Thomas Edison Research Paper

Thomas Edison had a niche for finding an issue among the people and creating a solution. Most of his “solutions” he is famous for are in the form of an invention. Thomas Edison is famous for many inventions. His most famous inventions were the telegraph, light bulb, phonograph, and the kinetograph (movie camera). Edison invented the movie camera in 1897. He worked in motion pictures for two years. His studio was named “The Black Maria” and over two hundred fifty films (twenty seconds) were created in this studio. Edison’s idea for the movie camera was not 100% original. Thomas Edison’s idea “was based on photographic principles discovered by still-photograph pioneers Joseph Nicephone Niepce and Louis Daguerre of France.” (History 1).

The kinetograph would take 40 pictures within a few seconds. Thomas Edison would then speed the films up to look like they were in constant motion. This is how all video cameras work and the origin was Thomas Edison’s kinetograph. The entire basis of motion pictures is an illusion. When the film strips are sped up, it gives the viewer the illusion that they are watching the event live and all at once. This illusion was used by other inventors in Edison’s time.

The illusion was used by many people including Dr. John Aryton Paris. He took the idea and put pictures on a spinning toy so that when a child would spin the toy, it would look as if it was one continuous scene. Two devices similar to the spinning toy by Dr. Paris are the Phenakistiscope and the Zoetrope.

When Thomas Edison invented the kinetograph, he had already created a name for himself when he had invented previous things such as the incandescent light bulb. Since Edison already had his name out in the world, it made the introduction of the kinetograph much