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3 wordies list
kinetoscope |
(n): a device invented by Edison that gave an impression of movement as an endless loop of film moved continuously over a light source with a rapid shutter; precursor of the modern motion picture
(n): an instrumentality invented for a particular purpose
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The first true motion-picture viewing device, developed by 1891 by William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, an employee of Thomas Edison, at Edison's sprawling laboratory complex in what is now West Orange, New Jersey. "Kineto-" means motion, and "-scope" means examine or view. Kinetoscopes allowed one viewer at a time to see a short (usually less than one minute) film. After Edison received his patents in 1893, he sold coin-operated Kinetoscopes and enterprising individuals bought them in groups and installed them in what came to be called "Kinetoscope parlors," the forerunners of today's movie theaters, where respectable women and children did not go. Within a few years, the novelty of one-minute films had worn off and the price dropped from 25 cents to 10, then to 5, and the devices/parlors became known as nickelodeons. Edison sold only about 900 of these devices. See also Kinetograph.
In the meantime, Dickson had moved on and was making longer films... see Latham loop, Mutoscope, and Biograph.