US1423089A - ckshman - Google Patents

Description

A. SJCUSHMAN. METHOD OF PRODUCING COLOR EFFECTS.

APPLICATION FILED )UNE I0, 1921.

Patentd July 18, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET A. s. CUSHMAN. METHOD OF PRODUCING COLOR EFFECTS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE I0, I92!- Patented July is, 1922.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

III

I II

opn zpuE by an electric motor 5. a plurality of differently colored panes 3 UNITED I STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALLERTON S. CUSHMAN, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

METHOD OF PRODUCING COLOR EFFECTS.

Application filed June 10,

Ta all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALLnn'roN S. CUSH- MAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at lVashington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Methods of Producing Color Effects, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to the art of produc ing color effects such as find more general application, for instance, upon the stage.

It is known that owing to the phenomenon of persistence of vision the humaneye is capable of retaining a visual impression for an appreciable time which will vary accord ing to the intensity of the impression, the wave length of the light and the time involved in producing the impression. By taking advantage of this phenomenon and so arranging and timing the succession of separate beams of differently colored light and the periods of occultation, I have discovered that I can produce new and useful effects when such beams of light are directed upon moving objects.

It is the general object of the invention to provide a method of and a means for pro ducing fascinating color effects.

For a full understanding of the invention reference is had to the accompanying drawings in which- Fig. 1 represents the general arrangement of a device for carrying out the object of the invention and an object acted upon;

Fig. 2 is a front view of a device embodying the invention on an enlarged scale; and

Fig. 3 is a sideview thereof.

In the drawings 1 represents a usual form of projecting device for emitting a beam of light. In. front of the projecting device is revolubly mounted a disk or wheel 2 driven This disk carries eparated by opaque portions 4.. The arrangement is such that the colored panes and opaque portions pass successively past the aperture of the projecting device.

The object is for the purpose of illustration represented as a bundle of white streamers. 6 which under the influence of an agitating force of any kind, as for instance a fan 7, is fluttering in the path of the light beam.

When the disk 2 is revolved at a rate which will be more particularly referred to, the individual streamers appear as com- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 18, 19%2.

of operation, the number of objects to which the invention is applicable is without limit.

If, to cite another instance, a transparent receptacle containing water is shaken, the moving drops appear to flow with all manner of varying color.

An apparatus arranged under the general plan explained can be used for various purposes.

The principle on which the invention is based is probably as follows:

Assume that the rate of rotation of the disk is such that the successive periods of light emission through each pane are too short to satisfy the law of persistency of vision, a stationary or very slow moving object will appear in the color of the mixed light composed of the different light beams. Before the light due to one light beam has time to create a fixed impression on the retina and cause a definite color sensation corresponding to the wave length of the rays of that beam, the rays coming from the next beam and reflected from the object are superimposed upon the first etc. The light effeet is that due to a more or less effective blending of all the light rays.

A white object thus will appear as white so long as this condition is maintained, if the synthetic effect of the different beams is substantially white light or it will appear in any other uniform color according to the particular synthetic effect of the various beam will be gradually allowed to pass until.

the ed e has reached'the lower limit of the b effective aperture of the PlOJGCtll'lg device.

When the lower edge of the next opaque portion gradually shuts off the light from the top downwardly, the last rays of the beam are directed downwardly.

Thus the beam is in effect traveling through a substantially vertical angle and therefore strikes the object first at the top and last at the bottom.

According to the relative positions of the projecting device and the disk 2, the apparent motion of the beam can of course be changed as desired.v Assume now that the object or a part of the object has. motion inthe direction of the traveling beam. and that its rate of motion corresponds to that of the beam, The object ora part thereof, as the case may be, is thus under the illuminating'effect of the light of a particular light beam during the whole period of duration of the beam. If this period is long enough to satisfy the law of persistency of vision, the color or a part thereof will appear in the color of the beam.

as the case may be, will appear in. the colors of the plurality of: beams, such colors being juxtaposed. much like the colors of the rainbow. This effect will take place only, however, if the time interval during which each color beam is allowed to act upon the object of the parts thereof satisfies the law of persista'ncy of vision.

The limiting conditions ofthe invention thus are; I Y Y 1. The differently colored light beams must follow each other at such rate that the successive impulses are not sufliciently long to cause separate color sensations when the object is at rest.

2. The rate of projection must be such that during substantial motion of the object or parts thereof'light rays from the different beams persist long enough to cause color sensations corresponding to the respective beams. I

3. Conversely the rate of projection must not be so high that during the motion of the object no. distinct and separate color sensation can be produced.

. It is understood that the angular velocity of the disk 2 or the angular ratio of the opaque portions and transparent portions, or

'to a rotary disk.

both may be varied to suit particular conditions as to the rate of motion of the olnect or its parts.

I have found that a speed of 200-1000 rev- 'olutions per minute of the disk gives satisfactory results with the usual movingobjects. j

The relativity of motion between the moving beams and the moving object may be varied within considerable range satisfying the law of persistei'nzy of vision and as a function of such variations the color effects produced upon the object or its parts vary correspondingly within wide limits. 7

The more separately movlng parts the object has and the more irregular and fantastic the movements of such parts are, the

more grotesque and bizarre is the color effect and the greater is the range of variations.

In fact the number and character of the different color effects is limited only by the creative faculty of the imagination.

In the foregoing reference has been made that a linear reciprocating movement'or any complex irregular movement will be equally or even more effective. There is, therefore, no limit in regard to the character of motion of the light beams.

There is likewise no limit in regard to the color values of the panes employed nor to the form of the individual panes nor to the number of the panes on a disk nor to the relation of angular extent of the panes and opaqueportions or any of them, so long as the device is susceptible of manipulation to bring about color effects such as referred to. in reality the invention can be carried out in various other Ways. alternate opaque and transparent I colored portions has been referred to merely as a simple arrangement. i

It is obvious, however,

A disk composed of The periodical occultations essential for producing the light effects described may be carried out by means of the various forms of shutters well known in connection with the motion picture art; In the light of the-generalknowledge in this respect it is unnecessary to illustrate shutter mechanisms for controlling the emission of differ-,

ently colored light beams. WithinIthe scope of this invention color screens containing aplurality of differently colored sections may be moved in front of the projecting device and the syncopations may be effected by a shutter mechanism of any known type.

Within the scope of the invention a plurality of sources of differently colored light may be separately controlled by means of shutters so that beams of differently colored light may be intermittently projected upon the object, the time relation of the periods of projection and the periods of occultation bearing of course the same relation to each other as those pointed out above. r

While it is thought that the theory above discussed is a true explanation of the phenomena described, it is by no means insisted that it is correct or complete,

In the claims the expression loosely cohering is intended to include all objects of which parts are freely movable with respect to one another.

I claim.

1. A method of producing color effects which consists in projecting successively and intermittently separate beams of differently colored light upon a moving object at such a rate of succession that different parts of the moving object exhibit different color effects, the rate being at the same time such that the light effect produced upon a stationary ob ject is a uniformly blended color.

2. A method of producing color effects which consists in projecting successively and intermittently separate beams of differently colored light upon moving object having a large number of independently moving parts, at such rate of succession that the different parts exhibit separate and distinctive color effects.

8. A method of producing color effects which consists in setting an object having loosely cohering parts into a state of agitation and successively and intermittently pro jecting separate beams of difi'erently colored light upon said object, the rate of succession being so rapid that when the object is at rest a uniform blended color is produced, and that when the object is agitated different distinct color effects are produced.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature.

ALLERTON S. CUSHMAN.

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