Microform Data Systems, Inc.

Jules G Moritz

Bram Kool

James O Haning

Robert Mizrahi

Janusz Warszawski

Apparatus for holding film strips of the type having a plurality of miniaturized film images carried thereon, wherein the apparatus is to be used with an optical system which illuminates and projects the images on an enlarged scale so that they can be viewed on a projection screen. The apparatus includes a rotary film holder or cassette having a number of concentric cylindrical segments defining a pair of coaxial cylinders, the segments being provided with grooves to permit insertion of a plurality of film strips in the cassette. The inner segments are longer than the outer segments so that portions of the radially outermost edges of the film strips are exposed and the outer edge of a selected film strip can be engaged by an edge drive wheel to permit the selected film strip to be moved partially out of and to be returned to the cassette. The cassette is rotatably mounted by spaced bearings on a projection carried by a stationary support, and a drive wheel coupled to a reversible motor engages the outer periphery of the cassette to rotate it in opposed directions. An optical system on the support is used with an X-Y drive to project an image on the selected film strip onto a screen when the film strip is releasably held in a predetermined focal plane by hold-down means. Control structure coupled with the drive motors of the cassette, the edge drive wheel and the X-Y drive controls such motors to effect operation of the apparatus.

Rotary film strip holding apparatus

Apparatus and a method for handling and reading any one of a number of film strips, each having a number of segments with each segment containing a plurality of information-containing, high-reduction image frames. The film strips are housed in a cassette which is movable with respect to a fixed reference to align a desired film strip with a reading station disposed across the optical path of an optical system. A film strip is moved out of the cassette by a force applied to one of its side edges. Control information carried by each film strip is sensed as the film strip moves out of the cassette and the sensed information is used to control the distance through which the film strip moves so that a particular segment thereof will stop at the reading station. The optical system is moved relative to the reading system so that the optical path of the optical system is selectively alignable with a particular image frame of the film strip removed from the cassette.

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Los Altos Hills, CA, United States of America

Jules G Moritz