Improved Apparatus for Taking and Exhibiting Moving Pictures.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 11th July, 1898-Accepted, 1st Oct., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Apparatus for Taking and Exhibiting Moving Pictures.
We, CECIL STAFFORD NOBLE, Engineer, of 19, Mount Pleasant, Rosebery.
Avenue, in the County of Middlesex, and HERBERT CHARLES NEWTON, Scientific
Instrument Maker, of 3, Fleet Street, in the City of London, 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:-
The chief object of this invention is to provide a simple and efficient portable
kinematograph for use on an ordinary table, and which will display the pictures
so that they may be visible either to a single person, or to a number of people at
one time as desired, but the invention is also in part applicable to kinematographic
or similar apparatus generally, and the invention consists in the general arrange-
ment of the various parts, and in certain details of construction which will be
fully described.
By kinematographic and similar apparatus generally," we wish it to be under-
stood that we mean apparatus that can be used for taking, in rapid succession,
a series of pictures, as well as exhibiting such pictures, for it is well known, that
a kinematograph may be employed as a camera as well as for exhibiting or
projecting.
In the accompanying drawings, a portable kinematograph is shown by way of
example,―
Fig. 1 being an elevation, partly in section, of one side of the apparatus, with
the cover removed; and
Fig. 2 an elevation of the apparatus looking from the front, with the cover
removed; while
Figs. 3 and 4 are details which will be more particularly referred to.
The apparatus, which is in the form of a rectangular box, consists of top and
bottom plates or blocks A, A1, with a central vertical partition A" and fixed front
and back A3, A4. The sides A5, Aº may be made removable, or formed with flaps
or doors. The box is thus divided into two chambers B, B1, the chamber B being
what we may term the film chamber, and B₁ the driving chamber, as containing
the mechanism for operating the various moving parts of the apparatus.
At about the centre of the height of the chamber B, the front A³ has an opening
fitted with a lens tube C and lens. The back A has a similar opening exactly
opposite that in the front, also fitted with a lens tube C¹ and lens, and outside this
lens the illuminating medium is placed.
On the inside of the back A is mounted in any convenient manner; so that it
can be rotated, a disc D, provided with a series of openings D¹ fitted with plain
and various colored glasses, which can be brought into line with the openings
in the back and front, so that different tints may be given to the scenes depicted
on the film, according to the nature of the subjects to be represented. I³ repre-
sents a spring bolt, which takes into slight depressions in the face of the disc, so
that the position of the glass in relation to the openings may be adjusted with
facility.

page_text: E is the film, which is coiled on a pin or roller E. The free end of the film
is attached to, and wound up on, a roller E2, which is suitably driven for the
purpose.
The film passes in front of a guide plate F, against which it is held by a pair
of springs Fi carried by the front A³. This guide plate has an opening of the exact
size of a picture, and in line with the openings CC in the case.
Immediately in rear of the guide plate F, so as to be between the film and the
main condenser, is a lens F*, which acts as a substage condenser, its object being
to illuminate the whole of the picture.
Between the guide F and the roller E², the film passes over a sprocket wheel G,
which is suitably mounted and driven, a conveniently placed spring G¹ pressing
the film against the wheel G.
The periodical movement of the film is produced by an excentric roller H in the
manner now well understood.
This roller H has a pinion H' on its axle, which gears with a spur wheel G² on
the axle of the sprocket wheel.
It will be readily understood that in apparatus of this class, if the loop maker is
not always in contact with the film, the loops are apt to vary in length, when the
apparatus is run at a high rate of speed, because the loops are thus formed by a
succession of sharp blows. This not only subjects the film to a violent and unequal
strain, which it is impossible to control, but the travel of the film is jerky and
uneven, so that the pictures do not come at regular distances apart.
In the present case, the roller H is always in contact with the film, and the
strain upon the film being normal throughout, its movement, no unevenness is
possible.
Jis a rotating shutter, the object of which is well understood.
All the parts are actuated through the handle K, which is mounted on the axle
of a chain wheel K, and, by means of a chain K and other chain, wheels, the
parts are driven, K3 being a tension roller to keep the chain sufficiently taut.
When a film has been run off, it must be taken out to be unwound, and rewound
to bring the first picture again into its proper position. Some subjects are how-
ever of such a character, that it is amusing to unwind and rewind in the apparatus
itself, the pictures in this case going backwards. The disadvantage of this opera-
tion is that the pictures are upside down. To obviate this, a prism has been used,
the effect of which is to bring the pictures right side up, but this arrangement is
not satisfactory, for various reasons.
In the present instance, the film is taken off the roller E, on which it has been
wound, and put on roller E', and being properly set, the box itself is turned upside
down, and the handle K is placed on the other end of the axle of the chain
wheel K¹.
By these simple means, the pictures are moved backwards, but right way up;
without the necessity for prisms or other optical device. Of course this arrange-
ment is only possible with the portable apparatus.
When placing the film in position, it is somewhat difficult to ensure the pictures
registering exactly with the opening in the guide F, and the following device,
which is shown detached in Figs. 3 and 4, has been adopted for the purpose.
The axle of the excentric roller H is carried by a swinging frame L, mounted
loosely on the axle of the sprocket wheel G, so that the axle can be moved in the
arc of a circle having such a radius that the pinion H³ will always remain in gear
with the spur wheel G².
The frame is provided with a lever L', which can be locked in the desired
position by the lock nuts L2, or in any other convenient manner.
To set the film, the excentric H is brought to its ineffective or inoperative posi-
tion; the frame L is then swung by the lever L', so as to drag on the film, and
cause the picture to register with the opening in the guide F; the lever is locked
in the position it has now assumed, and the apparatus is ready for use. It will

page_text: be seen that, while the movement of the sprocket wheel is continuous, the move-
ment of the pictures is intermittent, due to the action of the excentric roller H.
To present the pictures in such a form that several persons at a time may see
them, we adapt to the lens tube a funnel or other shaped box or case, having a
front of ground glass, thus providing an extended ground within sight of the
assembled company,
on which the pictures will be exhibited with great
distinctness.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, we may here remark that we
do not intend to confine ourselves to the exact mechanical details shown and
described, as these may obviously be modified, according to the fancy of the work-
man, without departing from the nature of our invention, but we declare that
what we claim is :-
1. An apparatus for exhibiting "moving pictures," so arranged that, by simply
turning the entire apparatus upside down, and shifting the driving handle from
one end to the other of the driving shaft (which extends across the apparatus for
the purpose), the pictures will be represented right side up when the film is being
drawn backwards, as herein shown and described.
2. In apparatus for exhibiting "moying pictures," the application, in close
proximity to the film, and between it and the main condenser, of an additional lens
to act as a substage condenser, for the purpose set forth.
3. The method of adjusting the position of pictures on a film with relation to
the source of light, and consisting in shifting the position of the axle of an
excentric driving roller independently of the driving mechanism, to draw the
film into register, and then fixing the axle in the new position, as herein, shown
and described.
"
4. The means as herein shown and described, for adjusting the position of the
film, and consisting in a swinging frame mounted on the axle of the sprocket
wheel, and carrying the axle of the excentric driving roller, and means for rocking
the frame and fixing it in the desired position, as herein shown and described.
5. The portable apparatus for exhibiting "moving pictures as herein shown
and described.
6. In apparatus for exhibiting "moving pictures," the combination with the
objective lens tube, of a funnel or other shaped box having a ground glass front,
as and for the purpose set forth.
7. In apparatus for taking and exhibiting "moving pictures," the combination
with a continuously moving sprocket wheel and photographic film, of an excentric
driving or looping roller, so mounted that it will be in constant contact with
the film, as and for the purpose set forth.
8. The special arrangement of driving mechanism as herein shown and
described.