Edison meets Muybridge to discuss sound film (1888)

Eadweard Muybridge lectured in Orange, New Jersey, on February 25, 1888, demonstrating his zoopraxiscope, and two days later met Thomas Edison at the Edison laboratory in West Orange, where they discussed combining the zoopraxiscope with the phonograph. No collaboration was undertaken; Edison filed a caveat for his own motion picture device in October 1888. A legacy row asserts the meeting occurred on February 27, 1888, at West Orange, a date and place not independently confirmed by the retrieved passages.

Episodes

Background and detail

Background. Muybridge was known for his zoopraxiscope, a device projecting painted motion pictures from glass discs. This technology predated the flexible perforated film strip used in later cinematography. Edison had registered numerous patents and founded the Edison Phonograph Company in 1887. In 1888, Edison began conceptualizing a camera to complement the phonograph, setting the stage for potential collaboration with Muybridge.

The Proposal. Muybridge proposed combining his zoopraxiscope with Edison's phonograph to create a sound film system. This proposal followed Muybridge's lecture in Orange, New Jersey, on February 25, 1888, where he demonstrated his projection device. Edison, however, did not undertake such a collaboration, instead filing a preliminary claim for his own motion picture device in October 1888.

Aftermath. Edison filed a caveat in October 1888, later naming the device Kinetoscope in March 1889. The collaboration with Muybridge did not materialize. Edison's work on the Kinetoscope was largely developed by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson between 1889 and 1892, using sensitized celluloid sheets supplied by John Carbutt.

People involved

Sources

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.