Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 91.djvu/70

 �This motion picture camera is smaller and lighter than the professional machine and re- quires no tripod. It is aimed from the shoulder through an open finder. The substitu- tion of a motor-drive for the hand crank makes it possible to follow the movements of an object. Current is supplied from batteries in the pocket

��Home-Made Paper Motion Pictures

A safe and sane method by which you can make the pictures and exhibit them to your friends

By Max Fleischer

be entirely familiar with his machine and its dependent devices. Thousands of feet of highly combustible film must be driven directly across the path of the blazing arc-lamp's concentrated rays. The speed of the film itself is all that keeps it from being instantly consumed. Failure of the drop-shutter, as the film slows down, would result in a blaze. The operator must be specially trained. As a rule, theater pro- jection machines are quite safe — that is, safe in the hands of an experienced operator. In view of all the knowledge and ex- perience required to go from A to Z in the production and projection of motion pictures, considerable credit is due Mr. Hartwell W. Webb of New York, inventor of the home projector and camera, for his success in simplifying and reducing the cost of the process. In addition to making its operation safe, he has practically suc- ceeded in leveling the complete apparatus to the home basis of the phonograph.

Mr. Webb has produced not only a

motion picture camera which is almost as

simple in operation as the kodak, but also a

projector which requires little more

knowledge to operate than the

magic lantern. All fire

danger has been eliminated

by the perfection of a paper

film. Incidentally, he has

found the paper film to

be far more durable and

economical than the

celluloid.

His camera, which

��WHY is the phonograph in every home, but not the motion picture? Chiefly, because celluloid films are highly inflammable, because rooms must be darkened, because screens must be set up, in a word because elaborate prepara- tions must be made. The making of motion pictures is hardly within the pos- sibilities of the average amateur. In pro- fessional motion picture photography, ex- tremely accurate mechanisms are employed at almost every step. Perfect results depend on the accuracy, judgment and experience of experts.

The expert camera man is not called upon to develop his film. Developing processes are often as unfamiliar to the photographer, as pho tography is to the de- veloper. Fixing and drying the film is a separate branch of the process. Print- ing of positive film from the negative pequires the at- tention of skilled mechanics who may be entirely ignorant of cam- era work or developing.

Projection of the completed film is a mystery to almost th entire productive force; for some knowledge of electricity and arc-light- ing is necessary. The operator must be alert and cautious. He must

���End section of spring belt reduced, forms a threaded engagement

��Interior of the camera. The feed magazine will accommodate 100 feet of film which is advanced by means of a single claw drive

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��A spring belt, reduced at one end to fit the opposite end of the belt, makes a threaded flexible engagement

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