23 linear ft. of papers

The collection consists of approximately 8,500 U.S. patents and approximately 3,600 British patents relating to the development of the motion picture.

The U.S. patents date from 1853 through 1975. The patents are arranged in numerical order, begining with number 9918 and ending with number 3591272. Bound volumes issued by the Department of Commerce containing indices are included for patents issued in the years 1932 through 1950.

Because these patents were collected by Technicolor, many of them relate to various aspects of printing, dying, and mechanisms applicable to film printers and color processes. The earliest patent, number 9,918, dated August 9, 1853, was issued to J. Hartin for a paper drier. Of particular value are the number of patents from the 1910s and 1920s concerned with various motion picture color systems, such as Prizma Color.

There are some miscellaneous foreign, reissue, and design patents, and material related to a 1930s patent suit between Cinecolor et al. versus Mitchell Camera Corporation.

The collection lacks U.S. patents directly related to film. For example, there are no Edison film patents from the 1890s, or any other nineteenth century patents filed by American film pioneers. The earliest patent directly relating to film is number 579,882, dated March 30, 1897, issued to A. and L. Lumiere for a kinetographic camera.

The British patents date from 1889 through 1969. Patents with a numbering system apparently used through the turn of the nineteenth century are filed at the beginning. The remaining patents are arranged in numerical order, beginning with number 403,257 and ending with number 1,272,883.