Eidoloscope

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The eidoloscope (from ancient Greek εἴδωλον eidolon = image, likeness) was a projection apparatus for motion picture film two inches wide (50.8 mm) and a film pitch of ¾ inches (19.05 mm). Its peculiarity was that the aperture shaft has a ratio of 4: 1 to the shaft of the pen, so that the film can be shown at 12 frames per second without flicker. The film drive is a switching roller in connection with a Maltese cross gear .

A recording apparatus for wide film and wide screen format (3: 7) was patented on March 1, 1898 for Woodville Latham. The camera was designed by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson . It works on the principle of the racket and, as a reversible, can also be used for copying and projection. It has two individually removable drum locks and, as a special feature, a control device consisting of smooth rubber rollers and adjustable pressure.

history

Woodville Latham's sons Otway and Gray were asked when operating a Kinetoscope Parlor in 1894 to show films in projection. Dickson was secretly involved in the Latham Project until his employment with Edison ended in early April 1895 . He introduced the Latham to his former subordinate at Edison, Eugène Augustin Lauste . The dividing line between Dickson's and Lauste's contribution is hard to find today. Probably Dickson determined the film format and the basic features of the camera, Lauste the structure of the projector, which was initially called Panopticon . The technician had to assert himself against the continuously running movie that Dickson and the Latham were occupying.

The common feature of the camera and projector is the first-time use of winding rolls. Loose loops can be stretched into the film between this and the picture window, so that only a relatively short section is moved in an offset manner. The information on the author of this arrangement is contradictory. Most likely Lauste had the idea.

Thanks to the loops, films of unlimited length could basically be handled. The Lambda Company took advantage of this with current images, for example a boxing match on May 4, 1895. The Lathams showed this film from May 20, 1895 in a specially set up room on Broadway in New York (first film projection in the world in front of a paying Audience).

In 1897 the disadvantages of the eidoloscope became serious. The frame rate was too low. After two changes, concerning the film and the aperture, those responsible at the Eidoloscope Company, the successor to Lambda Co., sold the system to Raff & Gammon.

literature

  • U.S. Patent 600,113
  • CW Ceram (Marec or Marek): An archeology of the cinema . Rowohlt, 1965
  • John Belton: The Origins of 35mm Film as a Standard . In: SMPTE Journal , August 1990, pp. 652-661

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