The Story of the Motion-Picture Projecting Machine[69]
Few businesses have had a more spectacular rise than the motion-picture industry. It may be true that there are other industries of recent growth that are more highly capitalized than the motion-picture business. I shall not make any comparisons nor look up statistics, but will present some facts about an enterprise that, scientifically, industrially and commercially, is one of the great wonders of the world.
It is fair to estimate that more than $375,000,000 is invested in this business in the United States. It looks like an exaggeration or as if the typesetter had slipped in several extra ciphers by mistake, does it not? Nevertheless, the estimate is said to be extremely conservative. In the first place, it concerns every branch of the business, of which there are five. Taken in their natural order there are: 1. The manufacture of motion-picture cameras. 2. The manufacture of films. 3. The taking of the pictures. 4. The manufacture of the projecting machines. 5. The exhibition of the pictures.
The projecting machine is the subject of this story. One sees very little about it in the newspapers and popular magazines, in spite of the fact that it is the keystone, so to speak, of the motion-picture industry. Of the entire business, in all its ramifications, this machine is the most important not only from a technical standpoint, but as regards both the pleasure and safety of the public. Here, again, a great deal of money is invested. Its manufacture involves costly and highly specialized machinery, the most intelligent of mechanics and the constant thought and endeavor of the men at the head of the business.
The advancement in the manufacture of motion-picture projecting machines from the start has been along two avenues—to secure better projection, a sharper, clearer and steadier picture, and to eliminate the danger of fire resultant from the ignition of combustible film. Experts have watched and studied the picture machine through all its stages of development. For seventeen years they have slowly improved the machine and brought it to its present high state of mechanical perfection. The development of the fireproof magazine, the automatic fire-shutter, the loop-setter, flame shields and the famous intermittent movement have all been vital factors in the elimination of fire and also in securing perfect projection. The oldest invention was patented by W. E. Lincoln on April 23, 1867. The contrivance was a mere toy, employing no light and being merely a little machine which, when revolved, gave figures, printed in different positions, the semblance of motion. The second oldest was of an “optical instrument” patented by O. B. Brown on August 10, 1869. This was really the first American motion-picture projection machine. There was a sort of disk or moving-shutter movement which, on revolving, gave projected objects the appearance of animation. Of course, there were no films in those days and the inventor had used translucent glass to obtain the results. Yet here was the germ of our native modern machine.
The Latest Motion-Picture Projecting Machine