A HISTORY OF THE

BIRTH OF
MOVING PICTURES

WiLFRED E. L.DAY
F.R.P .S.

P.R..S .A.

Announcing
the forthcoming
production of

THE

BIRTH

AND

BIOGRAPHICAL
OF

MOVING

HISTORY
PICTURES

W. E. L. CAr
F.R.P.S., F.R.S.A.

DEDICATION
iillilllllllllllllliiiiimiiHiimiiliiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiimmiiiiiiiiiiiiiim

iinn

iiiiiiiiiiiiiimii

" I know nobody better equipped to

write the history of Kinematography
than Mr. Will Day."
Sir Kynaston Studd.
miiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiniiii

iiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiin

N WRITING this book I have been in

contact with the work and inventive
genius displayed by those, who, through
the ges, have added their quota to give the
world the pleasure and enlightenment this
gnration has received from the science of
Kinematography.

iiiiiiiiiiimiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

Therefore, to ail those pioneers and vtrans

who paved the way for the huge industry
that has since been brought into being,
I sincerely dedicate this book, with the
hope that sometimes a thought will be spared
for those wonderful men that helped to
achieve the marvels of portraying both sight
and sound, enjoyed by the millions who
attend the various entertainments throughout the wide world.

The Polytechnic,
309, Regent Street,
London, W.l.
October 5th, 1933
When the history of the 20th century cornes to be written there will have to be
a wonderful chapter devoted to the growth and development of the cinma
Among the great contributions made by science to everyday life, Kinematography
will undoubtedly rank as one of the greatest. The subject is of particular interest
to us at The Polytechnic, as it was at this Institution that the first public
performance of moving pictures in London was held In the Polytechnic Magazine
for February 26th, 1896, published just after the first performance, the following
account appears :
This Cinmatographe seems to be, practically, an adaptation
"of Edison's Kinetoscope.
It is, briefly, living photography, if this
"term may be used, thrown on a screen in the same way as are
"dissolving views by the oxy-hydrogen lantern. The effect is really
"most wonderful.
For instance, a photograph of a railway station
"is shown, two or three seconds elapse, and a train steams into the
"station and stops, the carriage doors open, the people get out, and
"there is the usual hurrying and scurrying for a second or two, and
"then again the train moves off. The whole thing is realistic, and is,
"as a matter of fact, an actual photograph "
I know nobody better equipped to write the history of Kinematography than Mr.
Will Day. Mr Day was taught lantern projection by his father at the early ge of
nine, and ever since lias devoted a lifetime to pioneer work and research. The
high position he has held throughout his life on the technical side of Kinematography will enable him to trace step by step the development of this fascinating
art from its early origin and from 1896 to the prsent day.

Many of thse great minds have done their

work and passed over, but there are still
some left, who have not reaped any reward
for their labour. May it be, that they will
ne ver be left to know the need of want.
WILFRED E. L. DAY
November

1933

FR P.S., F.R.S.A.

THE

Birth and Biographical

History of Moving Pictures are contained in two volumes, beautifully
and clearly printed, with over 500
unique and interesting illustrations.
Each volume contains approximately 500 pages and the books are
bound in handsome tooled leather
covers.
The price of the two volumes is
Four guineas and subscribers may
have any' spcial binding to suit
their own library at an extra cost.

INTRODUCTION By TUE
AUTUCU

HERE have been many attempts by writers from time to time to give an
outline of the various efforts of man, through the past, to portray movement.
In most of thse writings they record particulars of some of the principal
inventions, but in no single instance has a complte survey of the historical facts
been given This led the author to endeavour to discover the genuine sources of ail
the various branches of the Science of Physics, leading up to their ultimate amal
gamation to the climax of Kinematography.
Kinematography is not, as stated by most writers, the resuit of one man's single
achievement It is the rsultant efforts of many scientific discoveries, through the
known history of the human habitation of this globe.
The author has devoted over thirty years to the study of the portrayal of movement
upon this earth, and during that period has visited many of the principal cities of
the Continent, and examined the interesting objects contained in their musums and

similar institutions, besides amassing the most valuable collection of apparatus, books
and films, connected with this subject ; a portion of which is at the prsent time to be
seen in the Science Musum at South Kensington, London.
It has necessitated much research through various libraries to obtain the works
giving particulars of the science of optics, and the quotations from the Ancients of
their knowledge of this study. And more especially of the phenomena of persistence
of vision, which is the basic principle of the portrayal of movement. Added to this,
the author has many rare works in his own collection which have furnished the means
to discover the truth of the formation and volution of the several Sciences.
One of the great factors that has placed the author in a somewhat diffrent position
to other writers, is being in personal contact with the use of the optical lantern
from childhood, and being actively connected with the Kinematograph industry from
its inception. As a child the author was well versed in the mysteries of the optical
lantern, and the manipulation of the wonderful mechanical lantern slides, by which
it showed movement upon the screen, being tutored by his father, who was a very
enthusiastic devotee to this form of home entertainment.
The Fantoscope and Zoetrope, and colour changing tops, were everyday playthings
of his childhood also. It was, therefore, quite reasonable to expect, with the advent of
Kinematography, that this subject at once attracted his attention. Many interesting
evenings were spent in the company of a friend giving Kinematograph dmonstrations
with a projector made by R. W. Paul in 1896, which was eventually purchased by
the author early in 1898, together with six films.
In 1899 an item in his programme of entertainment shows the combination of the
gramophone and pictures, thus early endeavouring to combine sight and sound as
a means of amusement.
Many of the early inventors and exploiters in the realms of moving pictures have been
personally and intimately known to the author, who carefully recorded their work
in conjunction with Kinematography during their lifetimes.
In the year 1926 the Royal Photographie Society of Great Britain issued an invitation
to ail those interested in the subject to meet the author, either in person or by proxy,
to put forward any claims they might have to the invention of Kinematography.
Amongst the many that replied was a letter received from the late T. A. Edison, wherein
he stated that he put forward no claim to being the first inventor of Kinematography.
There was also a letter from Herr Skladanowsky in Germany, who made several
claims, but, as there was no vidence to substantiate thse claims, it was impossible
to admit them.
It was clearly proved upon that occasion that no prior patent existed before that of
W. Friese-Greene, No. 10131, June 21st, 1889.
It has been a colossal task to trace this wonderful science through the ges, and it
has also been difficult to know not so much what to include in this work, as what
to omit, from the mass of records secured and still impart the necessary knowledge
to give the reader the essential facts.
Commencing with the first records of the portrayal of movement in the shape of the
trotting boar depicted on the walls of the cave at Altimira 25,000 years B.C., and
noting through the ges the various records left on ivory and bone, sometimes in the
shape of drawings and in other cases of sculptures and carvings, coming later to the
Chinese era at a period about 5,000 years B.C., when figures eut from buffalo hide
were shown in shadow form upon a screen of parchment, using the sunlight as an
illuminant, thus giving moving shadow shows 5,000 years B.C.

The really clever men of the ancient school of philosphers were those who, without
any works of rfrence, or anything but their own personal observations and investigations to guide them, laid the foundations for most of the branches of the Science
of Physics as we know them to-day.
How Thaes of Miletus, through rubbing a pice of amber on his garment, discovered
electricity, which force ultimately gave us the necessary illuminant for exhibiting
moving pictures ; the formation of gass by the fusing of nitrate and sand, discovered
by some Phoenician traders in cooking their evening meal, which gave others the
means to produce a lens, without which camras could not secure their photographie
records or projectors exhibit them.
The discovery of a lens, through a tear in the eye being perceived to enlarge an object,
was brought about by the observance of one of this early school of philosphers, the
application of which we see in the use made of this knowledge by Archimedes.
Persistence of vision had been studied and remarked upon by several students of the
ancient Roman and Greek schools, and the writings of Lucretius, 65 B.C., make very
clear the defined principles of this great phenomenon.
The wonders of the Camra Obscura were also observed by thse early scientists, and
are quoted in the records of their lives, but the first fully annotated effects of this
forerunner of the modem camra are to be found in the writings of Leonardo da Vinci,
who, in his work, Trattato-Dilla-Pittura, gives a full explanation of the phenomena
conceming this optical marvel.
The invention of the optical lantern, or Magia Catoptrica, by Athanasius Kircher,
and his mechanic Walgenstenius, gave another very necessary adjunct to the portrayal
of movement upon the screen.
The actual formation for laying the basic principles for creating apparent moving
figures, is to be found in the writings, after much deep study and investigation, by
Dr. Peter Mark Roget, M.D., who, in 1824, gave his marvellous paper before the
Royal Society, to which institution he acted in the capacity of Secretary.
It is sufficient proof of the value of thse writings for both Dr. Plateau of Ghent, and
Dr. Stampfer of Vienna, through the writings of Ouetelet in his Quarterly Review,
and also by correspondence in the author's collection, to acknowledge Dr. Peter Mark
Roget, M.D. as the author who gave them the means to produce their first dises of
moving figures in 1829.
The securing of an image upon a glass plate was first achieved by Tom Wedgewood,
the son of Josiah Wedgewood, the great potter, with the aid of the Camra Obscura,
although he died before he was able to fix the "Sun Pictures" he thus secured. A
paper written by him upon this subject, printed for the Royal Society in 1802, at the
instigation of his great friend, Sir Humphrey Davy, the inventor of the miner's
safety lamp, leaves a permanent record of his work.
This was followed later by the work of Niecephore Niepce and Daguerre, with their
single print bitumen process, but the man to give us the first really commercial form
of photography was Fox-Talbot, of Laycock's Abbey in Wiltshire, England, who
curiously enough, in his original application for a patent of his "Talbotype" process,
claimed to be able to reproduce living figures by photographie means.
The invention of celluloid in 1854 was the work of Alexander Parkes, of Birmingham,
England, and this was first clarified for use in a hand camra, in place of photographie
glass plates, by Mr. Hyatt or New Jersey, U.S.A. in 1869, followed by J. Carbutt,
of Philadelphia, U.S.A. in 1884.
In the year 1887, the Rev. Hannibal Goodwin, an American clergyman, patented a

process for clarified film in ribbon form, whilst in England, W. Friese-Greene, with
the aid of Dr. Vragarra, at Thornton Heath, had produced sheets of clarified celluloid
film from the raw dope he purchased from Mr. Maine of Birmingham, in July 1889,
with which he secured his first Kinematograph pictures taken at that time.
Thus, in this short survey, we have seen how the necessary adjuncts to form Kinematography were brought into being, and from what simple origins the various
phases of the Sciences were derived.
It now only remained for someone to amalgamate thse great discoveries, and consolidate them into one concrte formation, to give the world the Science known as
Kinematography.
Although many writers, each in their own country, put forward some single individual
as being the true inventor, if the facts are carefully considered, there is no doubt
whatever that the crdit for this great achievement must be given to the first man
who was granted a patent for the complte process of being able to secure upon a
band of celluloid film, a perfect squence of photographie images, taken in rapid
succession by a sinlge camra, fitted with one lens, and taken from one point of view.
This being the case, the crdit can only be given to W. Friese-Greene, a native of
Bristol, England, whose spcification was lodged at the British Patent Office on
Tune 21st, 1889, and his complte spcification of March 13th, 1890, for which he
was granted lctters patent No. 10131. This is the first patent spcification in the
world to give full particulars for both taking and exhibiting moving pictures by
photographie means, as we understand the term Kinematography at the prsent
day. This Patent has been upheld in America, and ail over the world, as the prior
Patent for Kinematography.
The author, in ail his lectures before some of the principal learned societies in
England, has always made the spcifie line of dmarcation of alluding to ail portrayals
of movement up till the time of Friese-Greene's Patent of 1889 as moving pictures,
and from thence onwards as Kinematography.
It has been impossible to give, in the limited space of this prsent work, a complte
and full record of ail that has been done in the portrayal of movement, and the many
valuable adjuncts to this great Science, but the author has ever borne in mind the
fact, that to make this work readable to the masses, it would not have to consist of
a mere stringing together of names and dates, but would have to be presented more
in the form he has adopted, in giving as far as possible a little knowledge of the work
and lives of the great pioneers and vtrans that played their several parts, in bringing
into being, and commercializing, one of the greatest inventions of ail time.
It is no idle boast to say that Kinematography has played a greater part in educating
and enlightening the whole of the people of the world, no matter what their creed
or country of origin may be, than any science that has preceded it. It was proved
during the great European War, how men could be trained as soldiers by this means
in three months, who had hitherto taken three years to acquire the same amount
of learning.
The great future of this science does not, therefore, alone lie in the field of entertainment, but in the yast field of ducation. It cannot be a great while before the prsent
prjudices are wiped away, and this wonderful means of learning adopted in every
school and collge throughout the habitable globe, with a System of interchange of
subjects by the most eminent and learned professors from the world's universities
and seats of learning, to the enlightenment and uplift of ail.
London, 1933.

Showing some of the unique

and interesting illustrations.

CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER III

CHAPTER IV.

Earliest known form of Cave Drawings.

The first moving shadow pictures5,000 B.C. The Ombres
Chinois.
The Wayang Figures of Upper Java.
History in Shadows.
Early Projection of Images by the Magi of Egypt.
Temple Illusions at Isis and Tyre.

The Human Eye and its attributes.

Discovery of the means to manufacture glass.
The first lens and its application as an aid to sight.
Archimedes and the use of mirrors.
Early lens manufactures and the Science of Optics.
Invention of the Tlescope.
Foundation of the Royal Society.
Des Cartes' first lens grinding machine.
Hugenii and Sir Isaac Newton on light and colour.
The early lens makers and where they dwelt.
Discovery of the Achromatic Lens by Dollond.

Persistence of Vision the principle of portraying movement.

Invention of the Optical Lantern or Megaloscope.
The Phantasmajoria and Bi-Unial Lantern.
Sanspariel and Lyceum Thtres with early lantern shows.
The Polytechnic, Pepper's Ghost, and other illusions.
Panoramas, Peepshows.
Trewey's Shadow Shows.
Dioramas, Myrioramas, Cosmoramas, etc.
Coliseum at Regent's Park. The Egyptian Hall.
Gallanty Shows, Shadow Shows.
Marionettes, Punch and Judy Shows.
Early Allusions to Motion Pictures.

Light and its study, a short treatise.

Illuminants applied to Projection.
Kircher's Lamp, Oil Lamps, Argand's Lamp.
Discovery and invention of Gas.
Jets and lime-light. Oxy-Calcium light, etc.

CHAPTER V.

Electricity is discovered.
First Arc Lamp.
Mirror High Intensity Arc.
Electrical Generators and their several inventors.
Carbons and their manufacture.

CHAPTER VI.

How the camra evolved.

Printing is invented.
Photography is brought into being.
The Camra Obscura.
Fox Talbot and his Talbotype process.
Early experimenters in Photography.
The invention of Celluloid.
The production of film.

CHAPTER VIL

The Foundation of the Science of Moving Pictures.

Dr. Peter Mark Roget.
The Thaumatrope.
Gorham's Colour Top.
Faraday's Wheel.
The Phenakisticope and Fantoscope.
The Stroboscope.
The Anorthoscope and Anamorphoscope.
The Kinescope
The Zoetrope.
The Front Shutter cornes into being.
The Heliocineographe.
The Kalotrope.

CHAPTER VIII.

Early applications of Photography to Movement.

Various forms of Movement by Lantern Slides.
The Physioscope or Projection of a living face.
Beale's Choreutoscope.
The Kinokam.
The Kineograph. First book form of Moving Pictures.

CHAPTER IX.

Microscopic Views in Motion.

Ross's Wheel of Life.
Brown's Rotary Picture Apparatus.
Heyl of Philadelphia in vents the Phasmatrope.
Anschutz' Tachyscope.

CHAPTER IX.
continued

Jannsen's Photographie Gun.

Other Book Forms of Moving Pictures.
The Folioscope.
Shorts' Filoscope.

CHAPTER X.

The life work of John Arthur Roebuck Rurlge, who taught

W. Friese-Greene to make a photo move.
Rudge's double dise Projector. Rudge's Bio-Phantoscopc.
W. Friese-Greene and Rudge make composite Lantern Slides.
Rudge's Mmorial.

CHAPTER XI.

The life work of Dr. Jules Etienne Marey.

Marcy receives an important degree.
Marey builds an aroplane.
The Stereo Zootrope.
Chronophotography.
Marey 's Photographie Gun.
The Analysis of Motion.
Marey 's Meeting with Muybridge.
Wonderful rapid photography.
The first application of celluloid to kinematography.
Marey 's Chrono Camra.
Marey and Demeney.
Books written by Marey.

CHAPTER XII.

The marvcllous achievements of Muybridge.

Muybridge settles the argument of a trotting horse between
Fred MacCrellish and Senator Leland Stanford.
The wonderful horse, Occident, and its history.
Muybridge introduced to J. D. Isaacs by Senator Stanford.
Plan of track arranged for securing photographs.
Camras in rows, electrically operated by J. D. Isaacs.
Track as used at Palo Alto.
Muybridge makes photographs live in the Zoetrope.
Muybridge 's work for Pennsylvania University.
The Zoopraxiscope.
Zoopraxiscope dises for Projection.
Muybridge meets Marey in Paris.
Meissonier learns the correct movements of the horse from
Muybridge's photographs.
Zoopraxigraphical Hall at the Columbian Exhibition.
Mmorial Tablet at Kingston-on-Thames and Centenary Lecture-

CHAPTER XIII.

Emile Rej'naud and his Praxinoscope.

Suggested Stereoscopic Praxinoscope.
Praxinoscope Thtre at the Eden Muse.
The Theatrixinoscope as a public entertainment.
Reynaud's La Toupee Fantoche.
The Kincmatofor.
Augustin LePrince.
A 16-lens camra.
Film of Leeds Bridge.
Glatine Film of 1888.
Mysterious disappearance of LePrince and his camra.
Mmorial Tablet at Leeds.

CHAPTER XIV.

The Life Story of W. Friese-Greene, the first man in the world

to patent a practical System of Kinematography, using
Celluloid Film.
W. Friese-Greene as a Blue-coat schoolboy.
Clockwork Lantern.
Greene's early laboratory.
Greene's first film on band of sensitized film.
Greene adopts celluloid as a base.
Greene's second laboratory at Chelsea.
Early struggles with celluloid.
First film produced.
The first patent spcification in the World for Kinematography.
Telegram in 1889 to say Camra ready.
A group of Greene's first instruments.
The first Motion Picture Camra Mechanism.
Celluloid film showing needle point holes.
The incident of W. Friese-Greene and a policeman.
W. Friese-Greene gives a paper before Photographie Convention
at Chester, 1890.
Scieniific American publishes article on Greene's invention,
April 19th, 1890.
First film with round hole perforations.
J. Hay-Taylor, editor of Optical Magic Lantern Journal, gives
a lucid account of Greene's invention.
Evans sells out to Greene.
Greene and Edison.
Method of printing.
W. Friese-Greene awarded the Daguerre medal for Kinematography.
W. Friese-Greene and the War Office.
A sad page in Greene's life history ; sold up and cast into prison.
Greene's original developing apparatus.
Greene's many Patent Spcifications.

CHAPTER XIV.
continuai

The invention of Colour and Stereoscopy.

Greene as witness in American action, Motion Picture Patents
Company v. Steiner.
Greene's patent upheld in the
American Courts as the prior patent of the World for
Kinematography.
Digest on Greene's numerous patents.
Tragic death of William Friese-Greene at a trade meeting.
Mmorial in Highgate Cemetery.
END

OF

VOLUME

conhnued

I.

VOLUME

II.

CHAPTER XV.

Wordsworth Donisthorpe, who missed being the original

patente for Kinematography by a few weeks.
Moving Lantern Slides.
Donisthorpe's association with William Car Crofts.
The Kinesigraph.
A great disappointment.
Georges Demeney, the able assistant to Dr. Marey.
Demeney's Phonoscope.
Demeney Biographe.
Invention of dog or beater movement.
Demeney's invention adopted by Lo Gaumont as Gaumont's
Chrono.
Demeney's Chronophotophone.

CHAPTER XVI.

CHAPTER XVI.

The life work of Thomas Alva Edison, whose endeavours resulted in the commercialising of Kinematography.
Edison 's birth and boyhood.
Edison 's love of books.
William Kennedy Laurie Dickson joins Edison's staff.
Edison and Dickson joint patentes of ore milling machine.
Edison dcides to make photographs move and speak in 1887.
Dickson is entrusted with the work.
Edison's first studio.
The first drawings for the production of Moving Pictures.
Book of Edison's life by Dickson.
The first cylinder machine for Moving Pictures.
The first experiments with G. Eastman's film in 1888.
An early example of shoeing a horse and a terrifie sneeze by
Fred Ott.
Dickson sees Edison off to Paris Exhibition in 1889.
Dickson builds a new Black Maria studio.
The first Kinetoscope.
Making Edison's first films.
The Monkey and the Kinetoscope.

CHAPTER XVII.

Edison accuses Dickson of disloyalty.

Dickson and Edison part.
Latham's first show with the Eidoloscope.
Raff and Gannon have stormy interview with Edison.
Edison adopts Armat's Vitascope.
The first close-up film, "The Kiss."
The first Edison Project or, the Edisonograph.
Edison before Judge Wallace in an action with the American
Mutoscope & Biograph Co., at United States Circuit
Court of Appeals.
Judge Wallace states Edison did not invent Kinematography.
The forming of Motion Picture Patents Co., in Edison's library.
Greene swears an affidavit in an action.
Motion Picture Patents Co. versus Yankee Film Co.
Greene's patent upheld, which finishes the Motion Picture
Patent Co.
Edison's Home Kinestoscope.
Edison's Kinetophone.
Royal demonstation of Edison's Kinetophone by Jury 's Imprial
Pictures Ltd., at Knowsley.
Direct assocites with Edison.
Jenkins shows Armt his Phantoscope.
Jenkins and Armt become partners and then part.
Armt fixes a contract with Raff and Gammon.
Edison refuses to adopt Dickson's projector and adopts Armat's
Vitascope.
Armt breaks with Edison.
The Vitagraph Company cornes into being.
J. Stuart Blackton obtains an Edisonograph.
The Biograph and Mutoscope Co.
The forming of the K.M.C.D. Syndicatc.
Dickson approaches Edison for films, but is refused.
Hermann Casier invents a new camra.
E. B. Koopman promtes American Mutoscope Co.
Dickson and Koopman go to London and form Mutoscope &
Biograph Syndicate.
Dickson films Pope Lo XIII. at the Vatican.
First Biograph projector installed at Hammerstein's.
Dickson films the Duke and Duchess of York on the S.S. Ophir.
Their Royal Highnesses accept the gift of a Mutoscope.
Great lgal battle in the American courts, Edison versus the
American Mutoscope Co.
Edison loses his action.
Motion Picture Patents Trust formed in Edison's library.
Casier invents several types of card form picture viewing
machines.

CHAPTER XVII.
continued

Casler's Mutoscope.
W. K. L. Dickson, a friend of General Buller, boards the Dunottar
Castle en route to film the Boer War.
Boer War Biograph pictures at Palace Thtre, London.
Dickson returns to England.
Dickson writes book of expriences filming Boer War.
The Biograph in Battle.

CHAPTER XVIII.

Eugne Augustin Lauste, the father of sound-on-film.

Lauste adapts lantern for moving pictures at 10 years of ge.
Lauste enters Edison's employ.
Lauste meets Dickson in Room 5.
Lauste leaves Edison to join Westinghouse Co.
Dickson informs Lauste of an opening with Major Woodville
Latham.
The production of the Eidoloscope.
The Lambda Company is formed.
Lauste enters the employ of the K.M.C.D. Syndicate.
A journey to England for the British Biograph Co.
Lauste as witness for Edison in an American law suit.
The French Biograph Co. is formed.
Lauste meets Dr. Marey.
The Photographophone invented by Ernest Ruhmer.
Dickson and Lauste work together on some new inventions.
Application for patent for first sound-on-film, 1906.
Lauste sets up his own laboratory for sound at Brixton.
The making of grate light valves.
The exploitation of talking picture patent in America.
Lauste expriences great hardships.
A new partnership entered into which proved ineffectuai.

CHAPTER XIX.

C. Francis Jenkins, an American inventor, produced a motion

picture camra, 1893-4, which received a gold medal.
A camra with multiple front lens.
Many press notices praise Jenkin's work.
Jenkins shows moving pictures at Atlanta Exhibition.
Jenkins sells his patent to Armt.
Jenkins and Armt at law.
An invention for Tlvision.
Jean Acme Le Roy, an early exprimenter in movies, secures
film made by Wordsworth Donisthorpe.
Edison's Kinetoscope is viewed.
Le Roy constructs new projector.
A moving picture show given on Washington 's birthday, 1895.
An application for a patent refused.

CHAPTER XX.

The Lumire family enter the field of Moving Pictures.

First ideas obtained from Edison's Kinetoscope.
Lumires dcide upon sixteen pictures per second.
First camra printer and projector of Lumires' make.
French patent granted Feb. 13th, 1895.
Several successful shows with the Cinmatographe.
British patent secured April 1895.
Mons. Trewey joins forces with Lumire Bros.
The Cinmatographe is brought to England.
First show given at Royal Polytechnic, February 20th, 1896.
A contract secured at Empire Thtre, Leicester Square.
Terrible fire at charity bazaar at Paris.
Lumires produce the Kinora picture viewing machine.
Trewey and his act of chapeaugraphy.
Matt Raymond becomes electrician to Trewey.

CHAPTER XXI.

R. W. Paul sees an Edison Kinetoscope, through Trajedis and

Georgiades.
Finding no British patent, commences manufacture in England.
Edison stops film supplies.
R. W. Paul and Birt Acres agre to make films.
First camra is constructed.
Cutting and rubbing down first films to correct size.
Paul's dark room and printer.
Paul makes the acquaintance of H. G. Wells through reading
his work, "The Time Machine."
A patent is taken out for an entertainment.
Paul's first film. A cricketcr jumps into pictures.
Exhibition of pictures at Earl's Court Exhibition, 1895.
Paul gives first exhibition with Theatrograph at Finsbury
Technical Collge, February 20th, 1896.
An engagement is secured at the Alhambra.
Derby film shown the day following the race.
Gus Harris books Paul's Theatrograph for Olympia.
Paul's Geneva cross movement.
The Theatrograph.
Cari Hertz takes first Theatrograph to Africa.
Hand coloured films.
The first purchase of Paul's projectors, showing where many
famous firms secured a start.
Melies turns Paul's projectors into Kine camras.
The renaming of the projector to Animatograph.
The production of a portable projector.
Paul's film of Persimmon winning the Derby, 1896.
First film studio and laboratory.
Various types of Theatrographs are produced.
An accelerated intermittent movement and shutter.
Final model projector.

CHAPTER XXII.

CHAPTER XXIII.

Birt Acres and his early associations with R. W. Paul.

A film of the University Boat Race secured in 1895.
The Kinetic camra.
A Royal Command.
A duplicate camra is produced.
The home kinema, the Birtac, camra, printer and projector
combination.
A name which was a household word where moving pictures
were concernedCecil Hepworth.
The famous Hepworth arc lamp.
Paul and others adopt Hepworth's arc.
Hepworth causes the Warwick Projector to give up the ghost.
Hepworth joins the Warwick Trading Company.
A visit to Walton-on-Thames.
Hepworth starts a film producing company.
The A. B.C. of Cinematography.
Various movements applied to kinematograph mcchanism.
The automatic film projector.
The wonderful talking picture machine, the "Vivaphone."
The work of J. H. Joly and M. Normandin.
The Photo-Zoetrope.
An engagement at the Holborn Empire.

A figurehead in the early days of movies, Chas. Urban.

A Kinetoscope Parlour at Dtroit, Michigan, U.S.A.
Urban produces his Bioscope.
Maguire and Baucus in duce Urban to go to London.
The foundation of the Warwick Trading Co.
The production of "Britain's Bulwarks," a British Naval film.
Urban's pictures become a star turn under the title of Urbanora.
The Biokam home movie outfit.
Urban moves westward.
Urbanora pictures at the Palace Thtre.
Urban breaks away from the Warwick Trading Company.
First automatic film printing plant.
Mr. Hymen and Joe Rosenthal film Boer War for Urbanora.
The Chas. Urban Trading Co.
Films of the Russo-Japanese War.
Cherry Kearton joins Urban's staff.
Urban pursues the elusive project of colour kinematography.
A terrible setback.
G. A. Smith tackles the colour problem with Urban.
Kinemacolour is brought into being.
Joy produces first colour machine.
Kinemacolour is taken to America.
The wonderful film of the Delhi Durbar in colour.
H. H. the Duke of Teck opens the Scala season.

CHAP^ER^XXIII .

Kinemacolour at the Scala Thtre.

Chas. Urban stricken with illness at the Royal Command Performance of Kinemacolour.
Action at law between Bicolour and Kinemacolour.
Chas. Urban loses the action and Kinemacolour is withdrawn.
The making of the war propaganda films.
"Britain Prepared," the film that caused America to enter
the War.
Prsentation to Chas. Urban.
The Spirograph home projector.
Some interesting educational films.
Kinemacolour versus Chronochrome.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Georges Melies, illusionist and sleight-of-hand performer.

The purchase of six R. W. Paul's projectors.
Early successful trick film productions.
Elected Prsident of French Society of Cinematography.
Elected Prsident of International Congress of Film Producers,
and Manufacturers.
Builds a studio in his garden in Paris.
Gulliver's Travels film is produced.
Wide gauge film is made to competc with Biograph.
The first long film, "A trip to the moon."
Astounding trick effects brought into being.
America warned to stop film duping.
Melies' Star Pictures dcline.
Kamm's Kammatagraph, circulai- glass plate machine for
kinematography.
The Spirograph rotary celluloid dise for kinematography by
Thodore Brown.
Bettini's rectangular glass plate machine for kinematography.

CHAPTER XXV.

The Aeroscope camra to run by compressed air, the invention

of Herr Cazimir-de-Prosynski.
Kineplasticon, the third dimension for kinematography, by
Herr Blitz of Vienna.
W. C. Hughes patents a new form of Choreutoscope.
Hughes' Photomotoscope.
A portable peep-show kinematograph.
Le-Petite Bijou kinematograph apparatus.
Various inventions for moving picture machines described.

CHAPTER XXV
continued

CHAPTER XXVI.

The Viviscope, the invention of William C. Farnum, of Vermont,

U.S.A.
The House of Gaumont.
Gaumont's Chrono-projector made under Demeney's patent.
Lon Gaumont invents La Grille, a fan shutter.
Mr. A. C. Bromhead becomes London Manager to the house
of Gaumont.
The Chrono-de-Poche.
Lon Gaumont produces sound with film in 1902.
The Chronophone and Chronomegaphone.
Mr. Bromhead produces the Gaumont Graphie.
Gaumont's Chronochrome or coloured kinematography.

A few of the colour processes that have evolved and have been
adapted to kinematography.
A short explanation of the additive, screeen plate, and subtractive processes.
The Path stencil colour process.
Biocolour.
Chronochrome.
Prizma.
Multicolour.
Ulysees' two-colour process.
Polychromide.
Dr. Jumeaux' three-colour System.
Verachrome.
Technicolour.
Zoechrome.
Kodacolor.
Spicer-Dufay process.

CHAPTER XXVII. Some interesting facts of the early days of movies.

Chas. Urban leaves the Warwick Trading Company, and Will
Barker takes command.
Will Barker patents the Cinephone.
Barker's motion picture photography, the Bulldog Brand.
Haydon and Urry. The Eragraph.
The first film of Her Late Majesty, Queen Victoria, produced
by W. & D. Downey.
The first continuous picture show in England.
Kinematography at the London Pavilion.
The first picture thtre in the City of London.

CHAPTER XXVIII. The first non-rewind machine.

Path projector fitted with Way rewind.
Cinma targets.
Firing at kinematograph pictures and registering the shots.
Life targets.
The training of marksmen for pistol and rifle shots.

CHAPTER XXIX.

The house of Path.

The marvellous Path coloured film, "The Life of Christ."
The Path Gazette.
Eve's Review.
Walter Tyler, the old lantern house.
The Globe Film Company.

CHA PTER XXX.

The history of recording sound.

Early experimentalists.
Sound effects to accompany the early movies.
The Allefex sound machine.
The Chronophotophone.
The Cinephone.
The Auxetophone sound amplifier with blown reed.
The Stentorphone.
The Vivaphone.
The Animatophone.
Herr Ruhmer and his sound transmission.
Eugne Lauste, the first inventor to apply sound on film to
kinematography.
Edison's Camcraphone and Kinetophone.
The invention of the thermionic valve.
Dr. Lee De Forcst and his invention of the Phonofilm.
Delmar Whitson and his experiments with light valves.
The Bell Tlphone Co. bring their experiments to a state of
perfection.
The Western Electric System of recording.
Sound on film the first to be launched commcrcially.
Warner Bros, the first licencees, adopt the dise System of
synchronisation.
The most successful early talkies.
The Fox Movietone adopt the R.C.A. System of sound on film.

SUA4E CE TUE
UNIQUE ANC
INTERESTING
ILLUSTRATIONS

BEALE'S

CHOREUTOSCOPE

This instrument was invented by Mr. Beale of Greenwich, in 1866, and

although in the form of a lantern slide, it embodied ail the principle lments
of an up-to-date Kinematograph Projector, having a Cam and Locking Movement, Masking Shutter, Long figure Slide and was worked by arotating handle.

A GROUP OF
EARLY MOVING PICTURE
MACHINES FROM THE
AUTHOR'S COLLECTION
IN THE SCIENCE MUSEUM,
SOUTH KENSINGTON.

1A model of Faraday's Wheel, 1830.

2The Stroboscope, invented by Dr. Stampfer, of Vienna, 1830.
3The Phenakisticope, invented by Dr. Plateau, ofGhent, 1830.
4The Anorthoscope, invented by Dr. Plateau, of Ghent, 1833.
5The Fantoscope with separate shutter, a subsquent improvement on the dise and mirror, 1850.
No. 6The Zoetrope, originally called the "Daedaleum" or "Wheel
of the Devil," invented by Dr. Horner, of Bristol, in 1838,
patented later by Mons. Devignev in 1860, and called by
him the "Zoetrope," or "Wheel of Life."
No. 7The Tachyscope, invented by Ottomar Anschutz, of Lissa
in Prussia, 1889.
No.
No.
No.
No.
No.

The Wayang Figures of Upper Java

Thse Figures are exactly similar to those used for
the Ombres Chinois or Chinese Shadow Shows of
5,000 B.C. They are eut from Buffalo Hide and
mounted upon Canes, being shown in shadow form
upon a sheet of parchment ; thus moving shadows
were shown upon a screen, 5,000 B.C.

THE

FOUNDATION OF THE SCIENCE

MOVING PICTURES

OF

Dr. PETER MARK ROGET, M.D., F.R.S.

HE naine of Dr. Peter Mark Roget, will

Mdical School of the University, graduating

stand out for ail time as the man who

as M.D. on June 25th, 1798.

laid down the basic principles for the

he was appointed as mdical adviser to

portrayal of movement in pictorial form.

several important institutions.

Subsequently,
In October,

A short review of his life, therefore, will

1808, he returned to London, where he took

prove interesting.

up rsidence near Russell Square, on being

appointed Physician to the Spanish Embassy

He was born in a house in Broad Street,

and other important bodies.

Soho, London, on the 18th January, 1779.

He was the only son of John Roget, a native
of Geneva, who was the pastor of a French
Protestant Church in Threadneedle Street,
London.

His mother, Catherine, was the

only surviving sister of Sir Samuel Romilly,

the great artist. His father died at Geneva,
in 1783.

Peter Mark Roget was then four

years of ge, and was brought up by his

mother.

After the death of his father, Mrs-

Roget went to live at Kensington Square,

at an establishment kept as a private school.
It was here that young Roget received his
early tuition.
the

study

of

He was passionately fond of

science

and

mathematics,

During this period Dr. Roget formed a great

l'riendship with Dr. Wollaston, through whose
influences he was elected a Fellow of the
Royal Society on March 16th, 1815, after
writing several interesting and important
papers on the physical sciences, including
the one that laid the foundations for the
portrayal of movement. On November 30th,
1827, he was elected secretary to that learned
Society. In this position, he followed Sir John
Herschel, and remained until his retirement
in 1849.
His death ocurred at West Malvern, England
in his 91st year, on September 12th, 1869.

subjects which, with the aid of a few books,

he pursued diligently.

Thus it will be seen that Dr. Peter Mark

Roget, M.D., F.R.S. , etc., had a most

In 1793, Mrs. Roget and her son went to

distinguished career and made himself master

rside

of the science of physics in several important

at

Edinburgh

in

Scotland,

where

young Roget, who was then 14 years of

branches.

ge, entered the University in that City.

in the year 1824, he enlightened the world

It is not to be wondered at, that

In 1795, two years later, he entered the

by his writings and lectures.

Extract from the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society

which published the paper given by Dr. Peter Mark Roget, M.D.,
F.R.S., on December 9th, 1824.
It was this paper which laid the foundations for the principle
of Moving Pictures and was acknowledged by Dr. Plateau, of Ghent,
and Dr. Stampfer, of Vienna, as the source from which they derived
the information enabling them to produce the first Moving Picture
Machines, the Phenakisticope and Stroboscope, 1830.

V. Explanation of an optical dception in the appearance of

the spokes of a wheel seen through vertical apertures. By
P. M. ROGET, M. D. F. R. S.
Read December 9, 1824.

A.

CURIOUS optical dception takes place when a carnage

wheel, rolling along the ground, is viewed through the intervais of a sries of vertical bars, such as those of a palisade,
or of a Venetian window-blind. Under thse circumstances
the spokes of the wheel, instead of appearing straight, as
they would naturally do if no bars intervened, seem to have
a considrable degree of curvature. The distinctness of this
appearance is influenced by several circumstances presently
to be noticed ; but when every thing concurs to favour it, the
illusion is irrsistible, and, from the difficulty of detecting its
real cause, is exceedingly striking.
The degree of curvature in each spoke varies according
to the situation it occupies for the moment with respect
to the perpendicular. The two spokes which arrive at the
vertical position, above and below the axle, are seen of
their natural shape, that is, without any curvature. Those
on each side of the upper one appear slightly curved ; those
more remote, still more so ; and the curvature of the spokes
increases as we follow them downwards on each side till we
arrive at the lowest spoke, which, like the first, again appears
straight.

Dr. Peter Mark Roget's Diagram

of Wheel Phenomena

W. FRIESE-GREENE : AND HIS WONDERFUL

INVENTION OF KINEMATOGRAPHY
1855 ^ 1921

beset, was simply colossal. And in the end,

During his lifetime, the author had the

his endeavours to find a solution to the

pleasure of many conversations with this

mysteries of showing actual photographs

moving upon a screen with lifelike motions

brilliant worker.

were crowned with success.

the best years of his life to recording life

The task this clever and highly scientific

Englishman had set himself to accomplish
was to take a sries of photographs in rapid
squence upon a band of celluloid film,
rendered transparent, using only one camra
ftted with a single lens.

Arising out of his history

two facts stand out prominently.

He gave

motion portrayals by means of photography ;

he spent two fortunes in the elusive pursuit
of his study and research to portray movement in colour.
In his unceasing labours to overcome obstacles, which hitherto had been regarded

This application of photography had been

as impossible, he often went without food

claimed as possible in the original patent

and sleep.

spcification of Fox-Talbot, of Laycock's

remembered that during his earlier studies

Abbey, Wiltshire, England as far back as

photography itsclf had reached no great stage

the year 1840.

It had also been suggested

of perfection ; celluloid, as a transparent base

But it had ne ver been success-

to carry the emulsion, was to ail intent and

by others.

fully carried into effectnothing practical

had been accomplishedwith the exception
of

the

short

lengths

of

film

produced

In this connection, it must be

purpose, an unknown quantity.

When

first

he

set

out

to

achieve

by

by Dr. Marey and W. K. L. Dickson

for Mr. Edison, until it was brought into

photography that

being in a commercial sens by William

figure dises and bands of paper used in the

Friese-Greene.

which had only been

accomplished by drawings such as the

Fantoscope, Zoetrope, and similar instruments he was introduced to that clever

WILLIAM PRIESE-GREENE, a native of Bristol, Englandas

he was when he invented Kinematography in June 1889.
His Patent No. 10131, issued by the British Patent
Office, June 21st, 1889, is the master patent for
Kinematography and lias been acknowledged by the
American and other courts as the prior patent of
the world.

OMANCE this word becomes possessed

of peculiar significance when applied
to the happenings of this man's life.
It was undoubtedly represented to the full
in the life of W. Friese-Greene. He was
the real and true inventor of commercial
kinematography. He was the first man to
patent and publish his method for the use

of celluloid as a photographie support for

motion picture photography
His struggles with almost insurmountable
obstacles ; his dsire for knowledge and its
application, were intense in the extrme.
His striving to overcome the great and
difficult problems with which his path was

After some of the greatest troubles and trials

that ever beset an inventor, ail of which to
record would fill several volumes, success
was achieved.
But as his life history is
only one of many in this work, space will
permit only of the principal pisodes in his
wonderful carcer being recorded.

scientific photographier and mechanic,

J.

A.

R. Rudge, who lived at 1, New Bond Street

Place, Bath.

That was in 1881.

From him he learned much of the art of

applying photography, and portraying movement by the optical lantern. And as we have

W. Friese-Greene, was known amongst his

already read in the chapters devoted to the

intimate friends as The British Edison, a

dsignation he had earned by the time he
took out his first patents. Thse have since

life of this great man, Rudge did successfully

been successfully uphcld the world over as

the master patents of Kinematography.

ments photographically recorded and shown

exhibit a sries of lantern slides upon glass

plates, depicting a squence of lifelike moveupon a screen.

W. FRIESE-GREENE: AND HIS WONDERFUL

INVENTION OF KINEMATOGRAPHY
1855-1921

beset, was simply colossal. And in the end,

During his lifetime, the author had the

his endeavours to find a solution to the

pleasure of many conversations with this

mysteries of showing actual photographs

moving upon a screen with lifelike motions

brilliant worker.

were crowned with success.

the best years of his life to recording life

The task this clever and highly scientific

Englishman had set himself to accomplish
was to take a sries of photographs in rapid
squence upon a band of celluloid film,
rendered transparent, using only one camra
fitted with a single lens.

Arising out of his history

two facts stand out prominently.

He gave

motion portrayals by means of photography ;

he spent two fortunes in the elusive pursuit
of his study and research to portray movement in colour.
In his unceasing labours to overcome obstacles, which hitherto had been regarded

This application of photography had been

as impossible, he often went without food

claimed as possible in the original patent

and sleep.

spcification of Fox-Talbot, of Laycock's

remembered that during his earlier studies

Abbey, Wiltshire, England as far back as

photography itself had reached no great stage

the year 1840.

It had also been suggested

of perfection ; celluloid, as a transparent base

by others. But it had never been successfully carried into effectnothing practical

to carry the emulsion, was to ail intent and

In this connection, it must be

purpose, an unknown quantity.

had been accomplishedwith the exception

When

first

he

set

out

to

achieve

by

of the short lengths of film produced

by Dr. Marey and W. K. L. Dickson

photography that

for Mr. Edison, until it was brought into

accomplished by drawings such as the

being in a commercial sens by William

figure dises and bands of paper used in the

Friese-Greene.

which had only been

Fantoscope, Zoetrope, and similar instruments he was introduced to that clever

WILLIAM FRIESE-GREENE , a native of Bristol, England as

he was when he invented Kinematography in June 1889.
His Patent No. 10131, issued by the British Patent
Office, June 21st, 1889, is the master patent for
Kinematography and lias been acknowledged by the
American and other courts as the prior patent of
the world.

OMANCEthis word becomes possessed

of peculiar significance when applied
to the happenings of this man's life.
It was undoubtedly represented to the full
in the life of W. Friese-Greene. He was
the real and true inventor of commercial
kinematography. He was the first man to
patent and publish his method for the use

of celluloid as a photographie support for

motion picture photography
His struggles with almost insurmountable
obstacles ; his dsire for knowledge and its
application, were intense in the extrme.
His striving to overcome the great and
difficult problems with which his path was

After some of the greatest troubles and trials

that ever beset an inventor, ail of which to
record would fill several volumes, success
was achieved.
But as his life history is
only one of many in this work, space will
permit only of the principal pisodes in his
wonderful career being recorded.

scientific photographier and mechanic, J. A.

R. Rudge, who lived at 1, New Bond Street
Place, Bath.

That was in 1881.

From him he learned much of the art of

applying photography, and portraying movement by the optical lantern. And as we have

W. Friese-Greene, was known amongst his

already read in the chapters devoted to the

intimate friends as The British Edison, a

dsignation he had earned by the time he
took out his first patents. Thse have since

life of this great man, Rudge did successfully

been successfully upheld the world over as

ments photographically recorded and shown

the master patents of Kinematography.

upon a screen.

exhibit a sries of lantern slides upon glass

plates, depicting a squence of lifelike move-

FILM:
"SHOEING A HORSE"
FILM OF A SNEEZE
By Mr. OTT

THOMAS ALVA EDISON

upon receipt of this film Edison turned to

Dickson with the remark "that having now
got the correct mdium, there was only one
thing to do, concentrate and work until
success was achieved." Dickson and his
assistant at once got busy and started making
pictures in a black tunnel shed put up as a
lcan-to building against the main exprimental laboratory where Edison and Dickson
had carried out thcir clever invention of
ore milling machinery, using for ngative
work the thinner and earlier product, the
first experiments with which produced a
certain frilling, as shown in the first exprimental film of "Shoeing a Horse," taken in
May, 1889. This date, it will be noted, was
prior to Greene's patent, although it must
be noted that Greene had also produced a
film before he applied for his patent.

It was about this period, in the midsummer

of 1889, that W. Friese-Greene acquired his
original British patent for kinematography,
No. 10131, the date of application being
June 21st, 1889, and the acceptance May
lOth, 1890. At the latter part of July, Mr.
T. A. Edison conceived the idea of making
a journey to Europe to overlook personally
his various interests, which had by then
assumed large proportions, and as there was
a great International Exhibition being held
in Paris, where a large exhibit of his own
works was being displayed in the Hall of
Industrial Arts, what was more natural than
he should rsolve upon paying a visit to
that wonderful display of craftsmanship and
learning ? It was on August 3rd, 1889, that
Edison embarked on board the steamer at
New York, being accompanied to the landing
stage by Mr. Dickson, and as the boat left
the dock Edison stood upon the deck and
pantomimed to Dickson, as if he were gazing
into a peep show Kinetoscope, and interpreted by Dickson to imply that he was to
get a hustle on and finish the invention.
During his stay in Paris, Edison made the
Personal acquaintance of Professor Marey,
who extended to him a cordial invitation to
witness a display of his recording of movement, which he lost no time in accepting,
and witnessed upon that occasion a wonderful
display of movement given by Marey's clever
technical assistant, Georges Demeney, as
depicted on the Stereo-Zootrope and also
his Chrono-Photography. Edison was agreeably suprised to witness the volutions of
various gymnasts, the flight of birds, the
various movements of animais, insects, etc.,
which Marey took great delight in showing
him, thse results being recorded upon a
band of stout celluloid film about 15 feet in
length, and it must have been a rvlation
to Edison to find that Marey had already
discovered and used a somewhat similar
substance to that he had left in the hands
of his capable assistant Dickson, but not

The first Exprimental Motion Picture

Machine constructed for Mr. T. A.
Edison by W. K. Laurie Dickson in
1888 in an attempt to produce moving
pictures upon a mtal cylinder, in a
somewhat similar manner to that
adaptcd for use in the Phonograph when
Mr. Edison produced sound upon a
cylinder of Wax. This photograph is
rcproduced by kind permission of
Terry Ramsey, Esq,

Mr. Alexander Parkes, of Birmingham, England.

The inventor and patente of Celluloid, in 1854.