Kinetoscope

“ Sometime, in the middle or late part of 1887 Edison started work on what was to become his Kinetograph, the first motion picture camera that could photograph a few seconds of action at a time, and the Kinetoscope, the popular peep-show film device which brought the magic shadow art before the modern public and opened the way for the establishment of the motion picture industry. ”

“ They will not wear round or square. They will always retain their shape more or less, and at all events will give improved steadiness in running.” The advice of Lord Kelvin was followed, and the triangular holes were found to give the best results achieved up to that time.
Meanwhile the shape of the perforations and the gauge had settled itself in a curious manner. The kinetoscope appeared with small rectangular perforations, numbering four to each picture, on either side of the film. Edison had settled on this plan for his apparatus, finding that it afforded him the best results. ”

“ In appearance it is somewhat different; indeed, it is in two parts, the one containing the lighting arrangements and condensing lens, and the other embracing the mechanism and objective lens. The "taking" camera must have its parts enclosed in a light-tight box, because of the undeveloped, sensitized film, but the projecting kinetoscope, using only a fully developed positive film, may, and, for purposes of convenient operation, must be accessibly open. The illustration (Fig. 2) will show the projecting apparatus as used in practice. ”

“ Upon arrival in London they sought for a man who could duplicate the machine they had brought with them; and they approached Mr. Robert W. Paul, an electrical engineer and scientific instrument maker, who at that time had his workshops in Hatton Garden. They brought the Kinetoscope to him. He had never seen it before, and was deeply interested in its operation. When, however, they suggested that he should produce copies of it to their order, he declined, for he felt sure that Edison never would have omitted to secure its protection in Great Britain. ”

“ In front of a large lens (a telescope objective, for example) two brass balls are mounted, between which the 'sound spark.' as I shall call it, passes. The instant the spark jumps across the gap, a spherical wave of condensed air starts out, which, when it reaches our ear, gives the sensation of a snap. The object is to photograph this wave before it gets beyond the limits of the lens. The camera is mounted in front of the lens and focussed on the
Kinetoscope Film of Explosion. ”

“ The next step, after making the negative band, is to form a positive or finished series of reproductions from the negative, which is passed through a machine for the purpose, in conjunction with a blank strip of film, which, after development and general treatment, is replaced in the kinetoscope or phono-kinetoscope, as the case may be. When a phonograph record has been taken simultaneously with such a strip, the two are started together by the use of a simple but effective device, and kept so all through, the phonographic record being in perfect accord with the strip. ”

“ At or near the focal point of the projecting lantern condenser the film is made to travel across the field as in the kinetoscope. A water cell in front of the condenser absorbs most of the heat and transmits most of the light from the arc lamp, and the small picture thus highly illuminated is protected from injury. A projecting lens of rather short focus throws a large image of each picture on the screen, and the rapid succession of these completes the illusion of life-like motion. ”

“ At the very peak of power and pace, then, all the force, all the momentum, all the kinetic energy of the speedster's mass and velocity were concentrated in and applied to Kinnison's physical body. He sensed something, and tried to flinch, but could not. In a fleeting instant of what he thought was time he went past, not through, his clothing and his Lens; past, not through, his armor; and past, not through, the hard beryllium-alloy structure of his vessel. He even went past but not through the N-dimensional interface of the hyperspatial tube. ”

“ Measurement of Speed of Rotation.
To measure the speed of rotation, a tuning-fork, bearing on one prong a steel mirror, was used. This was kept in vibration by a current of electricity from five "gravity" cells. The fork was so placed that the light from the revolving mirror was reflected to a piece of plane glass, in front of the lens of the eye-piece of the micrometer, inclined at an angle of 45°, and thence to the eye. When fork and revolving mirror are both at rest, an image of the revolving mirror is seen. When the fork vibrates, this image is drawn out into a band of light. ”

“ In the Kew portable apparatus, the magnet is made in the form of a tube, having at one end a lens, and at the other a glass scale, so adjusted as to be at the principal focus of the lens. Light is admitted from behind the scale, and after passing through the lens it is viewed by means of a telescope.
Since the scale is at the principal focus of the lens, rays from any division of the scale emerge from the lens parallel, and if the telescope is adjusted for celestial objects, it will shew the scale in optical coincidence with the cross wires of the telescope. ”

“ Indeed, the huge astronomical lenses and mirrors now available serve for these remote light-sources exactly the purpose of the lens or mirror employed by the physicist to project upon the slit of his spectroscope the image of a spark or arc or vacuum tube within which atoms and molecules are exposed to the influence of the electric discharge. The physicist has the advantage of complete control over the experimental conditions, while the astrophysicist must observe and interpret the experiments performed for him in remote laboratories. ”

“ A cylindrical lens is, therefore, placed before the eye-piece of the telescope, and as this has the effect of turning a point into a line and a line into a band, the narrow spectrum of the star is thereby broadened out into a luminous band in which we can distinguish any details that exist. In other forms of stellar spectroscope we require a slit which must be placed in the focus of the object glass, and the general arrangement is similar to that which we have described in the chapter on the sun, except that a cylindrical lens is required. ”

“ The path of the rays is plainly shown and the manner in which the prisms fold up the total focal length of the objective is quite obvious. The added stereoscopic effect obtained by the arrangement of the two sides of the instrument is practically a very material gain. It gives admirable modelling of the visible field, a perception of distance which is at least very noticeable and a certain power of penetration, as through a mass of underbrush, which results from the objectives to a certain extent seeing around small objects so that one or the other of them gives an image of something beyond. ”

“ As soon as it came near enough so that we could focus the telescope upon it we discovered that it was a new sort of flying machine. It passed over our heads at a height no greater than ten thousand feet, if as great as that, and we could see that it was a cylindrical ring like a doughnut or an anchor ring, constructed, I believe, of highly polished metal, the inner aperture being about twenty-five yards in diameter. The tube of the cylinder looked to be about twenty feet thick, and had circular windows or portholes that were brilliantly lighted. ”

“ This radiance is concentrated upon the performers while the kinetograph and phonograph are hard at work storing up records and impressions for future reproduction.
A popular and inexpensive adaptation of kinetoscopic methods is in the form of the well-known nickel-in-the-slot, a machine consisting of a cabinet containing an electrical motor and batteries for operating the mechanism which acts as the impelling power to the film. The film is in the shape of an endless band fifty feet in length, which is passed through the field of a magnifying-glass perpendicularly placed. ”

“ Again, in an ocular heliometer by Steinheil double image is similarly produced by a divided prism of total reflection placed in parallel rays. But practically these last three methods are failures. In the last the field is full of false light, and it is not possible to give sufficiently minute and steady separation to the images; and there are of necessity a collimator, two prisms of total reflection, and a small telescope through which the rays must pass; consequently there is great loss of light. ”

“ Take the little “radioscope” in your hand—a tiny tube less than an inch in length, closed at one end, with a small magnifying lens at the other. In the closed end of the tube you observe a small disk of paper covered with microscopic particles of yellow crystals—sulfid of zinc. In front of the yellow crystals is a small metallic pointer, like the second-hand of a very small watch, and on the end of the pointer is—nothing, absolutely nothing, so far as your eye can see. ”

“ You will not observe any image, owing to my having removed the lenses of the radioscope, but your instrument will glow in response to the current.
"Having prepared a cone of chloroform, you must move a couch directly in front of your instrument, so that upon lying down your body will obscure the rays from it. You will thus know that you are in the path of the super-radium current; this is of the greatest importance as, otherwise, your spirit would undoubtedly escape upon leaving the body and be lost forever. ”

“ Micro-Optics and Illumination
The Foldscope design accommodates different optical configurations, including spherical ball lenses, spherical micro-lens doublets (such as a Wollaston doublet) , and more complex assemblies of aspheric micro-lenses. While more optical elements generally provide reduced aberration and improved field of view, spherical ball lenses have distinct advantages for high-volume manufacturing, including reduced part count and simplified assembly due to rotational symmetry [12] – [13] . ”

“ As the magnifying power is increased, the distance between the eye-glass and the object-glass must be diminished. Dr. Kitchener says, that ‘the pancratic eye tube gives a better defined image of a fixed star, and shows double stars decidedly more distinct and perfectly separated than any other eye tube, and that such tubes will probably enable us to determine the distances of these objects from each other, in a more perfect manner than has been possible heretofore.’ These tubes are made by Dollond, London, and are sold for two guineas each. ”

“ The refractionist merely recalls that by turning the Ski-optometer’s single reel toward the temporal side, convex spherical power is increased, by turning toward the nasal side for either eye, spherical power is decreased. Cylinder lens strength may be changed in a like manner before both eyes simultaneously. ”

“ In all microscopes the rays are limited, not in the eyepiece, but in the objective, or before the objective when using a condenser. If the pencils are limited in the objective, the restriction of the pencil proceeding from the object-point is effected by either the front lens itself, by the boundary of a lens lying behind, by a real diaphragm placed between or behind the objective, or by a diaphragm-image. ”

“ Such are some of the leading principles which require to be recognised in the construction of refracting telescopes, microscopes, and other dioptric instruments whose performance chiefly depends on the refraction of light.—It is worthy of particular notice that all the phenomena of optical lenses now described, depend upon that 76 peculiar property which the Creator has impressed upon the rays of light, that, when they are refracted to a focus by a convex transparent substance, they depict an accurate image of the objects whence they proceed. ”

“ Set up, he studied his electros and flicked his tractor beams out to a passing fragment of metal, which flashed up to him, almost instantaneously. Or, rather, the inertialess tugboat flashed across space to the comparatively tiny, but inert, bit of metal which he was about to investigate. With expert ease Kinnison clamped the meteorite down and rammed into it his Spalding drill, the tool which in one operation cuts out and polishes a cylindrical sample exactly one inch in diameter and exactly one inch long. Kinnison took the sample, placed it in the jaw of his spee-gee, and cut his Berg. ”

“ Then set axis indicator at 180° (Fig. 7) .
7th—Next increase concave cylinder power until vision is improved. If vision is not improved after increasing cylinder strength to -.50 axis 180°, merely reverse the axis to 90°. If vision is improved, cylinder lens strength should be increased. If not, it should be decreased (Fig. 8) .
8th—Slowly move axis indicator through entire arc of axis, thus locating best possible axis (Fig. 7) .
9th—After sphere and cylinder test of right eye has been made, place supplementary disk handle at “shut.” Then repeat procedure in testing left eye. ”

“ The direction in which the axis lies in space is a fixed direction, which can be changed only by some outside force interfering. What we mean by this will become clearer if we think of the earth's axis as resembling the peg of a top, or the axis of a gyroscope. When a top is spinning smoothly, with its peg vertical, the peg will remain vertical as long as the spin is not diminished, and no outside force interferes. So, too, the axis of the spinning-wheel of a gyroscope keeps pointing in the same direction so persistently that the wheel is kept from falling. ”