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A Hand in the Development of Sound on Film by Alan Vogt

I knew we Vogts had a strong hand in inventing the first sound on film technique, and
I've finally found some of the information.
But something nasty happened back in the 1920s that caused them to sell out to
Movietone.
Tri-Ergon
POCO LITTLE DOG LOST Dog makes his way thru harsh life to get back to his master.
The Tri-Ergon sound-on-film system was patented from 1919 on, by German inventors
Josef Engl (1893–1942), Hans Vogt (1890–1979), and Joseph Massolle (1889–1957).
The name Tri-Ergon was derived from Greek and means "the work of three."
( See Film Sound Sweden web site at - www.filmsoundsweden.se )
In 1926, William Fox of the Fox Film Corporation purchased the U.S. rights to the
Tri -Ergon patents from Tri-Ergon Aktiengesellschaft (Tri-Ergon AG), Zurich, Switzer-
land. Fox also purchased sound-on-film patents from Freeman Harrison Owens and
Theodore Case and used these inventions to create the new sound-on-film system he
dubbed Fox Movietone.

One of the first feature films to be released in Fox Movietone was Sunrise (1927)
'Last Time I Saw Paris', 'Words & Music', 'Singing In The Rain'. Has some lines directed by F. W. Murnau. Fox also used the system for the long-running newsreel
series Fox Movietone News.
Movietone and other sound-on-film systems were in competition with sound-on-disc
systems such as Warner Bros. Vitaphone. However, sound-on-film systems such as
Movietone and RCA Photophone soon became the standard, and sound-on-disc fell into
disuse.

After William Fox lost control of Fox Studios in 1930, he used the Tri-Ergon patents to
sue the film industry in order to take a part-ownership in all sound films and in all sound
film systems.

The Tri-Ergon patents named particular technical features that preceded all other
sound-on-film patents, such as a flywheel on the sound drum. Fox at first won his
lawsuit and then lost it in an unusual reversal of decision by the U. S. Supreme Court.
In Germany, the Tri-Ergon patents were determined to be so strong, for a time all other
sound film systems were shut out of that country.
From Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia

THERE IS MORE INFO TO BE FOUND IN WIKIPEDIA.

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