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| Title | Amet Magniscope |
| Coverage / Year | 1896 to 1897 |
| Description | Thirty-five millimeter film projector made of tin, galvanized metal and brass. It has two film reels and sits on a wood base. |
| Interpretation | The Amet Magniscope, "The perfect projecting machine, " was one of the earliest motion picture projectors manufactured. It was designed and manufactured between 1896 and 1897 by E. H. Amet of Waukegan, Illinois, an Illinois native and pioneer in the motion picture industry. It should be noted, however, that Louis and Auguste Lumiere, produced the very first reasonable demonstration of a projected moving image. On December 28, 1895 in Paris, the Lumiere brothers showed a film of a train entering a station, a rowing boat leaving a harbor, and workers leaving a factory, to a disbelieving crowd. The cinema as we know it today was born that night. E.H. Amet was the first inventor to put sprockets into his film. Thus the film would advance in his projector. The operating side had a calcium light. This device projects moving images onto a screen. This early movie projector ran with a modified crank. Burning gas was used as the light source but it created a fire risk. Originally marketed for $259, but because of its awkward design and possible fire hazard the price fell to $100, and the inventor resorted to selling the accompanying films to make a profit. Only seven Magniscopes are known to exist. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago has two models in its collection. |
| Lesson Plans / Themes | How we learn about communities; American communities in history; |
| Learning Standards | 16 History; 10-12 Science; 13 Science, Technology and Society; |
| Author or Creator | Amet, Edward H. (Edward Hill), 1860-1948 |
| Source | De Bono, Edward. Eureka! An Illustrated History of Inventions from the Wheel to the Computer. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1974; Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, Accession File #31.67 |
| Subject / Keywords | Film projectors; Movie projectors; Motion picture projectors; Inventions; Cinematography; Cinema; Waukegan, Illinois |
| Collection Publisher | Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago
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| Further Information | For any further information related to this record, please contact the Collection Publisher. See http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/tdc for more information about this project. |
| Rights Management Statement | http://images.library.uiuc.edu/projects/tdc/conditions.htm |
| Resource Identifier | 31.67 |
| CONTENTdm file name | 18715151982002_AMETMOVI.jpg |
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