A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N DMagic Machines : A History of the Moving Image from Antiqity to 1900
Kinetograph and Kinetoscope - 1891 Camera and viewer devised by one of Thomas Edison's chief engineers William K. L. Dickson (1860 - 1937). The Kinetoscope passed a strip of film (created by the Kinetograph) rapidly between a lens and an electric light bulb while the viewer peered through a peephole at the top. Behind the peephole was a spinning wheel with a narrow slit that acted as a shutter, permitting a momentary view of each of the 46 frames passing in front of the shutter every second. The result was a lifelike representation of persons and objects in motion. At first, Edison regarded "his" invention as an insignificant toy. He secured a U.S. patent, but neglected to obtain patents in other countries. The Kinetoscope was finally publicly exhibited in New York in April 1896, where it created an immediate sensation.
 The first 'commercial' Kinetoscope A larger image is also available Image Source: http://www.nps.gov/edis/images
 The Kinetograph in the Black Maria Studio (detail) The complete image is also available Image Source: http://www.nps.gov/edis/images
Thomas Edison and his assistant, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, patent and market an electric peephole viewing machine called the Kinetoscope. It uses 158 glass plates, later to be replaced by Eastman and Goodwin's roll film which projected a 50ft length of film in approximately 13 seconds. Having little faith in the Kinetoscope or motion pictures in general, Edison neglects extending his patent rights to England and Europe. Within the next five years, two Frenchmen will manufacture the portable Cinematographe projector based on Edison's ideas, initiating the era of motion pictures. also.. Thomas Edison and his assistant William Kennedy Dickson develop the Edison camera or Kinetograph, using the phonograph as a foundation for the device. Dickson abandons the wax cylinders for celluloid film, a far superior medium for motion pictures, and between 1891 and 1895, shoots the first films. Each averaging about 15 seconds, these films are designed be shown on the Kinetoscope. Edison's disinterest in the Kinetograph and its European patent rights opens up the field for the Lumiere brothers, who develop the Cinematographe in 1895. Kinetoscope - 1891 Viewer devised by Thomas Edison (or really William K. L. Dickson - see above) for inspecting a 50-feet long film band connected into an infinite loop. The picture size, band width and perforation were almost identical with those of a today's 35-mm film. The instrument is driven by an electric motor and has the picture frequency of about 40 pictures per second. A spectator observed the film illuminated by a lamp through a rotating disk fitted with radial slot. also... Kinetoscope first mentioned in Britain in The Times May 28, and Engineering, i. 678. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. Kinetoscope first shown in USA at Brooklyn Institute on May 9, 1893 and in Britain in Oxford Street, October 1894. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. Article on the Kinetoscope by Thomas Edison - La Nature, 1894, pt. Ii. 323. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
Kinetophone - 1892 Viewer devised by Edison, Dickson and Eugène Lauste (1856 - 1935) to enhance the Kinetoscope with synchronised sound - it utilised an integrated (cylinder) phonograph. It seems not to have been widely accepted or distributed. also.. Article on the Kineto-Phonograph by Thomas Edison - Electrical World, xxiii. 799. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. You may also wish to read more about Thomas Edison and William Dickson
Twelve Lens 'Battery Camera'/Projector - 1892/3 Devised by Albert Londe (1858 - 1917) - enhanced version of his camera of 1883 (and 1890?) - twelve lenses in three rows of four - used at the Hospital de la Salpetrière. also.. 1893 - Albert Londe - 12 lens camera - [ three years after William Friese-Greene and M. Evans machine of 1890 ] - used at Salpetriere hospital - study of abnormal functions - exposure variable 1.5 seconds to several minutes - published as 'The Photochronograph applied to medical science' - Bull. Soc. franc. Phot. (2), ix. 572. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. You may also wish to read more about Albert Londe
Cinematographé - 1892 Camera/Projector devised by Léon Bouly (1872 - 1932) - a stereoscopic sequence camera.
Phonoscope and Phonophone - 1892 Camera and Projector devised by Georges Démeny (1850 -1917). also.. Georges Demeny - Phonoscope - British Patent 15709, September 1 - 24 images pronouncing words and phrases - article -'talking photographs' - La Nature, 1892, pt. i. 311. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. Georges Demeny - Phonophone - shown at International Exhibition of Photography - develops spiral of images on rotating drum - shutter not between eye and picture but between light and drum - refer Lommel's system of 1881 - Demeny system gave a longer series of images and only showed one image at a time also suggests use of phonograph as discussed by Donisthorpe in 1876 and 1878. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. You may also wish to read more about Georges Demeny
Chronophotographe d'amateur or Biographe - 1893 Devised by Georges Demeny - October, Chronophotographe (becomes the Biographe?) - British Patent 24457, December 19 - devises 'Pitman' movement. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
Projecteur Chronophotographique - 1892/93 Projector devised by Étienne-Jules Marey - developed to show films made in his Chronophotographe camera of 1888. You may also wish to read more about Étienne-Jules Marey
(Improved) Chronophotographe - 1893 Camera devised by Étienne-Jules Marey.
Camera/Projector - 1893 Devised by William Friese-Greene - based on Varley's camera of 1890 British Patent 22954, November 29. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
Marvellous Cinematograph - 1893 Devised by Jean-Aimé LeRoy (1854 - 1944) to project Kinematograph films.
Text - 1894 William K. L. Dickson's book - History of the Kinetograph, Kinetoscope and Kineto-Phonograph - published in London and New York.
Phantascope - 1894/95 Projector devised jointly by Charles Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armat - a Kinetoscope projector - shown at the Cotton States Exposition in Atlanta, Ga. in September or October 1895. Soon after Jenkins and Armat parted company. Armat redesigned the machine, patented it under the name Vitascope and finally sold the rights to Edison who marketed it under his own name. You may also wish to read more about Charles Francis Jenkins also.. Charles F. Jenkins - Phantascope Patent filed January, 1894 but issued 1896 - continuously moving film and a number of lenses on a rotating disk. [ Note similarity to Uchatius 1853 both had image and lens in fixed relation, but while Jenkins moves images an lens together, Uchatius kept them stationary and moved his source of light ]. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. also.. 'Phantascope', US Patent 536,569. Filed November 24, 1894. Issued March 26, 1895 'Kinetographic Camera', US Patent 560,800. Filed December 12, 1894. Issued May 26, 1896 Rossell, 'Living Pictures', 1998.
Photochronographic camera - 1894 Charles F. Jenkins - article [exterior view only] Phot. Times, xxv. 2. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
'Viewer' - 1894 'Inspection apparatus' devised in November 1894 by Charles F. Jenkins similar to the Kinetoscope but with the shutter replaced by two incandescent lamps mounted on a revolving arm. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
Projecting Electrotachyscope - 1894 Projector comprising "two large freestanding picture disks holding 12 images each and moving intermittently by means of a twelve-sided Maltese Cross mechanism" 1 - devised by Ottomar Anschutz - introduced during a public screening at the Berlin Post Office Building November 25, 29 and 30, 1894. 'Projektions apparat fur stroboskopisch bewegte Bilder', German Patent 85,791 filed November 6, 1894. Issued March 7, 1896 Rossell, 'Living Pictures', 1998. also... Devised by Ottomar Anschutz (1846 - 1907) - 24 images. on two disks (12 each disk) - rotated alternately and intermittently by a form of Maltese Cross mechanism - a rotating shutter allowed the two sets of images to blend together without dark intervals. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. also... Both Anschutz and Oskar Messter have been credited with being the first to utilise the watchmaker's Maltese or Geneva Cross intermittent stop mechanism to advance the film one frame at a time through the film gate. 1 Rossell, 'Living Pictures', 1998.
Panoptikon - 1894, renamed Eidoloscope - 1895/96 Projector devised by Colonel Woodville Latham and sons Otway and Gray - built by Lauste to project Kinetoscope films. also.. 1895 - Woodville Latham - article - The Eidoloscope - Phot, Times, xxvii. 173. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
You may also wish to read more about Woodville Latham and sons, Otway and Grey
Camera - 1895 Camera devised by Robert Dempsey Gray. 'Series Photographic Camera', US Patent 540,545. Filed March 9, 1895. Issued June 4, 1895 Rossell, 'Living Pictures', 1998.
Animatoscope - 1895 Projector ' Camera Lantern' devised by Owen A. Eames, US Patent. Filed March 25, 1895. Issued September 10, 1895 - development of Phantascope - two vertically intermittently moving lenses with one film and staggered images exposed side by side. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. Rossell, 'Living Pictures', 1998.
Kinetic Lantern - 1895 - later Kineopticon, later Cinematoscope Camera/Projector devised by Birt Acres and Robert W. Paul - Each inventor would eventually claim to have developed the machine alone. also.. Devised by Birt Acres (and Robert Paul?) - British Patent 10474. Filed May 27, 1895 - (just 5 weeks after the Lumiere British Patent) issued May 2, 1896 - Acres filmed the Oxford and Cambridge boat race on March 30, 1895 and on May 29 he filmed the Derby - Acres' camera was originally shown to the Royal Photographic Society on January 14, 1896 1 as the Kinetic Lantern - in March 1896 renamed it the Kineopticon but when on July 21, 1896 it was demonstrated for the Prince of Wales, it was mistakenly named in the programme as the Cinematoscope - the name was henceforth adopted. [ "a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" so has the Cinematoscope retained its good qualities under all its varied nomenclature" ]. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
An Ordinary Meeting of The Royal Photographic Society was held at 12 Hanover Square, Tuesday evening January 14, 1896 "...Mr Birt Acres gave a demonstration of an apparatus which he called the Kinetic Lantern. The object of this was to throw a number of pictures upon the screen in such rapid succession as to reproduce the motion of life. The photographs for use in the lantern were taken in a somewhat similar apparatus also devised by Mr. Acres - at the rate of about 40 a second, although he could if necessary take as many as a hundred in a second, but the effect of motion was satisfactorily reproduced by projecting them on the screen at the rate of about fifteen per second. The subjects shown included men boxing, a review of the German Emperor, Epsom Downs, and the Derby race, serpentine dancing, and the sea breaking against an embankment. A vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Birt Acres."
Paul Muller of Cologne (nom de plume of Birt Acres*) - Kinetic Camera - German Patent 92,247. Filed August 25. Issued June 12, 1897 - after English application but some nine months before the Kinetic Camera, (now named as) the Cinematoscope was publicly described (in Britain?).
Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899
* In Deac Rossell's, 'Living Pictures', 1998 Muller is named as an agent of the Stollwerck company and not Acres himself masquerading under a false name. You may also wish to read more about Birt Acres
Theatrograph - Late 1995/1896 also called the Cinematograph, Cinematographe and Cinematoscope
 Robert Paul's Theatrograph
"The first time that projected motion pictures were shown to a paying audience in Australia was on Saturday 22nd August 1896 at the Melbourne Opera House in Bourke Street. Here, touring American illusionist and conjuror, Carl Hertz, demonstrated his amazing 'Cinematographe' machine (R.W. Paul's Theatrograph). He enthralled the audience with numerous short movie films including street scenes of London and London bridge, a dancer, and a seascape. The Cinematographe was promoted as 'The Greatest Wonder of the NINETEENTH CENTURY', 'The Photo. Electric Sensation of the Day', 'Impossible to realise that the figures are not ACTUALLY LIVING', 'First Production in Australia.'" http://home.vicnet.net.au/~caths/caths.htm
Devised in 1896 by Robert W. Paul - 'Improvements in Apparatus for Projecting Kinetoscope Pictures on the Screen'. British Patent 4686, Filed March 2, 1896. Issued January 23, 1897. - twin Maltese cross sprockets with common cam - one sprocket spring loaded to give slightly to compensate for irregularities in perforations - reversible motion - first showing at Finsbury Technical College February, 1896. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. In 1906 he will introduce the Animatograph camera and projector, a vast improvement over its 1896 predecessor, the Cinematograph. This new Reliance model is larger, equipped with 11-inch spools that can handle 1500 feet of film, and it produces steady images with much less flicker. This is much to Paul's advantage, as he produces about fifty films annually in his London studio. You may also wish to read more about Robert W. Paul
Bioscope - 1895 Camera/Projector devised by Georges Démeny and Léon Gaumont (1864 - 1946) - based almost solely on Demeny's Phonoscope of 1892.
Mutoscope - 1895 Devised by Herbert Cassler - Mutoscope - British Patent 14439, July 30 - initially box like with set of cards set in slotted 'train' - then radially mounted - developed using two drums with lateral movement - (similar to action of a caterpillar tread). Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
 Advertisement for the Mutoscope, c.1899 A larger image is also available The American Mutoscope & Biograph Co., Inc.
also.. In 1895 William K. L. Dickson left Edison's employ and sought commercial backing for the production of 'riffle' books of photographs to operate within the Mutoscope, a new kind of peep show he had devised with Herman Cassler. Avoiding Edison's patent rights Dickson made a camera that took pictures 2 x 2-3/4 inches sq. to print on cardboard. The device was superior to Edisons as the images neither required magnification nor illumination. also.. The American Mutoscope and Biograph Company (later to be known as Biograph) produces the Mutoscope, a 'peep-show' viewer developed to rival Edison's Kinetoscope. The device uses large cardboard photographs that flip when a hand crank is rotated, and outperforms the Kinetoscope with its electrically driven film strip. Mutoscopes can still be found at some carnivals, amusement parks and penny arcades.
Photozootrope - 1895 Viewer 'Photozootrope a un plusieurs oculaires' devised by Henri Joly (1866 - 1945) with Charles Pathé (1863 - 1957). French Patent 251,549. Filed November 8, 1895. Multi peephole 'Kinetoscope' and camera. Rossell, 'Living Pictures', 1998. also.. Varley like camera 'Nouvelle Appareil Chronophotographique' devised by M. J. Henri Joly - French Patent 249,875. August 26, 1895. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
Multiple View Kinetoscope - 1895 Devised by A. N. Petit - American Patent 560,425, September 25, British Patent 10778 May 19, 1896. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
Camera/Projector - 1895 Devised by William Friese-Greene - serial camera - British Patent 17,930, September 25 - the apparatus may be used for projection. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
Tropograph - 1895 Camera/Projector devised by W. C. Farnum - British Patent 18,317, October 1, 'Mutoscope' like device. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
Vitascope - 1895/96 Projector devised by Thomas Armat (1866 - 1948). The principal features of the Vitascope are retained in the modern projector: sprocketed film operated with a maltese cross shaped mechanism to stop each frame briefly before the lens, and a loop (the Latham Loop) in the film to ease the strain. Armat sold the Vitascope to Thomas Edison to project his Kinetoscope films, leading first to the Nickelodeon theatre and soon to the full-length motion picture. Edison originally claimed the Vitascope as his own invention but later gave credit for the invention to Armat. also.. 1896 - Thomas Armat - British Patent 359, January 6 - [ refers to similarity to Edison's Vitascope ]. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. US Patent 578,185. Filed September 26, 1896. Issued March 2, 1897 Rossell, 'Living Pictures', 1998. You may also wish to read more about Thomas Armat
Bioscope (Bioskop) - 1895 Camera/Projector devised by Max (1863 - 1939) and Emil Skladan*owsky and based on Reynaud's Théatre Optique - used two film strips, perforated with metallic eyelets, which ran in parallel and were exposed alternately. also.. Camera/ Projector devised by Max (1863 - 1939) and Emil Skladen*owsky German Patent 88,599. Filed November 1, 1895. Issued October 21, 1896. First demonstrated also on November 1. - twin lens device - alternating frames -. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
Cinématographe - 1895 Devised by Louis and Auguste Lumière - French Patent 245,032, February 13, 1895. British Patent April 8, shown in Marseilles April 1895, Paris July, 1895. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899. 1895 - Louis and Auguste Lumière - article - Le Cinématographe [Description and account of exhibition July 11, 1895] - La Nature, 1895, pt. Ii. 215. Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.
 The Lumiére Cinématograph
The Cinématograph, invented by Auguste and Louis Lumière, was a combined camera, projector and printer. Here, it is set up for projection, using a magic lantern lamphouse as a light source. With a similar Cinématograph, the Lumière Brothers gave the first cinema show at the Grand Café on the Boulevard des Capucines in Paris on 28 December 1895. http://www.nmsi.ac.uk/nmpft/collect/cine.htm
Devised by Louis and Auguste Lumière, manufacturers of photographic materials of Lyon, France. Built by Charles Moisson. First motion-picture apparatus to be used as both camera and projector. It was based in part on the Kinetoscope of W. K. L. Dickson and in part on the Théâtre Optique of Charle-Emile Reynaud. From Dickson's invention the Lumières took the idea of a sprocket-wound film and from Reynaud that of projecting the successive frames on a screen. The Cinématographe also functioned as a camera and could be used to make extra prints of the film. The Lumières slowed the rate of exposure in projection from the 46 frames a second used by Dickson to 16 frames, a rate still used. The first public demonstration of the Cinématographe took place at the Grand Café, Boulevard des Capucines, Paris, on Dec. 28, 1895; within months the device was being used throughout Europe and North America.
also... A separate illustrated essay is also available on this site featuring still images from the first showing at Boulevard des Capucines, Paris, on Dec. 28, 1895 You may also wish to read more about Antoine August and Louis Lumière
The story continues in Magic Machines - 1896 to 1900
References A comprehensive list of books dealing with this subject is available in the bibliography attached to this site Two most excellent online companions to this work are The Complete History of The Discovery of Cinematography by Paul T. Burns and... Animations the superb recreation of 19th century moving imagery by Charl Lucassen other online sites of particular note... George Eastman House 'Technology Archive' also... The Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture
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