Big-screen motion pictures nor their operators would have debuted for a second time, in the nineteenth century, had it not been for the electric carbon arc light—a source of illumination utilized in antiquity, forgotten for a thousand years in the Dark Ages, and then finally brought back to mind. When its arc is set between a concave mirror and certain lenses, the combination can squeeze its light into a powerful beam that can light up a strip of cellulose images enough to portray reality on a distant screen. . . .
The oldest motion picture projector was probably invented in antiquity, but as for modern times, the credit goes to W. E. Lincoln, who patented one on April 23, 1867. The contrivance was a mere toy, employing no light and being a little machine, which, when revolved, gave figures, printed in different positions, the mere semblance of motion. . . .
The photograph of this piece of optical glass, Bausch & Lomb’s “Crown Jewel of Optical Science,” was extracted from a vintage Bausch & Lomb Ebay catalog of Balopticons and Accessories. . . .
The electric microscope probably first appeared at some point in antiquity, after the Egyptian priests and others had discovered the carbon arc light. However, this technology was apparently lost at some time during the Dark Ages, and did not reappear until the nineteenth century. The is evidenced in a report in the October 1870 issue of Harper’s New Monthly Magazine, which expounded on the electric arc light’s camera-friendly merits in conjunction with the use of the microscope in the United States. In an article therein, entitled “Electric Light in Photography,” the writer informs us that . . .
The motion picture projector, like the electric carbon arc light, was apparently known since antiquity. Surprisingly, however, animated pictures were not recreated until relatively recently. According to Henry Chase Hill, the editor of the 1917 edition of The Wonder Book of Knowledge, a well-known manufacturer of movie projectors related what really inspired its growth and development—in the following year. That man, who should have been one in the know, said: . . .
According to the information provided under the Union Carbide Corporation’s advertisement reproduced above, “the sun never sets” on motion picture studio sets—after the yellow flame of its Oscar-winning carbon arc light began blazing away. “ A picture is worth a thousand words,” but these company’s words from the beginning of the latter half of the last century will add some light to the adage: . . . .