湯瑪斯‧愛迪生 (Thomas Edison) 於1887年8月31日為電影放映機 (kinetoscope) 申請專利

當他的助理迪克生 (W. K. L. Dickson) 發明電影看片機時，愛迪生認為那只是微不足道的小玩具。不過，後來那卻成為相當重要的成就。愛迪生希望這項發明能夠刺激錄音機與留聲機的銷售業績，但是他卻不能把聲音與影像結合在一起。所以，他開始發明電影放映機，這是一個能夠在沒有聲音的情況下欣賞電影的機器。愛迪生在1887年8月31日為這部機器申請專利。因為影片本身就是酸性物質所做的，所以大多數的電影放映機影片不是不完整，就是已經燒燬了。但是很幸運的，愛迪生為每一部影片都做了紙本的複製品，他稱這些作品為「密觸版印」 (contact print) 。所以現在你可以看到愛迪生當初所放映的第一部電影，一般都稱之為「佛瑞德‧歐特的噴嚏」 (Fred Ott』s Sneeze) 。


When his assistant W.K.L. Dickson invented the motion picture viewer, Edison initially considered it an insignificant toy. However, it turned out to be an immediate success. Edison had hoped the invention would boost sales of his record player, the phonograph, but he was unable to match sound with pictures. Therefore, he directed the creation of the kinetoscope, a device for viewing moving pictures without sound. Edison patented this invention on August 31, 1887. Most of those early kinetoscope films disintegrated or burned because of the film's nitrate (acidic) base. But luckily, he had made paper copies of the film's individual frames, called "contact prints." So now you can view one of Edison's first-ever moving pictures, commonly called "Fred Ott's Sneeze."

1/3 頁