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CINE06RAPH PICTURES*7 *Demonatration and Lecture at Franklin Institute Reception. There was aa Interested throng of people within the walls of the old Franklin Institute, Seventh street below Market, last evening on the occasion of the formal opening of the library and reading room, which nas recently been greatly improved.A reception was tendered the members and friends of the Institute by the Board of Managers and the entire build*ug was thrown open for the entertainment of theguests. , ,On the third floor the students of the drawing classes were seen at work and on the second, in the library, refreshments were served. The chief feature of interest, however, was a lecture given in response to a request from many members of the Franklin Institute by S. Lulnn, of this city. The lecture and demonstration Illustrated the evolution of the process and mechanism for the projecting of life motion pictures, from the crude', cumbrous and clumsy contrivance first devised to that delicately constructed marvel of mechanism, the elneograph, invented and perfected hy Mr. Lubin. Models of the many Improvements that have been made in picture projecting machines were exhibited and operated, and between the earlier models and the elneograph, n which is represented the latest developments of this particular branch of science, is no less pronounced a difference than that between the first bicycle and the faultless racing wheel of to-day.The oineograph is an instrument by which instantaneous photographic pictures of moving objects, whether animate or inanimate, are illuminated and displayed,freatiy magnified, upon a screen, exhiblt-ng every motion of the object with an effect that is so true to nature as to almost toree the observers to believe that they are viewing the reality. In a word, everything possessing motion can be photographed for reproduction by the rlneo-graph. For instance,*the waves breakingon the seashore, a troop of cavalry making a charge, express railway train at a full speed, a boxing match, or, indeed, any operation perceivable by the naked human eye may be thus caught and preserved oil the sensitive gelatin. Bach subject is illustrated by instantaneous photographs — snap shots”—of the successive movements of the natural scene or the living object, from about 800 to 2400 differcut photographs being necessary to develop each design and constitute what is called a film.” The separate movements are photographed consecutively on-tlii% filth. Which is a transparent band of about 1% inches wide, varying in length from about fifty feet upwards, aecordiug to the number of movements to be represented.A simple, yet effective, mechanism, operated by hand, causes one of these films to pass swiftly through the optical system of the elneograph, being at the same time brilliantly illuminated, and the lenses of the instrument project the successive pictures, highly maguified, to a screen placed at a suitable distance. The pictures are cast upon the screen one after the other, with lightning rapidity, but occupying always the same space, e^eh combining with its predecessor so quickly that the eye cannot perceive any break between them, and thus the effect of continuous action results. There is no hitch, jerk or vibration to destroy the harmonious continuity of action, on which the beauty of the illusion so largely depends. Thus entire fidelity to nature is secured and the illusion is perfect. The most recent achievement of the elneograph was the photographic reproduction of the celebrated Passion Play as performed at Oberammergau. Nearly a mile of celluloid film was consumed In this task alone.
Newspaper Details
Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, US
Fri, Dec 02, 1898
Page 13
Full Page
Clipped by
Rotten T.
USA 13 Jul 2020
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