Mechanical Memories Magazine

Moving Picture Machines
Part two - The Mutoscope
In part one we saw how the pioneering days of moving pictures and coin-op were
combined in the form of the Kinetoscope. These large, unreliable and cumbersome
machines were eventually replaced by a new viewing machine: the Mutoscope.
However, the new coin-operated peepshow machine was to be just a part of a huge
cinematic business, which within just a few years would be worldwide.
W hil st still in the e mpl oy of Th omas Edi son, Willi am Kennedy-Lauri e Di ckson sec retl y
fo rmed assoc iati ons w ith other inventors, including Hany No1ion Ma rvin and R emian
Cas ler. It was to Marv in a nd Casle r that Di ckson pro posed a simpl e alternati ve to the
Kinetoscope, and together they co ntri ved a mac hine that utili sed the fli ck book principl e.
T hey we re joi ned by E li as Koopma n, and towa rds the end of 1894 fo rmed the KMCD
synd ica te. So me hi sto ri ans ha ve suggested that Di ckson 's contributi on to the enterp1i se
may not have been pa1ii cul a rl y s ignifi cant, and that he was required onl y fo r hi s
conn ecti ons w ith Ed ison. However, without di spute, hi s kn ow ledge and ex peri ence in
fi lm mak ing wo ul d have been in va luabl e. Di ckso n left Ed ison during 1895, hav ing been
acc used of d is loya lty, and spent th e nex t two yea rs ca ny ing o ut some pi onee1ing film
wo rk in A meri ca befo re mov ing to England , where he remai ned for th e rest of hi s life.
At abo ut the time th e synd ica te was fo rmed, Cas ler had co mpl eted a prototype
mac hin e, and a patent appli cati on was fi led o n 21 st Nove mber 1984 fo r the device,
whi ch was to be named Mutosco pe. Indi vidual film fra mes, printed on ca rds, we re
mo unted in seq uence aro und a drum to fo rm a reel. In opera tio n, a cran k was turned
whi c h caused the ree l to revo lve; the cards ' fli c king' pas t the view ing lens, thus giving
th e illusio n of movement. Ea rl y in 189 5, a camera was perfec ted and named
M utograph , whi c h was dri ven by an e lec t1i c moto r powered by ba tteri es, and used 2 ¾"
w ide film . B y June of that yea r, the camera was full y operati onal and Di ckson
comme nced pro ducing the first mutoscope film s. It was inte nded that the Mutoscope,
w ith its flip card ree l, and the Mutograph camera using wide gauge film, should be as
diffe rent as possibl e to Edi son 's Kin etoscope and Kin etograph ca mera, in order to avo id
pro bl ems w ith patent in fringement. O n the 4 th Nove mber 1895, the Mutoscope patent
was app roved, and on the 27 th December the KMCD Syndi cate became ' The Ame ri can
Mutosco pe Co mpany', w ith pre mi ses at 841 B roadway, New Y ork .
Throug hout 1896, effo 1is we re concentrated on developing a proj ecti on device: the
Biograph . E ven at thi s earl y stage, the enom1o us potenti a l for on-screen projecti on must
have been realised, as the Bi ograph deve lopment seems to ha ve taken precedence over
the Mutoscope. The Bi ograph was co mpl eted in the summer, and was first commerc iall y
de mo nstrated on the 14 th September, whi ch considerabl y predated the Mutoscope.
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