DONISTHORPES TRAFALGAR SQUARE FOOTAGE 1890

He described a strip of
paper with photographs on it equal distances from each other. Each would
be wound from one cylinder to another and then seen through either the
Phenakistoscope or Zoetrope.

Donisthorpe finishes initial work on his Kinesigraph which may have been designed with Edison's Phonograph in mind. Edison had shown interest in Donisthorpe's machine for the purpose of uniting sound with movement, and would later meet with both Muybridge (1883 and 1888) and Marey (1889) for the same reason. In 1887 Friese-Greene would contact Edison regarding synchronized sound development. Edison's announcement of his Phonograph in New Jersey and write-up in the American press regarding the sound-pictures possibilities caused Donisthorpe to approach the English magazine Nature for the following quote in it's first copy of 1878; [December 1877 Scientific American article on Edison's Phonograph]
1889 WORDSWORTH DONISTHORPE and WILLIAM CARR CROFTS ( - )

They jointly finish the
development of an apparatus Donisthorpe began in 1878. It projected a
Celluloid ribbon and maintained the name Kinesigraph.
In 1889 they patented it. The machine photographed at approximately 10
frames per second and 10 frames alone, are extant.

This is an amazing looped animation, from these actual frames that survive. Trafalgar Square, London, 1890 as photographed by Donisthorpe.

Wordsworth Donisthorpe
filmed the traffic at London's Trafalgar Square
with a camera he and Crofts had patented. This footage has not
been contested as the first motion picture ever taken of the city
of London.

This scene was never
shown publicly. History has not revealed its name, however this
machine, which was patented in 1889 allowed a continuous roll
of film to pass through the aperture evenly and smoothly. The
take-up reel and supply reel were almost synchronized as to provide
the stability needed to avoid tearing and flickering.

Donisthorpe was never
able to acquire backing for the project of moving pictures. Crofts
and Donisthorpe had previously created their Kinesigraph
in 1878.

Ten frames of the Trafalgar
Square footage (originally taken on paper) are extant
and have been digitized and created here to show
how it may have looked in 1890.

THE HISTORY OF THE DISCOVERY OF CINEMATOGRAPHY
An illustrated Chronological History of the Development of Motion Pictures Covering 2500 Years Leading to the Discovery of Cinematography in the 1800's

http://precinemahistory.net

-- Paul Burns