IN RE MOULTON

• Decision Date: 19 March 1930
• Docket Number: Patent Appeal No. 2284.
• Citation: 38 F.2d 694
• Parties: In re MOULTON.
• Court: U.S. Court of Customs and Patent Appeals (CCPA)

38 F.2d 694 (1930)

In re MOULTON.

Patent Appeal No. 2284.

Court of Customs and Patent Appeals.

March 19, 1930.

Paul Carpenter, of New York City (J. T. Basseches, of New York City, of counsel), for appellant.

T. A. Hostetler, of Washington, D. C., for the Commissioner of Patents.

Before GRAHAM, Presiding Judge, and BLAND, HATFIELD, GARRETT, and LENROOT, Associate Judges.

GRAHAM, Presiding Judge.

The appellant appeals from the decision of the Board of Appeals of the Patent Office, rejecting all his claims, 1 to 15, inclusive, in his application for a patent on improvements in apparatus for the projection of moving pictures. All tribunals in the Office concurred in this unfavorable decision.

The said claims may be divided into two classes, namely: Those framed upon alleged improvements in the shape and operation of the star or Geneva-geared wheel used in advancing the film, being claims 1 to 8, inclusive, and 13 to 15, inclusive; those framed upon claimed improvements in the shape and operation of the shutter, being claims 9 to 12, inclusive. Claims 1 and 9 are illustrative of these classes, and are here given:

"1. In an apparatus of the character referred to, in combination, a frame for a strip of movable material, having an aperture for disclosing a portion of such strip, and means for moving the material step-by-step into register with said aperture including a driver provided with a projection, a star wheel provided with a slot adapted to receive said projection, said slot being provided with a bearing surface which is continuously curved and adapted to be in continuous contact with said projection while in said slot to receive and transmit a uniform rate of movement from said projection to said moving means throughout contact of the projection and slot."

"9. In an apparatus of the character described, in combination, a source of light, a focusing lens element, an intermittent motion device, a rotatable shutter structure synchronized therewith, said shutter having at least three blades, two at least of which wholly interrupt the passage of light from said lens element during projection of a picture, one of said blades being of a width sufficient to eclipse said lens element irrespective of the other blades during the entire movement of said intermittent motion device succeeding such projection of a picture."

Claims 1 to 9, inclusive, and 13 to 15, inclusive, were rejected by the Board on reference to De Vault, 1,355,543, dated October 12, 1920. The others were rejected on reference to Pross, 722,382, dated March 10, 1903, and Power, 1,427,228, dated August 29, 1922.

The claim of invention in the form and operation of the star wheel involved in appellant's application resides in the shape of the four slots therein. The photographic film is moved forward past the projecting lens by a sprocket wheel, which is in turn caused to move by the revolution of the star wheel. The star wheel receives its motive power from a drive wheel, having a pin mounted on its side near its outer margin. As the driver revolves, this pin engages in one of the slots in the star wheel and moves this wheel forward ninety degrees; the star wheel then remains stationary until the driver again revolves, the pin re-engages, and another forward movement occurs. This star wheel is shaped much like a Maltese cross, and the slots are four in number, one at each corner of the cross and extending inward toward the center of the wheel. It will thus be seen that, as the pin enters the slot, the movement of the star wheel will be slow at first, greatly accelerated as the pin enters the slot, and slowed up again as the pin leaves the slot.

The appellant claims that these slots, in the prior art, were straight sided, and, because of their shape, had a tendency to jerk the film when the pin reached the bottom of the slot, causing poor projection and frequently breaking the film. To cure this, he conceived the idea of making the sides of these slots in a continuous curve; the entrance and lower end of the slots being comparatively narrow and the center thereof being wider, the sides of the slots being curved, concavely, throughout their entire length. This structure,...