Dr. Otto Füchs' Apparatus for taking Moving-pictures of the Operations of a Steam Hammer.
What the cinematographic portion supplies is a continuous animated record of the movement of the ram of the hammer. Attached to the ram is an index which moves up and down over a scale divided into centimetres. Both the index and the scale are illuminated so that the result given by the camera shows a series of photographic images of the oscillating motion. Above the illuminated finger and scale is a clock similar to Marey's chronoscope and Gilbreth's timepiece, driven by clockwork, and in synchrony with the remainder of the mechanism. This scale likewise has its points of division illuminated. Its use is to supply the time factor without which such experiments are useless.
The ram, the index-finger, the scale and the clock are all recorded upon the film, so that it is possible to tell the varying speeds at which the ram moves throughout its travel. The photographing speed may be varied as desired, and as a different position is caught in each picture, the distance the ram travels between two successive exposures, together with the time occupied in completing the cycle of movement, may be accurately gauged. The combination of the paper tape recorder with the photographic part of the apparatus affords a complete record of the ram's performance.
The results are naturally of a severely technical character and of interest only to persons concerned with mechanics. But to these they are very important indeed. The experiments which have been completed by Dr. Füchs have thrown much light upon a difficult engineering problem. They have served to answer questions affecting the design of the hammer and its most economical efficient operation which would otherwise have been insoluble. From the public point of view the films possess no interest whatever, inasmuch as the subject is illuminated and photographed in such a way that only the features of technical interest are brought out strongly upon the film.
Another interesting and profitable province of the cinematograph is that concerning ballistics. This has been worked out by Monsieur Lucien Bull at the Marey Institute with his camera capable of taking two thousand pictures per second under the illumination of the electric spark. While this investigator did not apply his invention directly to ballistics he indicated the manner in which such work could be carried out. The success of his experiments, however, prompted another investigator to enter the field. This was Dr. Cranz, of the Berlin Military Academy. The apparatus this professor evolved has been devoted exclusively to the study of the flight of projectiles and to photographing the action of the mechanism of the magazine type of firearm.
By courtesy of the Marey Institute.
The Wonderful Apparatus devised by Mr. Lucien Bull for taking 2,000 Pictures per Second.
Showing stereoscopic camera, interrupter, condenser, coil, and resistance. Illumination is obtained by the electric spark.