This picture shows the surrender of the British captain to John Paul
Jones in the famous fight between the _Bonhomme Richard_ and the
_Serapis_. The scene was arranged in the Edison Studio, the American
ship being stationary and the other arranged to run on rollers.]
“Photographing time” has a spectacular sound, yet patents were
recently issued to the writer which virtually accomplished this.
Between the shutter and the film of the moving-picture machine are
introduced the marked edges of revolving transparent dials, actuated by
clock-movement. The figures in the three dials denote the hour, minute,
second, and smaller divisions, and are arranged to come to a prescribed
position as the shutter opens. By this means the exact time at which
any motion is photographed is imprinted on the different pictures of
the film independent of the varying speed of the hand-crank. Such
records promise to be most useful in the “scientific management” field
and medical pictures, from which comparative time studies can be made
from a number of films at the same time or from a single film by
reproducing it on the screen in the usual manner.
Over twenty years ago, Mr. Edison stated in his patent specification
in referring to his ability to take forty-six photographs per second,
“I have also been able to hold the tape at rest for nine tenths of
the time.” It was probably not intended to convey the impression that
he could take anything approaching ten times the number of pictures,
as it is of course necessary to provide for rest periods; but it
is significant that very recently a machine has been perfected for
portraying such rapid motion as projectiles in flight, etc., which
takes the almost inconceivable number of two hundred and fifty pictures
per second. Indeed, experiments are in progress which promise even four
hundred per second.
Films are also being utilized to show the news of the day. A member
of ~The Century~ staff was in Rome last year when the king was
fired upon. Two days later, in Perugia, he saw a moving-picture of the
king appearing on the balcony of the palace before an enormous crowd
assembled to congratulate him on his escape. More recently a London
theater which shows the news of the day in motion-pictures is regularly
opened and important events are shown on the screen two hours after
their occurrence, a promptness approaching that of the press “extra.”