22 Facts About Theodore Case

1.

Theodore Willard Case was an American chemist and inventor known for the invention of the Movietone sound-on-film system.

2.

Theodore Willard Case was born in 1888 in Auburn, New York to Willard Erastus Case and Eva Fidelia Caldwell Case.

3.

Theodore Case attended a few boarding schools as a young man including The Manlius School near Syracuse, New York and Cloyne House School in Newport, Rhode Island Theodore Case attended the St Paul School in Concord, New Hampshire to finish out his secondary education.

4.

Theodore Case then attended Harvard University where he studied law.

5.

Theodore Case did not find this as fulfilling as pursuing science so he left after about a year.

6.

In 1843 Sylvester Willard and his father-in-law Erastus Theodore Case purchased the mansion.

7.

Willard Theodore Case inherited the property in 1916 when his cousin Caroline Willard passed away and left the property to him.

8.

Theodore Case was of the notable Case family in Auburn, New York.

9.

Theodore Case enjoyed playing golf and won a number of tournaments in Auburn.

10.

Theodore Case's studies led to the development of the Thalofide Cell, a light-sensitive vacuum tube from 1916 to 1918.

11.

Theodore Case worked with other people, including Lee De Forest, to create a sound-on-film process similar to the sound film systems used today.

12.

The Theodore Case Research Lab is a museum open to the public.

13.

From 1921 to 1924, Theodore Case provided Lee De Forest, inventor of the audion tube, many inventions from his lab that made DeForest's Phonofilm sound-on-film process workable, though DeForest had been granted general patents in 1919.

14.

Theodore Case attended the April 1923 presentation of Phonofilm and was never mentioned during that presentation.

15.

In September 1925, Theodore Case stopped providing DeForest with his lab's inventions, effectively putting DeForest out of the sound film business, but not out of the "claiming to have invented sound film" business.

16.

One of the first things Theodore Case did was to change the location of the sound head on a sound-film projector from being above the picture head to below the picture head.

17.

Theodore Case chose a separation of 20 frames between the sound and the picture frame to which it relates, this standard was adopted by all subsequent sound-on-film systems and still applies to this day.

18.

On July 23,1926, William Fox of Fox Film Corporation bought Theodore Case's patents relating to the sound-on-film process and formed the Fox-Theodore Case Corporation.

19.

From 1926 to 1927, Theodore Case worked with Fox's technicians to develop the Fox Movietone process.

20.

On May 13,1944, Theodore Case died of pneumonia at the age of 55.

21.

Theodore Case is buried in Fort Hill Cemetery in Auburn, New York.

22.

In 1936, Theodore Case donated the Genesee Street property to a local group, forming an art and history museum for Cayuga County; the Cayuga Museum of History and Art.