A D V E N T U R E S in C Y B E R S O U N DFranz von Uchatius, Baron : 1811 - 1881
In 1853, Baron Franz von Uchatius was the first person to project visible moving images on a screen by developing Joseph Plateau's Phenakistiscope. He 'scanned' a series of painted slides (placed around a disc) through slits cut in a second disc. As the discs were rotated, apparently moving images were projected by light onto a screen. Source: Cambridge Biographical Dictionary
Some four years (and one Ph.D.) after its somewhat naive beginnings this research site, an online 'scrapbook' if you like, still attracts those who want to generously donate information for all to see. These donations are in fact what keeps the site alive and give reason for return visits. Theodoros Natsinas at the University of Michigan has written to offer the results of his research on the role Baron Franz von Uchatius played in the prehistory of the cinema. Normally overlooked or at best overshadowed by the more famous names in the encylopedia, von Uchatius may indeed really be the founding father of cinema preceeding Muybridge and Marey to name but two. Theodoros' submission is presented here in an essentially un-edited state. [my edits and/or comments are in square brackets] Theodoros writes....
Dear Russell
Baron Franz von Uchatius an examination of related current information by Theodoros Natsinas, University of Michigan
Adventures in CyberSound [Theodoros' findings from this site can best be accessed via the search page and the keyword 'Uchatius']
Baron Franz von Uchatius
Austrian Encyclopedia on the Internet Uchatius, Baron Franz von, (b. Theresienfeld (Lower Austria), Oct. 20, 1811, d. Vienna (suicide), June 4, 1881), inventor, weapons engineer, Field Marshal Lieutenant, 1871 Commander of the artillery factory in the Vienna Arsenal. 1874 international renown for his invention of steel bronze ("U. steel bronze") especially suitable for casting artillery pieces; in the field of cinematography, invented a projector for moving pictures in 1846. http://www.aeiou.at/aeiou.encyclop.u/u081761.htm
The Complete History of The Discovery of Cinematography by Paul T. Burns 1853 - BARON FRANZ VON UCHATIUS (1811-1881) This army lieutenant used as many as 12 different glass slides all pointing at the same point on his screen.Using a crank attched to the projector, and illuminating the pictures with limelight, Uchatius cranked picture after picture, giving a strong impression of movement. Uchatius was a lieutenant in the Austrian forces at the time and presented his device to the Vienna Academy of Sciences. As opposed to the Fantoscope and Stroboscope, Uchatius's machine, known as the Lantern Wheel of Light, could entertain many at one time. He eventually sold the machine to one Ludwig Dobler. 1869 - A. B. BROWN ( - ) Brings the projector of Uchatius to the U. S. and patents it. Uchatius' Lantern Wheel of Light and Plateaus' Phenakistoscope being quite similar in design and use, Brown incorporated into the machine a Maltese cross arrangement and shutter, essential to the completion of cinematography as we know it today. This ensured the intermittent movement required between frames. 1875 - JOHN ROEBUCK RUDGE ( - ) The Rudge Projector, or Phantoscope, (not to be confused with the Phantoscopes of Jenkins or Robertson) has been described as a combination of the works of Beale (the Choreutoscope, SEE BEALE 1872, and MOLTENI 1865), Brown (the Uchatius' Lantern Wheel of Light SEE BROWN 1869), and Wheatstone (Stereoscopes, SEE WHEATSTONE 1838). [NB: these are references within the Paul T. Burns site] 1881 - EADWEARD JAMES MUYBRIDGE and ETIENNE-JULES MAREY These men unite in Paris to begin collaborating in the study of motion. Muybridge had by now, constructed a series of pictures depicting motion by the use of a single camera. He then alongside Marey, shows these photos using a Uchatius lantern and could possibly have acquired picture-motion this way. http://www.precinemahistory.net/
The following german language entries were found from Alta Vista searches on the Internet. The Alta Vista Babelfish translations [though very approximate] give some indications about the content. Royal Palace - Film Technology 1845 entwickelte der Oesterreicher Franz von Uchatius ein eigenes Projektionsgeraet fuer eine Scheibe mit 12 transparenten Bildern. Vor jedem Bild brachte er eine Linse an und liess das Projektionslicht hinter den Bildern rotieren, so dass diese auf den selben Punkt einer Leinwand projeziert wurden. Das genau umgekehrte Verfahren wird heute benutzt, wo das Licht stationdr ist und die Bilder weiterbewegt werden. Seine Apparatur war damals ein grosser Verkaufsschlager. The Babelfish translation: 1845 developed the Austrian Franz of Uchatius its own projection device for a disk with 12 transparent pictures. Before each picture it attached a lens and let the projection light behind the pictures rotate, so that these were projeziert on same point a canvas. The exactly turned around procedure is today used, where the light is stationary and the pictures are moved on. Its equipment was at that time a large best seller. http://www.royal-muenchen.de/kinotechnik/d_t_proj.htm
Institut fuer Bibliothekswissenschaft der Humboldt - Universitdt zu Berlin Information und Kommunikation in Geschichte und Gegenwart The original site at http://www.ib.hu-berlin.de/%7Ewumsta/rehm71.html exists online in a colour scheme that hinders its readability. As such the site has been downloaded and re-presented on this site. It is however a very large site and will take several moments to download. Der Oesterreichische 0ffizier und Erfinder Franz Freiherr von Uchatius (1811 - 1881) entwickelte 1852 ein Verfahren, mit welchem bewegte Bilder (gezeichnete oder gemalte Phasenbilder) durch Projektion auf eine Wand gleichzeitig einem groesseren Personenkreis zugaenglich gemacht werden konnten. Die Bildprojektion beruhte auf einer Kombination aus den Prinzipien der Laterna magica (lat.- Zauberlaterne), einer seit Mitte des 17.Jh. verbreiteten Vorrichtung zum Projizieren eines transparenten Bildes auf eine Bildwand, und des "Lebensrades"von Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (1832). (Uchatius verkaufte seine 1853 verbesserte Erfindung an den Wiener Zauberkuenstler Ludwig Doebler [1801 - 1864 ], da er in ihr keinen praktischen Anwendungszweck sah.) The Babelfish translation : The Austrian 0ffizier and inventor Franz, Baron von Uchatius (1811 - 1881) 1852 developed a procedure, with which which moved pictures (drawn or painted phase pictures) by projection on a wall a larger circle of acquaintances to be at the same time made accessible could. The bildprojektion was based to one on a combination on the principles of the Laterna magica (lat. - charm lantern), since center 17. Jh. spread device for the projection of a transparent picture on a bildwand, and the" Lebensrades" from Joseph Antoine Ferdinand plateau (1832). (Uchatius did not sell its 1853 improved invention at the Viennese charm artist Ludwig Doebler [1801 - 1864 ], there it in it a practical application purpose saw.)
[...] in 1834, Baron Franz von Uchatius began experimenting with ways to project these illusions of motion. He pointed a series of candle-powered slide projectors at the same screen. Each projector contained a single image in a "motion sequence." The Baron then swiftly moved a candle from one projector to the next and was able to create projected motion. The Media Evolutions by Robert L. Schrag, Ph.D.; Department of Communication; North Carolina State University; February, 1995.
BOOKS
Dear Russell Macgowan, Kenneth; 1965, BEHIND THE SCREEN, New York: Dell Publishing p. 39 Movement at Last Projected Thus far we have a magic lantern without continuous movement. We have twirling rods that create new shapes. We have a spinning toy that puts a bird in a cage. We have revolving disks and drums that show drawings in motion. But, until the middle of the nineteenth century, we have no machine for projecting these drawings. The first device for throwing moving figures on a wall was developed between 1845 and 1853 by an Austrian artillery officer named Baron Franz von Uchatius. He seems to have anticipated Plateau's idea of using a glass disk with an opaque shutter. At any rate, he added a kerosene lamp and two lenses. The result [ Fig. III below] was the first projection of moving pictures. But the combination of a weak lamp and a shutter with very narrow slits couldn't project a clear image larger than six inches square. So, in 1853, Uchatius used a powerful limelight, eliminated the shutter, and produced the odd machine [that is shown in Fig. IV below]. A resourceful inventor, he had developed "steel bronze" for cannons and used balloons for bombing Venice before he committed suicide in 1881. It is interesting - and in a curious way prophetic - that an Austrian field marshal asked Uchatius to develop a projector as a means of military instruction. Thus, more than a hundred years ago, an officer recognized that moving pictures (even though they were only drawings at that time) could be a teaching aid for the army. They were to become a most potent weapon almost ninety years later, when inventors had added photography to projection.
p. 38 The First Projectors. von Uchatius' first and not too successful attempt to project drawings that seemed to move was probably as early as 1845.
 Fig. III You may download a larger copy of this image
As in Fig. III above, he used the slotted disk of Plateau and Stampfer (b), but put his drawings on a glass one (a). He added a kerosene lamp and two lenses (B and F). The image on the screen (G) was too small and dim for the projector to be used as the teaching aid it was intended to be. The inventor might have employed a limelight, but the narrow slits in the opaque disk would still have limited the brightness of the pictures if they were thrown on a larger screen. So, in a second type of projector, which he revealed in 1853, he eliminated the shutter and achieved intermittent projection by revolving his light instead of the drawings.
 Fig. IV You may download a larger copy of this image
As shown in Fig. IV above, the drawings (a) were fixed in holes in a supporting surface (A); there were twelve of them in a circle. The limelight (B), with its gas pipes (d and e) passing freely through holes at the bottom, and a condensing lens (C), were counter balanced by a weight (E), and turned by a handle (D). In front of each of the transparent drawings was another lens (b), and all twelve lenses could be so focused that the successive images would coincide on the screen (W). The drawings and a description of the projectors first appeared in a publication of the Vienna Academy of Science in 1853.
Liesegang, Franz Paul, DATES AND SOURCES: A CONTRIBUTION TO OF THE ART OF PROJECTION AND TO CINEMATOGRAPHY original publication 1926 english translation with additional notes by Hermann Hecht 1986 London: The Magic Lantern Society of Great Britain p. 35 1845 - The Austrian officer Uchatius, on Colonel von Hauslab's suggestion, constructs a projection-phenakistoscope which has an oil-lamp.(n189) [ see Fig III earlier on in this page ] Earlier, Uchatius is said to have used the phenakistoscope to demonstrate the mechanics of movement, for instance, the behaviour of light- and sound-waves. It is possible that ultimately the impetus to construct the apparatus came from the publication of Naylor's plan in the German journals. (N189) Franz Uchatius. Artillery Captain in the Imperial Army, 'Apparat zur Darstellung beweglicher Bilder auf der Wand' SITZUNGSBERICHTE DER AKADEMIE DER WISSENSCHAFTEN, MATHEM.-PHYSIKAL. KLASSE (Vienna,1853, vol 10, p 482); EDERS JAHRBUCH FUER PHOTOGRAPHIE ETC. (1912, P287); PHOTO-WOCHE (1912,52) reprinted from NEUE FREIE PRESSE (Vienna, issue of 21 January 1912); Alfr. von Lenz, LEBENSBILD DES GENERALS UCHATIUS (Vienna, 1904, p31); details in Liesegang, 'Uchatius und das Projektions-lebensrad', DIE KINOTECHNIK (1920, vol 2, pp 252 and 294) p. 36 1853 - Uchatius constructs a more workmanlike and powerful projection-phenakistoscope using limelight.(n190) [ see Fig IV earlier on in this page ] The transparencies are positioned around the periphery of a fixed disc, a projection lens is allocated to each picture, [only the] light source and condenser revolve in a circle so that one picture after the other is thrown on the screen. The Viennese optician Prokesh undertakes the commercial production. Ludwig Doebler, the magician, purchases the original apparatus and thus becomes the first to professionally exhibit moving pictures in his travels allover Europe. (n191) This was, so to speak, an inversion of the optical compensation apparatus with a wreath of rotating objectives, designed by Ducos du Hauron in 1964 and constructed by Jenkins in 1894 (see also Duboscq). Uchatius compares the effect with that of the dissolving views which probably stimulated the construction of the apparatus. According to von Lenz, the size of the pictures was between 2 and 2,5 metres. In 1852 the French painter Seguin took out a French patent (supplementary patents of 1854 and 1860) for a stroboscopic projection device ('Polyorama') which also has a series of fixed objectives - one for each slide - which are activated in sequence by means of a shutter. Nothing is said about the idea being put into practice.(n192) (n190) The same sources as cited in note 189. (N191) Sources as above. See also Liesegang, 'Ludwig Doebler, der Vorfahre der Kinounternehmer', DIE KINOTECHNIK (1921, vol 3, p 12). Doebler introduced dissolving views in Germany (see A. 1839) (n192) J. Rosen, LE CINEMATOGRAPHE (Paris, s.d., pp9-10)
Ceram, C. W., ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE CINEMA english language translation by Richard Winston, 1965 New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc. p. 19. The first drawn pictures had come to 'life' [refering to the instruments of Plateau, von Stampfer, Horner and Reynaud]. Shortly afterwards, the living drawings were projected for the first time. [...] An Austrian artillery officer, Baron Franz von Uchatius, combined the possibility of projection offered by the magic lantern with the principle of the Phenakistiscope in a remarkable fashion. p. 20. He arranged a number of magic lanterns in a semicircle so that they were focused on a wall screen, filled them with drawn diapositives (phase pictures), and moved a torch very rapidly around the semicircle behind them. He discovered that as the pictures flashed on the screen one after another, motion resulted. In 1853 he constructed a new projection apparatus which could show twelve diapositives arrenged in a circle. Whereas the Phenakistiscope could be seen by only one person at a time, the Uchatius apparatus could show its projected images to a whole room of spectators. This was a significant technical advance.(n23) Uchatius (1811-1881), incidentally, is a figure who deserves a new biography. He was not only a military man, but also a trained chemist and photographer, physicist, and maker of cannon (an eternally unfortunate Austrian rival of Krupp in the construction of steel cannon barrels). As far as he was concerned, his dabbling in cinematography was a mere hobby. Light-heartedly, he sold his apparatus to a Viennese prestidigitator named Ludwig Doebler (1801-1864), who made such a good thing of it that he was able to spend his declining years in a castle. Uchatius, despite his rapid advance in the army, won no recognition for his scientific work; a deeply unhappy man, he ultimately committed suicide.(n24) (n23) Drawn pictures were furthermore projected in 1866 by means of Beale's Chorentoscope [Choreutoscope], an instrument which was similar in principle to the modern Maltese Cross projector with a front shutter to mask each successive phase of motion.(n24)
Rudolf Thiel, RUHM UND LEIDEN DER ERFINDER (Berlin, 1942); Kurzel-Runtscheiner: FRANZ FREIHERR VON UCHATIUS. Blaetter fuer Geschichte der Technik, Heft 4 (Vienna, 1938). (plates 89-91) Contain a photograph of von Uchatius and the following text: A motion picture projector had already been developed in 1853 by an Austrian army officer, Franz von Uchatius, which combined Phenakisticope discs with the lantern
MY OWN COMMENTS There are several interesting questions regarding von Uchatius, as far as I have gathered trying to find out information regarding him - of course with the provision that I am restricted in material written in English, French and Greek. That means that unfortunately German language material is not easily accessible to me. This are numbered N1...(N for Notes) N1. The difficulty in obtaining information. Generally he seems a pretty elusive character; something that doesn't fit with his achievements which seem to include the first projection of motion pictures! Even German encyclopedias at the Michigan University Library do not include entries on him. I cannot understand this unless the info that comes to us from other sources is not reliable or accurate. It could be that the impression of the motion was not convincing - but on the other hand no one makes such a comment. N2. The first person to achieve projected moving pictures. If the information listed above is accurate he must be the first person to achieve projected illusion of movement using sequence drawings. The bio in Adventures in CyberSpace declares him the first such person. Given the general interest in establishing the "true inventor" of cinema it is strange that a major candidate for such a title is overlooked. Of course it all depends on how "cinema" is defined; on the characteristics a projection of moving images must possess in order to be acceptable as "cinema". However you define "cinema", though, Uchatius' first is very significant. Interestingly, a lot of the other sources mentioned above do not refer to his projector as the FIRST one. However, they do not mention any earlier ones. Only Liesegang (B1 entry above) mentions slipping slides, a vague description of an experiment by Faraday and a proposal by Naylor that did not materialise. Significantly Liesegang mentions that Doebler (the person that bought the projector from Uchatius) was : "the first to professionaly exhibit moving pictures". This just makes things more strange. Doebler merits a FIRST but Uchatius does not? N3. Dates. There is some confusion about the dates he produced his apparatus. Probably he produced more than one; possibly also had several versions of each one improving them as he went on. However, it seems as though he produced moving images even with the more primitive of them, which would place his contribution in 1845. However this is just my appreciation of the various sources. It is not definite; things are very unclear about the precise date of the development of his various machines. The various sources above give dates that range from 1834 to 1853. N4. The moving of the light source Some of the seemingly reliable sources indicate that his first machine did not have the slides rotating in front of a light source and the image projected through a single lens but, instead, the light source rotating behind a stationary disc containing the slides; and that there was a separate lens in front of each slide. N5. The strange contradiction re Doebler and successful commercial exploitation. Ceram states that his machine made Doebler very rich. However no bibliographical source that I have come across gives any indication that Uchatius' machine was really that well known or successful. Burns' material suggests that the machine was marketed in the USA but it does not offer any clues about its success and its wider impact. I would have thought that a popular spectacle of projected motion pictures would had been referred widely. N6. The long gap before next step in projection - strange if his device was successful After the Uchatius projector the next relatively important step in the development of living pictures seems to come in the 1860s (Magic Machines, Burns, Liesegang). If the Uchatius machine was widely distributed and successful, it seems to me that moving picture projections would have progressed faster. This gap seems strange and seems to point to a conclusion that the commercial exploitation of the Uchatius machine was neither that widespread nor successful. But this is just speculation
This anthology was based on research by Theodoros Natsinas, University of Michigan, USA. Adventures in CyberSound greatfully acknowledges the support and assistance of such efforts.
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