a side view of the apparatus, the lower feed roller
being removed, and Figure 2 a rear face view with the reels for unwinding and
winding up the film removed. The same letters of reference denote like parts in
both figures.
The apparatus consists essentially of a casing a enclosing the whole of the
mechanisin mounted in a frame b. The film c, the edges of which are perforated,
passes behind the lens d. The movement of the film is produced by means of
two wheels ef having special teeth. The wheel e which is rotated by the crank
handle through the intermediate spur gearing hi has three teeth only upon its
circumference which is thus divided into three equal parts, the segments comprised
between the three teeth having the same radius as that of the pitch circle of said
teeth. The wheel e drives a wheel ƒ of larger diameter, divided into ten equal
segments separated by ten groups of two teeth each, the radius of said segments
also being equal to that of the pitch circles of the teeth. Each of these groups of
two teeth gears in succession with the three teeth of wheel e which receives
continuous and regular rotary motion but imparts an intermittent motion only to
wheel by reason of the difference in length of the arcs of the segments. This
difference in the length of the arcs or segments is shewn as being in the proportion
of 1 to 2, that is to say the arcs of the three-toothed wheel e are double those of
wheel and it follows that the movements and intervals of rest of the latter will
be equal in duration. During these intervals of rest wheelf is held stationary by
the segment which now occupies the space between two groups of two teeth.
The axis k of wheel carries the roller for feeding the film c by means of teeth
which engage with the perforations in the film. The upper feed roller m is not toothed
but feeds the film by frictional contact with guide roller n so as to permit of the
necessary slip for forming the loop which forms of itself without risk of tearing the
film, during its period of rest. The roller m receives motion from wheel h through
the wheel o keyed on axis p of said roller. The film strip c wound on reel q is
unwound by passing between the roller m and guide roller n, then behind the lens
and between the guide roller r and roller and is wound upon reels to which
motion is imparted by a spiral spring band t passing round a pulley u on the
crank handle shaft and also around a pulley keyed on shaft y of reel s.
The spiral
spring which performs the function of a belt permits of the necessary slip and
extensibility indispensable for the intermittence of the movement communicated to
the reels by the film itself.
The feed mechanism for the film is entirely independent of that of the apparatus
itself. A disc shutter z having two diametrically opposite openings receives a uniform
continuous rotary motion in front of the lens by means of the mitre gearing 1 and 3
keyed respectively on axes 2 and 4.
It is to be understood that the ratios of the wheels ef and also their diameters
may be varied by increasing the number of teeth in one of said wheels so as to enable

page_text: the number of photographs taken in the apparatus per second to be varied and also
permit of obtaining negatives of different sizes.
The material of which the wheels or one of them is made may be varied with the
object of rendering them noiseless in their action.
It has been before stated that the combination of apparatus may also serve for
the projection of pictures. From negatives obtained of the scene photographed
positives are printed upon a single film-band from which the pictures are projected by
the apparatus used for producing the negatives. Instead of small pictures only,
projections three feet and upwards in diameter are obtained, thus exactly reproducing
the original scene in all its details. For animated projections it is necessary to
operate in the dark, but by placing the instrument in a well lighted position, such
as facing a window or lamp, and viewing through the lens, the result is similar to
that obtained in an ordinary kinetoscope.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is :-
The herein described improvement in chrono-photographic apparatus and apparatus
for projecting animated scenes, the said. improvement consisting essentially in the
combination, with the film-feeding mechanism of wheels toothed so as to alternately
gear together for transmission of motion, and interlock for producing the required
intermittence of the motion, substantially as specified.
Dated this 22nd day of December 1896
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.