Kinetoscope patent by Thomas Edison | Techday, August 31st
On this TECHDAY in history, on August 31st 1897, Thomas Edison patented a first type of movie camera, the Kinetoscope. It was a device meant for the production of moving pictures and is considered the predecessor of the motion picture film projector. The patent number is US Patent #468,971. The patent covered the design of the kinetoscope and the method of producing and exhibiting moving pictures.
The kinetoscope was a forerunner of the motion picture projector, and it worked by passing a strip of film bearing sequential images over a light source with a high-speed shutter. The viewer looked through a peephole at the top of the device to see the rapidly changing images, which gave the illusion of motion.
Edison had been developing the camera, and a viewer (Kinetoscope), for some years before, and had staged several demonstrations. Only one person per turn could use the Kinetoscope. These devices used celluloid film. This first “movie camera” inspired both French inventors Louis and August Lumiere. They built their famous invention, the Cinematographe, that allowed a big audience to view a film.
It was the first practical way to display motion pictures and had a significant impact on the development of the motion picture industry.
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(The device in the image isn’t a Kinetograph).
Author: PC-GR
The World of Technology
