A D V E N T U R E S   in   C Y B E R S O U N D

Magic Machines :  A History of the Moving Image from Antiqity to 1900


Antiquity - 1825  |  1826 - 1875  |  1876 - 1890  |  1891 - 1895  |  1896 - 1900

Biophonographe - 1896

Devised by August Baron - "a system serving to record and reproduce simultaneously both visual scenes and sound" .

Toulet, E, 'Cinema is 100 Years Old'


Photoscenograph - 1896

Camera devised by Charles-Émile Reynaud to make sequences of photographs as the basis for his hand painted Pantomimes Lumineuses which in turn were projected in his Théater Optique.


Chronophotographe - 1896

Camera and projector devised by Léon Gaumont - 60mm film - based on Bioscope camera by Démeny.


Chase's Electric Cyclorama - 1896

"In our illustration, we give a general view of the electric cyclorama, or panorama, as conceived by the inventor, Mr Chase of Chicago. The projection apparatus, suspended in the center of the panorama by a steel tube and guys of steel wire, is 8 feet in diameter. The operator stands within the apparatus and is surrounded by an annular table supporting eight double projectors, lanterns and all the arrangements necessary for imparting life to a panorama 300 feet in circumference and over 30 feet in height. It is possible at will to animate such and such a part of the view by combining this apparatus with the Edison kinetoscope or the Lumiere kinematograph."

Scientific American February 1896

Posted to the Dead Media Site by Paul Di Filippo


Eidoloscope - 1896

Projector devised by Colonel Woodville Latham and sons Otway and Gray 'Improvement in Means or Apparatus for Exhibiting Pictures of Moving Objects by Projecting Them on a Screen or other Surface'. British Patent 4841. Filed March 3, 1896. Issued February 13, 1897 - film travels continuously - revolving shutter.

Rossell, 'Living Pictures', 1998.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.


Projecting Kinetoscope - 1896

Projector devised by Colonel Woodville Latham and sons Otway and Gray. US Patent 707,934. Filed June 1, 1896. Issued August 26, 1902 !

Rossell, 'Living Pictures', 1998.


Improved Cinematographe - 1896

Devised by Louis and Auguste Lumière - British Patent 7801, April 13, 1896.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.


Mutagraph - 1896

Devised by (The) Wizard of Piccadilly, Magician, John Nevil Maskelyne 'An Improved Apparatus for Securing, or Exhibiting in Series, Records of Successive Phases of Movement'. British Patent 11,639. Filed May 28, 1896. Issued May I, 1897 - film moves continuously - no shutter - rotating lens drum.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899, had Neville John Maskelyne .

You may also wish to read more about  John Nevil Maskelyne


Camera/Projector - 1896

Devised by William Friese-Greene and J. F. Prestwich - British Patent 17,224, August 4, double projection positives from ordinary negatives by first running through with double spacing and then running a second time to fill in the alternate spaces.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.


Kinetograph - 1896

Camera devised by - L. Korsten, George Méliès and L. Reulos - British Patent 19,446, September 2.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.

You may also wish to read more about  Georges Méliès


Improved Camera/Projector - 1896

1896 - William Friese-Greene - British Patent 22,928, October 15, a roller on the end of a rotating arm may strike the film. The driving-sprockets are adjustable, and the whole front of the machine is hinged to facilitate placing the film. The film is secured to the winding rollers by a clip which may slip under tension.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.


Kinora - 1896

1896 - Louis and Auguste Lumière - Kinora - 'Appareil de vision directe des epreuves chronophotographiques dit "Kinora".' French Patent 259,515. Filed September 10, 1896. British Patent 23,183. October 19, 1896. Clockwork driven - incl. lens - flexible image support - curved in transit - straight in place for viewing.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.

Rossell, 'Living Pictures', 1998.

also..

Kinora

Kinora, c.1910

Made by the Kinora Co. Ltd., Bond's London

A larger image is also available

Nederlands Filmmuseum, Overveen


they [Louis and Auguste Lumière] "... devised a miniature domestic viewing instrument that borrowed from, and adapted, the Casler invention. Although less ubiquitous than the phonograph and the gramophone, the Kinora was the most successful of the 'home movie' machines marketed in Britain before 1912.

The Kinora served three purposes. Firstly, it was possible to buy (or rent) popular reels of subjects primarily intended for theatrical presentation as films. Secondly, it became possible to have one's Kinora motion portrait taken in a professional photographic studio. Thirdly, an amateur camera using paper negative eventually made it possible for amateurs to take their own moving pictures for Kinora viewing."

Anthony, Barry, The Kinora - motion pictures for the home, 1896-1914, A5, 40pp, numerous illustrations. ISBN 0 9523941 6 2. Available from The Projection Box.


Le Folioscope

Devised by M. Watilliaux - Flip Book - article - La Nature, 1896, pt. I. 256.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.


Duplicate or Alternate (photographic) apparatus - 1897

Twin Lens Camera devised by Birt Acres - British Patent 10603 April 28, - letter - 'The invention of the Cinematograph', Am. Phot. xxvi. 277 - article - 'Making and exhibiting living pictures' [ contains dates of his invention ] Jl. Camera Club, xi. 65.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.


Eidoloscope - 1897

Devised by Colonel Woodville Latham and sons Otway and Gray - British Patent 12785. May 24, 1897. frictional feed variable pressure between rubber roller and metal roller.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.


Kinesigraph - 1897

1897 - Wordsworth Donisthorpe - letter - 'The Kinesigraph' [ and subsequent patents ] - Brit. Jl. Phot. xliv. 175, 297.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.


Improved Kinetoscope camera and printing apparatus - 1897

Article by Charles F. Jenkins - Sci. Am. lxxvi. 281.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.


Mutograph - 1897

Devised by Herbert Cassler [and William K.L. Dickson] - British Patent 16388, July 10 - details published including Biograph (projector), Sci Am. lxxvi. 248.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.


Mutograph Camera, c.1900

Mutograph Camera, c.1900

The American Mutoscope & Biograph Co., Inc.


The bottom corner of the image is missing and is enhanced to show the full shape. The camera was in fact quite large as can be seen in a photo of co-inventor, cameraman and co-director of The American Mutoscope & Biograph Co., Inc., William K.L. Dickson filming Pope Leo XIII, c.1896


Pocket Kinoscope - 1897

Flip Book - half tone photos replacing drawings.


Chronophotographe - 1897

Camera/Projector devised by Léon Gaumont - 35mm film .


Kinetograph - 1897

Camera/Projector devised by Oskar Messter.


Article - 1898

by Henry R. Heyl - [ a history of his work ] - Jl. Franklin Inst. (3), cxv. 310.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.


Article - 1898

by Charles F. Jenkins 'Animated Pictures' - Phot. Times. xxx. 289.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.


Photo Rotoscope - 1898

Devised by W. C. Hughes - peep show - British Patent 6724, March 10, advertised for sale in Hopwood's 'Living Pictures', 1899.


W. C. Hughes Specialist in Optical Projection

Established over 30 Years (as of 1899)
Brewster House, 82 Mortimer Road Kingsland, London, N.

Street Cinematograph or Outdoor Theatre

A Palpable Hit! A Huge Success!

Greatest Money-Taker of the Nineteenth Century.
Hughes New Patent Photo Rotoscope or Duplex Street Cinematograph

Forty can see at one time. Results beyond anything yet accomplished.
Coins money. It is not an Automatic Toy Machine.

Large Living Pictures in the Open Air

Forty person version 38 Pounds 10 Shillings
20 person version 21 Pounds 10 Shillings

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.


Filoscope - 1898

'Flipbook' Viewer devised by H. W. Short, British Patent 23,158, Issued November 3, 1898.

Hopwood, 'Living Pictures', 1899.

also...

A metal-cased filoscope with printed kinetic photographic subject titled David Devant, the Conjuror, of the Egyptian Hall with title sheet, information sheet, twenty-eight blank sheets and picture sheets numbered 1-159

Literature: Barnes (1976), op. cit., pp. 118, 121, 213

The filoscope pictures were originally photographed by R. W. Paul around July 1896 for cinematographic projection. David Devant's autobiography described the rabbit trick as 'the first animated picture ever taken of a performer ... shot by R. W. Paul on the roof of the Alhambra Theatre ... This picture was reproduced in a little device called the filiscope (sic)'


Birtac - 1898

Camera and projector devised by Birt Acres - low cost - amateur device 15.2 metres of 17.5mm film.

also...

See Birt Acres' Biography for more details of the 'Birtac' in a paper read by Acres at the monthly technical meeting of the Royal Photographic Society on the evening of February 28, 1899.

possibly was the also the device patented as...

"Improvements in Cinematographic Apparatus" British Patent 12,939. Filed June 9, 1898. Issued June 2, 1899

Rossell, 'Living Pictures', 1998.


Biokam - 1899

Devised by T. C. Hepworth - low cost - amateur device - 17.5mm film able to project (up to 700) single frames.


Biokam

Biokam



Cinematographe Geant - 1900

Devised by Louis Lumiere


Mareorama - 1900

The first multiple user stereographic projection system was exhibited in Lyons on 1890. Along with the well known time lapse photography of Marey and Muybridge, Edisons' kinetoscope and the cinematograph of the Lumiere brothers; numerous more or less bizarre optical/mechanical theatres were constructed.

Daguerre's Diorama was one such mechanized theatre, in which the audience was propelled on a revolving viewing platform, past enormous scene paintings which were painstakingly painted with differing degrees of transparency, such that by controlling lighting from the front and the back, the illusion of the transition from daylight to dusk to night, could be effected. After a faltering career as a hack realist and theatrical scene painter, Daguerre found great sucess in this invention, the revenue from which funded his photographic experiments, for which he is better known today.

The World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 sported several of these optical mechanical theatres. The Mareorama simulated a sea voyage from Nice to Constantinople via Venice. During the simulation, two screens, 40ft high and 2500 ft long were to be unrolled while the viewers stood on a pitching ships deck. The inventor of this system was yet another minor realist painter, Hugo d'Alesi, who spent a year on board ship painting the sections of the screens. A contemporary newspaper report trumpets:


mareorama_01.jpg

The Mareorama: Scientific American, September 29, 1900


"Few visitors to the Exhibition will be able to resist the temptation ... to make an inexpensive voyage which involves no hazards whatsoever, yet is so natural.... even on the high seas, amid raging elements, one can get out and tread on terra firma at any moment"

http://www.ntticc.or.jp/pub/ic_mag/ic014/penny/penny_e.html


Myriorama - date TBA

Devised by Poole - further details to be researched.

also note from 1824...

Myriorama or, Many Thousand Views Designed by Mr. Clark. London Samuel Leigh 1824 A WONDERFUL PANORAMA WITH BEAUTIFULLY COLORED MOVABLE PANELS [PANORAMA]. One two-sided leaf of printed matter (190 x 265 mm; 7 1/2 x 10 1/4 in.), folded and laid in box. With sixteen hand-colored aquatint panels (69 x 200 mm; 2 3/4 x 7 7/8 in.) Original yellow box, with pictorial label mounted on upper cover. Box a bit bumped and chipped. A few panels a litte foxed, sheet of printed matter a little frayed and torn at the edges. Overall, a fine and charming example of a popular nineteenth century item for children. Panels in fine condition. "The Myriorama, is a moveable Picture, capable of forming an almost endless variety of Picturesque Scenery, and admirably adapted to excite amongs young Persons a Taste for Drawing, to furnish them with excellent Subjects for Imitation, and to supply an inexhaustible Source of Amusement" (from "title-page" of printed matter laid in). Rare books sale, 'Heritage Book Shop, Inc.'1998


Cosmoramic Stereoscope - date TBA

further details to be researched.


Stereorama - date TBA

further details to be researched.


Cineorama - 1900

Designed for the Paris Exposition by Raoul Grimoin-Sanson, the Cineorama features a 360° cinematic view of the horizon. Ten projectors display an elaborately hand-colored film of Paris, shot from an ascending balloon, and projected onto a completely circular 330 ft. screen. The audience views this cinema in-the-round from the center of the theatre. The Cineorama is closed after only a few screenings though, due to the dangers presented by the highly flammable film contained inside the projection box upon which the viewers must stand.


Raoul Grimoin-Sanson's Cineorama of 1900

Raoul Grimoin-Sanson's Cineorama of 1900

also...

The first incident of cinematic illusion was originally produced by Raoul Grimoin-Sanson a French engineer, at the 1900 World Exhibition in Paris 1. He chose an air-balloon, took several films from air-balloon, and showed them to spectators who sit inside a air balloon panorama. The spectators experienced the sensation of rising into the air. By reversing the direction in which the successive frames are projected, the illusion was created that the balloon was descending and landing. Because the film provided a 360-degree panoramic view, the film gave a strong impression as if they were actually flying over the city 1

1 Leonard de Vries 1971

http://www.lcc.gatech.edu/~kwatanabe/Final/working2.html - no longer active

also...

Le Cineorama de Grimoin-Sanson: Paris 1900
http://www.sosi.cnrs.fr/AFRHC/CINEO-e/Cineorama1.htm


Kinephone (Gramophone Cinema) - c. 1900

A toy (14 cm dia.) placed on a gramophone turntable so that a turning picture disc on the turntable can be viewed from above through the slots in a stationary, cone shaped drum supported by three small wheels. This gives an illusion of movement in the same way as a phenakistiscope.


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'

Magic Lantern Castle Museum - Jack Judson
The Magic Mirror of Life - Jack and Beverly Wilgus
The Projection Box - Stephen Herbert

also...

The Bill Douglas Centre for the History of Cinema and Popular Culture

Build a Zoetrope
Fuesslin Verlag for a great range of books on optical devices and processes.
How to Read a Film
Magic Lanterns
MOMI The Museum of the Moving Image
Museo n Popular-science museum, The Hague, Netherlands
Optical Toys - Andy Voda
Smithsonian National Museum of American History - Photographic Services
Random Motion: Zoetrope Animation by Ruth Hayes
Reanimation einer Chronophotographie von Georges Demeny (1891) - Michael Scholl
Sunny Hillside Antiques
Magic Lantern Collection 'de Luikerwaal', Henc R.A. de Roo, Huizen, the Netherlands
Towards a History of the Cinema Theatre


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