US1093943A - Apparatus for producing scenic effects. - Google Patents

Description

L. MQGORMICK. APPABATUS FOR PRODUCING SCENIC EFFEGTS. APPLIGATION FILED FEB. 10, 1913.

1,093,943. I Patented Apr. 21, 19m

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APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING SCENIC EFFECTS.

' APPLICATION I'ILBD FEB. 10, 1913. 1,093,943.

COLUIIIA HOG-KPH co.,wmmamu. D- C L. MQGORMIGK.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING SCENIC EFFECTS. APPLICATION FILED FEB. 10, 1913.

1,093,943 Patented Apr.21,1914.

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LANGDON MCCORMICK, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR '10 THURSTON-MGCORMICK CO. INC., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING SCENIC EFFECTS.

To all whom it may concern:

ie it known that I, LANGDON MoCoRMIoK, residing at New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, a citizen of the United States, have invented or dis covered certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for Producing Scenic Effects, of which improvements the following is a specification.

The invention relates more particularly to apparatus adapted for the stage of a theater or other place of amusement by which illuslonary effects of special character may be produced, such as the travel over mountain or other roads of vehicles, such as an automobile, train of cars or the like, without the automobile or cars having actually been in motion, except at the very last stage of a supposed travel thereof, when they are brought into view. The invention is presented herein as embodied in apparatus adapted for creating the effect of a train of cars traveling through the mountains to a railway station and of an automobile traveling along a different road at rapid speed to reach the railway station in time for the passengers in the automobile to board the train before the latter leaves the station.

The apparatus utilized in carrying out one preferred embodiment of the invention comprises a stage, a main or upper curtain having thereon a mountain or other appropriate scene painted and equipped with means for causing its ascent, a curtain equipped with means for causing or permitting its descent at the proper time, a railway station on the stage in front of the curtains, a railway track on the stage extending toward the footlights, a telescopic imitation locomotive normally concealed behind the aforesaid lower curtain, and an automobile or imitation thereof also concealed on the stage behind the lower curtain,

said locomotive and said automobile being of a construction adapting them, when the curtain is shifted, to be moved toward the footlights of the stage and thus create the effect of the cars and automobile moving to and stopping at the railway station, and said upper curtain on which the scenery is painted being apertured along circuitous lines and along other circuitous lines slotted to create the effects, when lights are moved there along behind the curtain, of the travel,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 10, 1913.

Patented Apr. 21, 1914. Serial No. 747,310.

of vehicles as a train of cars and an automoblle along roads leadmg to the railway sta- Ztion. The apertures orholes in the curtain to indicate the travel of the train of cars will preferably be rectangular in outline and of increasing size from the beginning of the road toward the end thereof leading to the railway station, so that the effect of the lighttraveling behind said apertures or holes may be that of increasing brightness of a train as represent, when the light is passed behind them, the two lamps of the automobile substantially facing the audience.

In the use of the apparatus, the two curtains being in position, the lights are passed along behind the apertures and slots of the upper curtain and when said lights approach reasonably close to the railway station, the upper curtain is raised and the lower curtain is dropped and the locomotive and automobile, which stood behind the said curtain, are immediately pushed forwardly toward the station to complete the efiect of.

the travel of the locomotive and automobile down the mountain roads. The stage will be somewhat darkened at the period at which the curtains are shifted, so that the audience will not recognize that such curtains have been shifted or that the locomotive and automobile stood behind the same during the travel of the lights behind the upper curtain and along the apertures and slots therein. The locomotive and automobile are of somewhat special construction and the details thereof will be hereinafter explained. It may be here mentioned however, that the lights on the locomotive and automobile are arranged to be increased in brilliancy and shifted in as they approach the footlights of the stage so as to indicate or create the effect of traveling motion toward the audience.

While the locomotive and the automobile are regarded as important features, both as to their presence and detail of construction,

of a preferred embodiment of the invention, the invention is not limited in every instance to the utilization of the locomotive and automobile, since in the broader scope of the invention two traveling vehicles of other type or types than those shown may be employed, and under this term vehicle, is included those which travel in water and air, as well as those moving on land.

I The invention will be fully understood from the detailed description hereinafter presented, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a front view of the stage showing the curtains lowered and raised respectively. Fig. 1' is a perspective view of a stage equipped with apparatus embodying the invention, the illustration representing the final positions of the train of cars and automobile as they arrive at the railway station Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section, partly broken away, through the stage and curtains, the right hand edge of Fig. 2 representing the front edge of the stage at which there are ordinarily some footlights; Fig. 3 is a detached view, on a small scale, looking at one face of the two curtains, one of which is equipped with means for causing it to ascend and the other with means for permitting it todescend; Fig. 4. is a detached view of a portion of the upper or main curtain and illustrates the slots therein behind which a light is moved to represent the travel of the automobile along the mountain road represented more completely in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a detached portion of the upper curtain illustrating the holes behind which a light is caused to pass for indicating the travel of the cars down through the mountains to the railway station; Fig. 6 is a longitudinal section through the locomotive represented in Figs. 1 and 2, said locomotive being shown in its telescoped stationary position in Fig. 2 concealed behind the lower curtain and in its elongated or extended condition in Fig. 6, this elongation of the locomotive representing its travel from its position on the stage shown in Fig. 2 toward the footlights adjacent to which the railway station is located; Fig. 7 is an enlarged vertical section through the locomotive on the dotted line 7-7 of Fig.

6; Fig. 8 is a vertical longitudinal section through the forward portion of the locomotive on the dotted line 88 of Fig. 9; Fig. 9

is a horizontal section through the same on the dotted line 9-9 of Fig. 8; Fig. 10 is an enlarged horizontal section through the same on the dotted line 1010 of Fig. 7; Fig. 11 is an enlarged front view of the automobile shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 12 is a detached front view of the body of the same, the lamps being shown in their upper position in Fig. 11 and in their lower position in Fig.12; Fig. 13 is a detached side elevation of the forward portion of the automobile body and illustrates the rope by which the lamps may be moved from their lower to their upper position and thereafter permitted to descend to their lower-position; Fig. 14 is an enlarged side elevation, partly broken away and partly in section, of one of the lamps and illustrates a portion of a cord or the like by which the diaphragm on the face of the lamp may be operated to increase or decrease the light aperture of the lamp; Fig. 15 is a detached vertical section through a portion of the lamp taken on the dotted lines 1515 of Fig. 16; Fig. 16 is a detached front view on an enlarged scale of a portion of one edge of one of the lamps, both lamps being of the same construction, and illustrates the action of the diaphragm in its opening and closing movement to regulate the exposure aperture for the light from the lamp, and Fig. 17 is a detail on the section line 1717 of Fig. 11.

In the drawings 20 designates a theater stage or platform, 21 an upper curtain, 22 a lower curtain, 23 a conventional railway station, 24 an imitation or conventional locomotive, 25 a rallway track therefor located on the stage 20, and 26 a conventional or imitation automobile, the locomotive 2 1 and automobile 2G always remainm g on the stage and during a portion of the performance in which they are utilized being concealed behind the lower curtain 22 which is between the audience and the locomotivc'and automobile until such period as it is desired to drop said curtain 22.

The stage 20 is not of unusual construction; the upper curtain 21 is equipped with any suitable means, as ropes 27, whereby it :may be elevated when desired, and the lower curtain 22 is supported by any suitable means as a rope or cable 28, as shown in Fig. 3, in its elevated or upright position. The lower curtain 22 during the concealment of the locomotive 24 and automobile 26 forms in effect a continuation of the curtain 21. At the proper time the curtains 21 and 22 are shifted, exposing the locomotive 21 and automobile26 and permitting the same to be manually pushed forwardly on the stage toward the audience. The stage will be suitably darkened when the time arrives for the shifting of the curtains 21 and 22 so that the audience may not observe the change in the curtains but on the contrary will be led to assume that the moven'ients of the locomotive 24: and automobile 26 are a continuation of the movement of the illusionary locomotive and automobile traveling over the roads painted on and indicated by the rows of apertures in the upper curtain 21.

The curtain 21 has painted or otherwise represented on it a suitable scene, preferably of a mountainous or hilly district along whose roads it is intended that what may appear to the audience to be a locomotive and an automobile shall travel by different routes to the railway station 23. In the present instance there is depicted on the front of the curtain 21 a mountainous scene, and therein rows of apertures or holes 29 indicate the pathway of the locomotive through the mountains to the railway station and a circuitous line of slots 30 indicates the pathway of the automobile through the mountains to the railway station, the idea being that the locomotive and automobile are both traveling to the station at the same time and that some haste is required in the automobile to reach the station in time for its passengers to board the train. The rows of openings or holes 29 in the curtain progressively increase in area as they approach the railway station, and in order to give the effect or the idea of a locomotive or train of cars passing along the paths or roads defined by said apertures or holes, an attendant will move a light, commencing at the most distant point, along said apertures or holes and cause the same to progressively show through said holes from the beginning to the end thereof, said light only showing through the holes immediately adjacent to it and all of the other holes in series being darkened or kept dark except when the light is moved along them. The effect of moving the light behind the curtain along the apertures or holes 29 is to create the effect of a train of cars traveling through the mountains and toward the audience, in whose view the railway station is the objective point for the cars. In like manner a light is moved along behind the curtain to progressively light up or shine through the slots and holes defining the pathway for the automobile 26, the object being to create the impression on the audience that an automobile is hurrying along said pathway in an effort to reach the station before the cars leave the same. At the turns in the path defined for the automobile the upper curtain 21 is formed with series of pairs of round openings or holes 31 to represent the two lamps of an automobile appearing as turning and temporarily facing the audience. Apertures a and Z) are also formed in the upper curtain at the end of the lines of movement of the vehicles as indicated by the lines of apertures 29 and 30, the vertical positions of the apertures a and Z) corresponding with the line of the horizon indicated on the curtains, and these apertures also correspond to the-positions which the headlights on the locomotive and automobile would occupy at the horizon, as will be seen by reference to Fig. 1. The line of separation of the upper and lower ourtain corresponds to the line where road and railway track disappear and from which the road 0 is represented as extending on the lower curtain, and from which also extends on the lower curtain a representa tion of the rearward continuation of the line of rails 25.

During the movement of the lights along the lines of apertures or holes 29 and slots 30 and holes 31, the lower curtain 22 is in its upward position concealing the locomotive 24 and automobile 26, but when said lights have traveled along said apertures or holes 30 and 31 until it should appear that the locomotive and automobile are almost to the railway station 23, as shown by the appearance of lights in the openings a and b, the stage is darkened, the curtain 21 ascends and the curtain 22 completely descends, and thereupon the locomotive and automobile are manually pushed forwardly toward the front of the stage and to the audience appear to have arrived at the railway station and to have traveled down along the mountain roads thereto. The locomotive and automobile may be caused to travel ten or twenty feet on the stage after the curtains have descended, and this will be suiiicient to complete the illusionary effect of the travel of the locomotive and automobile along the mountain roads directly to the railway station.

It is desirable that during the actual travel of the locomotive 24 and automobile 26 their lights shall indicate by increasing size or brilliancv the idea of traveling movement so as to emphasize the illusionary effect of the locomotive and automobile having traveled a considerable distance and of a constant approach toward the audience, and to this end I provide the locomotive and automobile with special lighting and light operating appliances whereby, as the approach to the audience is made, the lights on the locomotive and automobile may be increased in size and thus, as far as possible, seem to be a continuation of the lighting which took place along the lines of apertures and slots in the curtain 21. In order to further increase the impression of travel in the locomotive, said locomotive is made of telescopic construction so that the forward portion of the locomotive when approaching the audience will draw out from the remaining portions thereof and thus create the efl'ect of travel or of the locomotive becoming more plainly visible as it approaches the audience. The details of the automobile 26 and locomotive 24L are of importance in carrying out the use of the invention presented herein and will be at once explained.

The locomotive 24 is hollow and comprises a forward portion 32, a tubular or boiler section 33 secured thereto, a tubular or boiler section 34 mounted on wheels 35 and adapt ed to slide or telescope on said boiler section 33, a rear cab section 36 which is also mounted on wheels, numbered 37, and adapted to slide upon the boiler section 34:, and a tender section adapted to receive the cab portion, so that the locomotive as a whole may nor- .mally stand in a telescoped or contracted condition, as shown in Fig. 2, or in extended condition, as shown in Fig. 6. The forward portion 32 of the locomotive is mounted on wheels 38, the sections 32, 84 are connected by chains 39, and the sections 34, 36 are connected by chains 40, the purpose of the chains being to permit of the extension of the sections of the locomotive without said sections entirely separating from one another. The locomotive has the appearance to a sufficient extent of an actual railway locomotive and is hollow so that it may conceal an operator or operators who may upon the shifting of the curtains 21 and 22, and acting from inside of the locomotive, push the front portion of the boiler section and cab portion of the locomotive forwardly toward the footlights of the stage. The wheels upon which all the portions of the locomotive, except the tender, are mounted are adapted to the railway track 25, and hence the locomotive will always have a definite path of movement and be confined thereto.

The tender portion of the locomotive is arranged immediately in front of a second curtain 85, similar as regards scenery, embodying representations of the roads over which the locomotive and automobile have ap parently traveled. This second or drop curtain does not have the apertures 29 and 30 of the upper curtain 21, but in lieu of a por- Ztion of the a iertures 29 a ners ective view 86 of a train of cars is painted thereon, and apertures 87 corresponding to the positions of the window are formed through the curtain. The tender of the locomotive is arranged immediately in front of this train, giving the appearance of being attached thereto. As soon as the curtains 21 and 22 are shifted, light is caused to shine successively through the openings 87 preferably beginning at the rear end of the train, thereby giving the effect of the forward movement of the train. This efiect is increased and enhanced by enlarging the areas of the window apertures progressively from the rear end of the train as shown.

One of the novel features connected with the locomotive 24 resides in the lamp or head-light 41 and its connected features which enable said head-light to be raised or lowered at will and to have the brilliancy thereof increased or diminished at will, the purpose being that normally said head-light shall be in its lower position and its brilliancy damped or reduced, and that as the locomotive wholly or in part is pushed toward the audience upon the shifting of the curtains 21 and 22, the lamp or head-light shall be elevated and its brilliancy increased, so as to create the effect of travel of the locomotive and its approach to the railway station.

The lamp or head-light 41 comprises a rectanglar casing 42, as shown more clearly in Figs. 8 and 9, and is mounted 011 a bracket or support 43 which is connected with the front of a vertical slide 44 mounted in guides 45 (Figs. 7 and 10) secured to the vertical central portion of the front of the locomotive. The slide 44 carries the front boiler head 46 and lamp 41 and is controlled in its vertical movements by means of a cord or rope 47 connected with the upper end thereof and extending over pulleys 48 and thence down to a windlass 49 equipped with a handle 50 by which it may be turned. hen the rope or cord 47 is wound upon the Windlass 49 it will operate to draw the slide 44 and lamp 41 upwardly, and when the movement of the Windlass 49'is reversed to pay out the cord or rope 47 the slide 44 and lamp 41 will, of their own weight, move downwardly. Within the rectangular casing 42 of the lamp 41 is provided a slidable non-transparent damper plate 51 (Figs. 8 and 9) having a light opening 52 at its center in line with the electric bulb 53 secured to the back of the casing 42. The plate 51 is adapted to be slid toward or from the bulb 51 for the purpose of increasing or decreasing the volume of light which may issue through the opening 52 in said plate. It is obvious that when the plate 51 is in its outer position shown in Figs. 8 and 9, only rays of light substantially horizontal will pass through the opening 52, and as the plate is moved to carry said opening close up to the bulb 53, rays other than horizontal will pass through the opening. In the normal position of the locomotive concealed behind front curtains 21 and 22, the plate 51 will be in its outer position, and when the curtains are shifted and the locomotive pushed toward the audience, the plate 51 will be gradually drawn rearwardly so as to cause the light opening 52 to approach the bulb 58 and effect an increase in the brilliancy of said light.

The means by which the plate 51 may be caused to move reamvardly during the elevation of the lamp 41 and forwardly during the descent of said lamp, comprises a cord or rope 54 secured to the plate and thence extending rearwardly to a rotary shaft 55 operating as a windlass and having on one end a gear wheel 56, and a cord or cable 57 secured at its lower end, as shown in Fig. (3, to a relatively fixed part of the frame of the locomotive and at its upper end upon a Windlass or shaft 58 (Figs. 8 and 9) having on one end a gear wheel 59 in mesh with the aforesaid gear wheel 56. hen the plate 51, which may be of ground glass or other opaque material, is in its front position shown in Figs. 8 and S), the head-light 41 will be in its lower position with the cord 57 wound upon the Windlass 58, and as the head-light l1 is elevated the cord 57 will be drawn from the shaft or windlass 58 thereby rotating said Windlass, and through the gear wheels 59, 56 and Windlass 55, causing the cord 54 to be wound upon the windlass 55 and drawing the plate 51 rearwardly or toward the bulb When, after a performance, the headlight 41 is again lowered, the cord 57 will be wound upon the shaft or windlass 58 manually or by any suitable means and the plate 51 will be slid frontwardly manually or by any suitable means to unwind the cord 54 from the shaft 55. The invention is not limited to any special means for moving the sliding plate 51, the only essential consideration being that said plate be caused to slide toward the bulb 53 during the ele vation of the head-light ll and the approach of the locomotive toward the audience. i In addition to providing the front end of the locomotive with amain head-light 4.1, the locomotive is also equipped with two side lamps 60 (Fig. 7 which also are adapted to be moved upwardly and downwardly, said lamps being mounted on slides 61 adapted to guides 62 and connected with cords 63 ext-ending downwardly to the windlass 49. When the windlass is rotated to elevate the head-light 4-1 it gradually at the same time causes the elevation of the side lamps 60. The guides 62 converge downwardly, and hence as the lamps 60 are elevated they also gradually separate from each other, such movement increasing the effect of the approach of the locomotive toward the audience. The headlight ll and lamps 60 will normally be in their lower position, and the plate 51 of the head-light will be in its outer position; as the locomotive is pushed toward the stage said head-light and lamps will be gradually elevated and the plate 51 of the head-light gradually moved rearwardly toward the bulb 53, the whole being controlled from the one Windlass 49. While the locomotive 241 may be variously constructed withoutdeparting from the spirit of the invention. the construction shown is preferred, and it is also preferred that suitable means should be employed to so shift one or more lights and to increase the brilliancy and size of the light or lights as to give the appearance of an engine approaching the station from a considerable distance.

The automobile 26 may be of any suitable or usual pattern, but dilfering from the ordinary automobile in the provision of means for shifting the lamps and increasing the brilliancy and volume of light from the lamps as the automobile, after the front curtains have been removed, approaches the audience. The automobilelamps are numbered 64c, and their detailsare shown in Figs. 11 to 17 inclusive. Each lamp 641: comprises a cylindrical casing 65 containing an electric bulb 66 and mounted on the end of an arm 67 which is hinged at its lower end, as at 68, to the side sills of the automobile. The lamps 6 1 will normally be in their upper position shown in Fig. 11, side by side and close together, with the arms 67 supporting them crossing each other, and as the automobile is caused to approach the audience said lamps 64: will be lowered and spread apart until they assume the position and relation to each other illustrated in Fig. 12. The means for raising and lowering the lamps and causing them to approach and recede from each other comprise the arms 67 and cords 69 secured to said arms and to a cord 70 which extends upwardly over a pulley 71 and thence rearwardly over another pulley 72 and to the imitation steering post 73, which may be utilized as a Windlass for winding up the cord 70 to elevate the lamps 64 or paying out said cord to permitsaid lamps to lower and separate from each other. In order to assure regular uniform movements in the arms 67 and lamps 64:, links 74. are provided, said links at their upper ends being secured to the lamp brackets 75, and at their lower ends to av slide-pin 76 arranged to move vertically in a guide 77 a secured to the front of the automobile, as illustrated in Figs. ll and 12.

The lamps Get at their frontedges are formed with rotary rings 77 which are utilized to move segmental diaphragm sections 78 which lap upon one another in series, as shown in Fig. 11, and are each pivoted, as at 79, to the ring 77 and controlled in its movement inwardly toward the center of the front of the lamp or outwardly toward said ring by means of a slot 80 formed therein and a pin 81 secured to a fixed part of the lamp and projected through said slot, as represented in Fig. 16. The damper or shutter composed of sections 78 to regulate the light-opening 82 of the lamps is not of unusual character as applied to cameras and possibly some other articles, and therefore does not require any special description herein.v The sections 78 all move in unison and they are all moved inwardly by turning the ring 7 7 toward the right (looking at Fig. 16) and outwardly by turning said ring toward the left. The object of employing the damper or shutter composed of the sections78 is to permit the automobile to have small light openings 82, as shown in Fig. 11, the moment the curtain 22 is dropped, and to have light openings of gradually increasing size as the lamps 64 descend to their lower position, as shown in Fig. 12. The rings 77 of the lamps 6 1 are operated automatically during the lowering of said lamps, said rings being connected by cords 83 to the respective links 74;, which when gradually spreading apart at their upper portions during the lowering of the lamps 64:, operate to draw the said cords 83 and cause the rings 77 to turn and effect an increase in the diameter of the light-openings in the lamps. The invention is not limited to any special means for shifting the lamps or varying the diameters of the light-openings in the lamps 64, the main consideration being that said lamps shall be lowered to their conventional position dur ing the forward movement of the automobile and shall, during such movement, have a progressively increasing brilliancy.

The main plan of the invention as embodied in the scene involving the movement of an express train and automobile along different routes to a railway station, will be understood from the foregoing description without further detailed explanation.

The invention is not limited to the details of form and construction illustrated, the automobile and locomotive being used as a convenient illustration and it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that other styles of vehicles may be employed, and that the approach of said vehicles may be indicated by the movements of or changes of the shape and size of any of the usual parts of such vehicle. The invention is not limited even when the express train is employed to the use of one automobile, since without difliculty the slots 30 and holes 31 may be utilized to convey the impression, by means of light, of a second automobile chasing after and probably gaining on the first automobile, and in other ways the invention may be made use of with advantage.

It will be understood that in the broader claims the term vehicle includes, so far as they may be applicable, any vehicle, whether movable on land or water or in air.

I claim herein as my invention:

1. In an apparatus for producing stage illusions the combination of a curtain having lines of apertures therethrough adapted to be illuminated in succession thereby giving the effect of a moving object.

2. In an apparatus for producing stage illusions, the combination of a curtain having a line of apertures therethrough having gradually increased areas, adapted to be illuminated in succession, thereby giving the effect of a moving object.

3. In an apparatus. for producing stage illusions the combination of curtain formed in sections, and having a line of apertures therethrough gradually increasing in area, adapted tobe illuminated in succession, thereby giving the effect of an approaching vehicle, a movable frame having the appear ance of such vehicle arranged behind the curtain and means for shifting such curtain to permit of the forward movement of the frame in the direction indicated by the light passing through the apertures.

4. I11 an apparatus for producing stage illusions, a movable frame having the external appearance of a vehicle in combination with means for so shifting some distinctive portion as to give the effect of the movement of such vehicle toward the audience.

5. In an apparatus for producing stage illusions, the combination of a movable frame having the external appearance of a vehicle, means for so shifting the position and size of some distinctive part of the vehicle as to give the effect of the approach of such vehicle.

6. In an apparatus for producing stage illusions the combination of a movable frame having the external appearance of a vehicle and means for so changing a distinctive part of such vehicle as to give the effect of the approach of the vehicle.

7. In an apparatus for producing stage illusions, the combination of a frame having the external appearance of a vehicle, a lamp carried by the vehicle and means for increasing the brillia-ncy and apparent size of light emitted.

S. In an apparatus for producing stage effects, the combination of a frame having the external appearance of a vehicle, a lamp carried by the vehicle and means for so moving the lamp as to give the effect of the approach of the vehicle.

9. In an apparatus for producing stage effects, a frame consisting of telescopic sections and having the external appearance of a locomotive.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand.

LANGDON MCCORMICK. Witnesses:

THOMAS F. MAoMAnoN, EUGENE D. MILLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. G.

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