The state republican. (Jefferson City, Mo.) 1871-1896, 1894-06-28
EDISON,S

A REMARKABLE INVENTION THAT
REPRoDUCEs ACTION AS WELL
AS SOUND.
Just what tie kinetograph and
the kaleidoscope really will accom-
plish is known to few people, because
of II lack of any authentic and
authorized description of the in
struments. This will be supplied
by an interesting article wri' ten
by Antonio and W. X. l.. Dickson,
the latter Mr.. Edison's laboratory
assistant and the expert who took
the magic pictures reproduced by
the kaleidoscope. The article is
accompanied by illustrations showing
the photographic theater and labor
atory at Orange, n. j., and the
minute photographs, taken in a
series OF a long strip and recording
all the phases of some completed
action.
Mr.. Edison himself writes n brief
introduction: "ln the year 1887,
the idea occurred to me that it
was possible to devise an instrument
which should do for the eye what
the monograph does for the ear,
and that by Il combination of the
two, all motion and. sound could
be recorded and reproduced stimuli
taneously. This idea, the germ OF
which came from the little toy
called the zoetrope, and the work
of Muybridge, Marie, and others,
has been now accomplished, SO
that every change of facial ex-
preston can be recorded and repro
duced lifeless. The kaleidoscope is
only a small model illustrating the
present stage of progress, but with
tdCH ~SuNN'tulHE HloLilh hcM PoSoi
bilities are brought into view.
believe that in coming years by
my own work and that of Dickson,
Muyhridge, Marie, and others who
will doubtless enter the field, grand
opera can be given at the Met
ropolitan opera house at New York
without any material change from
the original, and with artists and
musicians long since dead"
The s~ynchronous attachment OF
photography with the phonograpf
was early contemplated by Mr.
Edison, in order to record anC
give back the impressions to the
eye as well as to the ear, say the
Dicksons in their article.
The comprehensive term for this
invention is the kineto- phonograph
The dual ''taking-machine" is tn,
phono- k~inetegraph, and the r q
producing machine the phono- kinet
oscope, in contradistinction to tn,
kiretograph and the kaleidoscope
which relate respectively to thu
taking and reproduction of movable
but soundless objects.
The initial experiments took tn,
form of microscopic pin point photo
graphs, placed on n cylindrica
shell, corresponding in size to tn
ordinary photograph cylinder. Thes
two cylinders were then placed sid
by side OF a shaft, and the SCUM
record was taken as near as possibl
spontaneously with the photograph
image impressed on the sensitiv
surface of the shell.
The Photographic portion of tn
work presented many difficulties
and the writer's describe at lengtI
the efforts that were made to get
film sufficiently sensitive to take tn
impression in the brief time possibl
for exposure, and that would Civ
such detail as to bear enlargement
This vas finally accomplished, how
ever, and a shutter was invente
which gave an exposure of l-272
I part of n second. The next steI
and one which sorely tried tn
patience and ingenuity of the inven
tors, was to connect the camera an
the photograph so that the actio
and the accompanying sound shoul
both be recorded exactly simultane
ously. The pictures were taken in
> specially devised theater, which
described.
l The actors were more than one
l number, and kept as close togetht
as possible, and exposed either t
! the glare of the sun, to the blindin
> light of four parabolic magnetism
, lamps or to the light of twenty arc
: lamps, provided with highly actin.
carbons, supplied with powerfl
! %reflectors equal to about $4,000 car
; ! -power. This radiance is cor
! centrated upon the performers viii
the kinetograph and photograph al
. hard at work storing up records ar
Impressions for future reproduction
A popular and inexpensive adaI
tation of microscopic methods is
the form of the well known nickl,