Lumière Brothers Patent First Practical Movie Projector
The Lumière Brothers, Louis and Auguste, patented the first practical movie projector, known as the Cinématographe, on February 13, 1895, in France. This innovative device was significantly lighter and more efficient than previous models, making it a crucial advancement in the development of the motion picture industry. Prior to the Lumières, inventors like Edward Muybridge and Thomas Edison had contributed to early motion picture technology, but their devices faced limitations, such as being cumbersome or intended for single viewers only. The Cinématographe improved upon these concepts by being portable and capable of projecting images onto a screen, allowing for public screenings.
The first short film produced by the Lumières, titled "Quitting Time at the Lumière Factory," marked a landmark moment in cinema history with its public screening in Paris later that same year. Despite their pioneering work, the Lumière Brothers viewed their invention as a temporary novelty rather than a lasting art form, which ultimately led to their decline in prominence. In contrast, Thomas Edison recognized the potential of motion pictures and would build a successful enterprise around it, further solidifying the industry's growth. The legacy of the Lumière Brothers' contribution endures, as their innovations laid the groundwork for the cinematic experiences enjoyed today.
Lumière Brothers Patent First Practical Movie Projector
Lumière Brothers Patent First Practical Movie Projector
On February 13, 1895, Louis and Auguste Lumière patented the first practical movie projector in France. Their machine, much lighter and with better operating capabilities than competing models, paved the way for the eventual development of the motion picture industry.
The problem of producing the illusion of motion had absorbed the energies of inventors and photographers for years before the Lumières made their breakthrough. The first primitive movie (or, more accurately, movie clip, since movies in the modern feature-length sense were decades away) was probably created when the English photographer Edward Muybridge set up a series of cameras along a race track to photograph a galloping horse. Similar “motion studies” followed, and Muybridge invented a primitive projector that he named the zoopraxiscope. This device did not project images from film but from painted glass disks.
In 1885 George Eastman, a pioneer in the field of photography, began to manufacture and sell rolls of photographic film, more versatile than the plates then in use. This innovation led to Eastman's introduction in 1891 of a more modern type of film based on transparent celluloid. Thomas Edison had patented a variation on this kind of celluloid with small holes on the sides ideal for hooking onto a wheel in a projector. That same year, Edison patented his kinetoscope, a large and rather cumbersome machine that could only show movies to one viewer at a time, most of the movies lasting less than a minute. Nevertheless, Edison pursued the commercial development of his device, establishing a company to manufacture the kinetoscope and opening several arcades where patrons could come and view his short films.
The Lumière machine of 1895 was a much better movie projector than Edison's or any other competitor's. It could both take pictures as well as function as a projector. It was sufficiently lightweight and portable, so that it could be used outdoors. It could also project images onto a screen, a feature that had been added to later versions of the Kinetoscope, but the Lumière machine did so more efficiently. Named the Cinématographe, from which the word cinema is derived, the Lumière projector was quieter and more reliable than Edison's machine, and it used less film. After patenting their device, the brothers produced Quitting Time at the Lumière Factory. This short movie, produced on celluloid film, as would become standard for the industry in the 20th century, was shown to an audience at the Grand Café in Paris later in 1895. It was the first public showing of a modern celluloid movie ever.
Unfortunately for the Lumières, they had no faith in the future of their invention. They produced hundreds of short movies and even had showings in the United States, but fundamentally they considered movies to be little more than a fad. It was Edison who would become the giant of the movie projector industry. He built on the progress made by the Lumières by incorporating their improvements into his own projectors. He correctly predicted that the motion picture industry would experience enormous growth in the future, and he profited from it while the Lumières sank into obscurity.