5. Charles Francis Jenkins and the motion picture projector
Thomas Edison claimed to have invented the motion picture projector, though he did not. Francis Jenkins invented a projector for films which he called the Phantoscope, described to the press as a “motion picture projecting box” in 1894. With his partner, Thomas Armat, he improved and patented the device in 1897. Armat and Jenkins soon found themselves at odds over credit for the Phantoscope and their partnership fell apart. Jenkins sold his interest in the Phantoscope and his patents to his former partner. Armat then took the Phantoscope and the patents to a potential financial and technical backer, Thomas Edison.
Armat joined Edison’s company and sold the patents for the Phantoscope to his new employer. With some modifications and improvements made by Armat, Edison released the motion picture projector to the world as an invention of his, called the Vitascope. Jenkins manufactured automobiles for a time before moving into the new technology of television in the 1920s. Edison entered into the movie business, using the former Phantoscope to display films in vaudeville theaters before paying audiences. His company also began producing films in New Jersey, as well as selling Vitascope projectors to customers, to whom Edison would then rent the films.
