US2328492A

US2328492A - Cinematographic registering apparatus

Info

Publication number: US2328492A
Application number: US429884A
Authority: US
Inventors: Gerald F Rackett
Original assignee: Technicolor Motion Picture Corp
Current assignee: Technicolor Motion Picture Corp
Priority date: 1942-02-07
Filing date: 1942-02-07
Publication date: 1943-08-31
Anticipated expiration: 1960-08-31
Also published as: GB551930A

Description

Aug' 31 1943 G. F. RACKETT 2,328,492

CINEMATOGRAPHIC REGISTERING APPARATUS Filed Feb. '7, 1942 Patented Aug. 3l, 1943 CINEMATOGRAPHIC REGISTERING APPARATUS Gerald F. Rackett, Los Angeles, Calif., assignor to Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation,

Hollywood, Calif.,

a corporation of Maine Application February 7, 1942, Serial No. 429,884 4 claims. (01.101-130) In printing motion pictures, whether photographically with light or mechanically by imbibition, it is essential that the printing lm be pressed into intimate contact with the film to be printed. In both photographic and mechanical printing the lack of intimate contact results in loss of definition, and in printing rby imbibition there is the further difiiculty of lack of dye transfer from the printing matrix to the blank film to be printed if the two films are not pressed into intimate contact and retained in that condition while the dye is being imbibed by the blank from the matrix.

Objects of the present invention are to produce registering apparatus which will press two films into intimate contact throughout their entire areas, which is simple and economical to manufacture and which is durable and reliable in use.

According to the present invention the apparatus comprises a register belt having teeth for engagement in the sprocket holes of the films, together with means for feeding the belt along an orbital path including a curved part and a portion leading to the curved part, a seating belt having sprocket holes to receive the teeth, and means for feeding the films and the seating belt to the register belt in the aforesaid portion and thence around the curved part, the pitch of the teeth being approximately a multiple of the pitch of the sprocket holes in the seating belt so that the seating belt is drawn toward the register belt 'by the fanwise movement of the teeth relatively to each other as the register belt is curved, thereby compressing the films into intimate contact between the two belts. While the register belt preferably has a tooth for every sprocket hole of the lms the pitch of the teeth may be two or more times that of the sprocket holes.

For the purpose of illustration a typical em bodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of a `belt printer of the type referred to;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the aforesaid belts and films in the curved part of the orbital path;

Fig. 3` is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a side View of the right-hand end of the printer; and

Fig. 5 is the section on line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

The particular embodiment of the invention chosen for the purpose of illustration comprises two sheaves I and 2 over which is trained an endless belt 3. As shown in Figs. 2 and 3 the register belt 3 comprises a band of approximately the width and thickness of cinematographic film, the belt preferably being made of metal and cai rying register pins or teeth 4 adapted to fit into the sprocket holes of the films. The details oi the construction and manufacture of various parts of the apparatus, including the register' belt, are disclosed in Patents 1,675,743, 1,704,328, 1,707,695, 1,707,699, 1,707,710, 1,707,733, 1,928,714, 2,257,254 and 2,271,572.-

For imbibition printing the blank film 5 and a matrix film 46 are fed into superposed Contact on the belt, the matrix 6 having first been soaked in dye of the appropriate color and the blank 5 having been conditioned to imbibe the dye from the matrix when'the films are pressed into intimate contact on the belt. As disclosed in the aforesaid patents the lms 5 and E are preferably brought together under water in a tank l in order to exclude air bubbles from between the films, the tank having narrow slits for the belt to pass into and out of the tank. Above and ybelow the sheave 2 are guide rolls 8 and S pivotally mounted at I0 and II on arms I3 and I4, the arms having extensions I5 and I6 cooperating with compresn sion springs I1 and I8 for urging the rolls 8 and 9 toward the sheave 2. At the top and bottom of the machine two other guide rolls I9 and 20 are mounted in line with the rolls 8 and 9. Trained over the rolls 8, 9, I9 and 20 is a seating belt 2| similar to the register belt 3 except in that no register pins are mounted in its sprocket holes. 'Ihe seating belt travels in the direction of the arrow in Fig. 4 and after passing over the roller 8 it feeds into superposition to the

lms

5 and 6 on the register belt 3 (Fig. 3).

As shown in Fig. 5 the sheave 2 has a rubber rim 22 with circumferential recesses at the sides to accommodate the heads of the pins 4. The roller 8 has iianges 23 immediately inside the rows of register teeth and rings 24 secured to the flanges by screws 25 outside the rows of reg ister teeth. Intermediate the flanges 23 and the rings 24 are rings 26 which have notches in their outer peripheries to accommodate the projecting ends of the teeth 4.

In operation the two

films

5 and 6 are fed to the belt in the straight portion of its orbital path immediately in advance of the point where the belt starts around the curved portion of its orbit at the sheave 2. Atthis point or slightly in advance of this point the seating belt 2| is fed to the register belt in superposition to the two films, the two belts and the films being pressed together by the spring Il acting through roller 8. As the seating belt enters the curved portion of its orbit the projecting ends of the register' teeth 4 move apart fanwise owing to the curvature of the register belt (Fig. 2) This tends to draw the seating belt toward the center of the curved path, which in turn tightly compresses the two lms between the two belts. By making the seating belt of metalits stretchability can be minimized and by suitably predetermining the pitch of the sprocket holes in the seating belt any desired amount of compression between the two films can be secured. In most cases the pitch of the holes in the seating belt may be the same as that of the register belt and lms.

AAfter the films have thus been tightly pressed together they remain in intimate contact due to their wet condition until they are peeled apart at the roller 21, the printed nlm being removed from the belt at the roller 28. As disclosed in the aforesaid patents the distance between rollers 9 and 21 is great enough to permit the dye transfer to be completed before the films are peeled apart.

It should be understood that the present dlisclosure is for the purpose of illustration only and that this invention includes all modiiications and equivalents which fall within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for registering one film with another lm comprising a register belt having teeth for engagement in the sprocket holes of the films, means for guiding the belt along an orbital path including a curved part and a portion leading to the curved part, a seating belt having sprocket holes to receive said teeth, means for feeding 'the films and the seating belt to said register belt in Said portion and thence around the curved part, the pitch of said teeth being approximately a multiple of the pitch of the sprocket holes in the seating belt so that, in said curved part, the seating belt is drawn toward the register belt by the fanwise movement of the teeth relatively to each other as the register belt is curved. whereby the films are compressed into intimate Contact between the two belts.

2. Apparatus for registering one lm with an other film Comprising an endless register belt having teeth for engagement in the sprocket holes of, the films, means for guiding the belt along an orbital path including a curved part and a por- CII asesinos tion leading to the curved part, an endless seating belt having sprocket holes to receive said teeth, means for feeding the lms and the seatingbelt to said register belt in said portion and thence around the curved part, the pitch of said teeth being approximately a multiple of the pitch of the sprocket holes in the seating belt so that, in said curved part, the seating belt is drawn toward the register belt by the fanwise movement of the teeth relatively to each other as the register belt is curved, whereby the lms are compressed into intimate contact between the two belts.

3. Apparatus for registering one film with another lm comprising a register belt having teeth for engagement in the sprocket holes of the lms, means for guiding the belt along an orbital path including a curved part and a portion leading to the curved part, a seating belt having sprocket holes to receive said teeth, means for feeding the lms and the seating belt to said register belt in said portion and thence around the curved part, the pitch of said teeth being approximately equal to the pitch of the sprocket holes in the seating belt so that, in said curved part, the seating belt is drawn toward the register belt by the fanwise movement of the teeth relatively Vto each other as the register belt is curved, whereby the lms are compressed into intimate contact between the two belts.

4. Apparatus for registering dye-absorptive lm with a matrix film comprising a register belt having teeth for engagement in the sprocket holes of the lms, means for guiding the belt along an oribtal path including a curved part and a portion leading to the curved part, a seating belt having sprocket holes to receive said teeth, means for feeding the films and the seating belt to said register belt in said portion and thence around the curved part, the pitch of said teeth being approximately a multiple of the pitch of the sprocket holes in the seating belt so that, in said curved part, the Seating belt is drawn toward the register belt by the fanwise movement of the teeth relatively to eachother as the register belt is curved, whereby the films are compressed into intimate contact between the two belts.

GERALD F. RACKETT.