Phonograph-Movie Machine Plays Tunes for Pictures (Mar, 1922)

Phonograph-Movie Machine Plays Tunes for Pictures

A COMBINATION phonograph, and motion-picture projector that plays appropriate music as the film is being shown has been invented by A. L. Edminson, of Los Angeles, Calif. After eight years of experiment he has combined the two machines into a cabinet slightly larger than that of the standard phonograph. The upper part contains the phonograph; the lower a motion-picture projector.

The films are exhibited on a silk screen, measuring 18 by 22 inches, which is placed behind the doors of the sounding-box. It is claimed that the pictures are projected clearly enough to be seen by an audience 40 feet away.

Little change has been made in the phonograph, except that the speed governor of the record also controls the rate at which the film is displayed. Similarly, an adjusting clutch starts the record and the film simultaneously. The film is placed in a fireproof magazine, passes through a fireproof gate, over an adjusting sprocket and thence loops downward through the lens gate and back through the release sprocket. After exposure the film rewinds automatically. A cord and plug fit an electric-light socket for power and light, and a system of multiple mirrors gives a fairly large focal projection length in a small space. The illumination of the screen is so intense that the films can be exhibited in broad daylight.