Readers seeking to understand the operation of the Marchant mechanism in greater detail than has been presented here are advised to study the extensive list of patents that were issued for the Silent Speed and Figuremaster families.
The patents are "primary source" documents which contain a wealth of detailed technical descriptions of the mechanism and its operation, as written by the original inventors. Their major drawback is that they are often long and legalistic, and are not easy to read.
The Figurematic Patents page gives further information, and highlights some of the more interesting documents.