Unit 33 Assignment 1 Homework Task -Kinetoscope

The finished 'Kinetoscope' could, if Edison’s original vision had prevailed, turned out quite different.

Employing W.K.L Dickson in the Spring of 1883, Edison soon noted his enthusiasm and value and made him his assistant. Five years later in 1888, inspired by his Photograph, Edison set Dickson to work on developing, “...an instrument which does for the Eye what the Phonograph has done for the Ear, which is the recording and reproduction of things in motion....”

Early experiments were tried using ideas developed from the phonograph - a cylinder based device onto which a series of microphotographs would be arranged in a spiral formation - like the recorded tracks in the tinfoil of a phonograph.

Edison envisaged projection to be achieved by shining a light source through the microphotographs from inside the cylinder.

http://www.earlycinema.com/technology/kinetoscope.html

The kinetoscope was invented in the laboratory of Thomas Edison.                        

A kinetoscope is a device which allows people to view motion pictures. The kinetoscope was one of the first such devices widely developed and distributed, and while the design ultimately proved to be a failure, it clearly inspired other inventors, so it could be considered a landmark invention in the history of film. This device was invented in the laboratory of Thomas Edison, and as was conventional for inventions in his lab, the patent was taken out by Edison himself, making it challenging to determine precisely who worked on the project.

The design for the kinetoscope consisted of a closed cabinet in which the film was spooled. To operate the device, the user opened the top and peered through a small hole, and as the film was moved across a series of rollers, a backlight would illuminate it, creating the illusion of a moving picture, as long as the film was rotated at the proper speed. When the kinetoscope was first shown to the public in 1894, it proved to be a big hit.

A version of the kinetoscope accompanied with sound was also developed, and christened the kinetophone. Linking sound with pictures turned out to be quite a challenge, as it was extremely difficult to synchronise the sound and the picture. For viewers, the kinetophone was also not terribly comfortable or convenient to use, as it required wearing headphones while leaning over the cabinet to view the movie as it was displayed.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-kinetoscope.htm