Edison v. American Mutoscope Co.

• Decision Date: 10 March 1902
• Docket Number: 75.
• Citation: 114 F. 926
• Parties: EDISON v. AMERICAN MUTOSCOPE CO.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Second Circuit

114 F. 926

EDISON v. AMERICAN MUTOSCOPE CO.

No. 75.

United States Court of Appeals, Second Circuit.

March 10, 1902

Appeal from the Circuit Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York.

Parker W. Page and Thos. B. Kerr, for appellant.

Richard N. Dyer and Fredk. P. Fish, for appellee.

Before WALLACE, LACOMBE, and TOWNSEND, Circuit Judges.

WALLACE Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a decree sustaining the validity, and adjudging the infringement by the defendant, of letters patent No. 589,168, for a kinetographic camera, granted to Thomas A. Edison August 31, 1897. The patent contains six claims; the first, second, third, and fifth being the only ones in controversy. The assignments of error challenge the validity of the claims, and contest the infringement of the fifth claim.

The purpose of the patented invention is to produce pictures 'representing objects in motion throughout an extended period of time, which may be utilized to exhibit the scene including such moving objects in a perfect and natural manner by means of a suitable exhibiting apparatus,' such as that described in Edison's patent No. 493,426, granted March 14, 1893. The specification states that the inventor 'has found it possible to accomplish this end by means of photography. ' It further states that the photographic apparatus comprises means, such as a single camera, for intermittently projecting, at such rapid rate as to result in persistence of vision, images of successive positions of the object or objects in motion as observed from a fixed and single point of view, a sensitized tapelike film, and means for so moving the film as to cause the successive images to be received thereon separately and in single-line sequence. It further states that the movements of the tapelike film may be continuous or intermittent, but the latter is preferable and that it is further preferable that the periods of rest of the film should be longer than the periods of movement. It further states that, by taking the photographs at a rate sufficiently high as to result in persistence of vision, the developed photographs will, when brought successively into view by an exhibiting apparatus, reproduce the movements faithfully and naturally. The patentee says:

'I have been able to take with a single camera and a tape film as many as forty-six photographs per second, each having a size measured lengthwise of the tape of one inch, and I have also been able to hold the tape at rest for nine-tenths of the time; but I do not wish to limit the scope of my invention to this high rate of speed, nor to this great disproportion between the periods of rest and the periods of motion, since with some subjects a speed as low as thirty pictures per second, or even lower, is sufficient; and, while it is desirable to make the periods of rest as much longer than the periods of motion as possible, any excess of the periods of rest over the periods of motion is advantageous.'

As more particularly described in the specification and shown in the drawings, the apparatus, which is inclosed in a boxlike casing, from which light will be excluded, except through the lens, embraces an ordinary adjustable camera having the lens end mounted in the side of the box. Two reels, inclosed in suitable cases, are located on opposite sides of the camera lens. The film is drawn from one of the reels onto the other across the lens. It is transparent or translucent, and tapelike in form, and is preferably of sufficient width or admit the taking pictures one inch in diameter between the rows of holes on its edges. These holes are for engagement with the feed wheels for positively advancing the film. When the film is narrow it is not essential to use two rows of perforations and two feed wheels, one of such rows and one feed will being sufficient. The two feed wheels are carried by a shaft, and engage the film on one side of the camera opening. The power is supplied by an electric motor which drives a rotating shaft carrying the feed wheels through a pulley held in frictional engagement with the feed-wheel shaft. The take-up reel, or the reel which receives the tape after passing the lens, is also driven from the motor shaft. The shaft carrying the feed wheels is controlled by a stop or escapement movement which is driven positively by another shaft, so that, although the motor tends to drive the feed wheels continuously, they are only permitted to turn with an intermittent motion by the stop or escapement device; the pulley which drives the feed wheels slipping on the feed-wheel shaft while that shaft is held at rest by the stop or escapement device. A shutter consisting of a rotating disk having an opening in it is mounted directly upon the motor shaft, and revolves past the lens, so that the light from the lens is intermittently thrown upon and cut off from the sensitive surface of the film. The camera is shown as a single lens, and is arranged to project the image of the scene being photographed upon the film when the openings of the shutter disk are opposite the aperture between the lens and the film. In operation the apparatus is first charged with a tape film several hundred or even thousands of feet in length. The specification states that the parts are preferably proportioned so that the film is at rest for nine-tenths of the time, in order to give the sensitized film as long an exposure as practicable, and is moving forward one-tenth of the time, and that the forward movement is made to take place 30 or more times per second, and preferably at least as high as 46 times per second, although the rapidity of movement or number of times per second may be regulated as desired to give satisfactory results; and there should be at least enough so that the eye of the observer cannot distinguish, or at least cannot clearly or positively distinguish, at a glance, the difference in position occupied by the objects in the successive pictures.

The claims alleged to be infringed are as follows:

'(1) An apparatus for effecting by photography a representation, suitable for reproduction, of a scene including a moving object or objects, comprising a means of intermittently projecting, at such rapid rate as to result in persistence of vision, images of successive positions of the object or objects in motion, as observed from a fixed and single point of view, a sensitized, tapelike film, and a means for so moving the film as to cause the successive images to be received thereon separately and in a single-line sequence.

'(2) An apparatus for taking photographs suitable for the exhibition of objects in motion, having in combination a single camera, and means for passing a sensitized tape film at a high rate of speed across the lens of the camera, and for exposing successive portions of the film in rapid succession, substantially as set forth.

'(3) An apparatus for taking photographs suitable for the exhibition of objects in motion, having in combination a single camera, a means for passing a sensitized tape film across the lens of the camera at a high rate of speed, and with an intermittent motion, and for exposing successive portions of the film during the periods of rest, substantially as set forth.'

'(5) An unbroken transparent or translucent tapelike photographic film, having thereon equidistant photographs of successive positions of an object in motion, all taken from the same point of view, such photographs being arranged in a continuous, straight-line sequence, unlimited in number, save by the length of the film, substantially as described.'

According to the views of the expert for the complainant, the first claim covers every apparatus comprising-- First, any means whatever capable of intermittently projecting, at such rapid rate as to result in persistence of vision, images of successive positions of the object or objects in motion, as observed from a fixed and single point of view; second, a sensitized, tapelike film; and, third, any means or mechanism or device for so moving the film, either continuously or intermittently, or both continuously and intermittently, as to cause the successive images to be received thereon separately and in a single-line sequence. According to his view, the scope of the second claim is identical with that of the first, except that it is limited to a single camera, with a single lens, as the means for projecting the images onto the sensitized surface, and the third claim differs from the second only in that it is restricted to the intermittent movement of the film, and to the exposure of the film during the periods of rest. We think this interpretation of the claims is the reasonable one, and the question of their validity is to be determined by giving to them this scope.

The photographic reproduction of moving objects, the production from the negatives of a series of pictures representing the successive stages of motion, and the presentation of them by an exhibiting apparatus to the eye of the spectator in such rapid sequence as to blend them together, and give the effect of a single picture in which the objects are moving, had been accomplished long before Mr. Edison entered the filed. The patent in suit pertains merely to that branch of the art which consists of the production of suitable negatives. The introduction of instantaneous photography, by facilitating the taking of the negatives with the necessary rapidity to secure what is termed 'persistence of vision,' led to the devising of cameras for using sensitized plates and bringing them successively into the field of the lens, and later for using a continuously moving sensitized band or strip of paper to receive the successive exposures. The invention of the patent in suit was made by...