
First motion picture camera, 1888
Patent #423, granted to Louis Le Prince by the British Patent Office
Transcript
Who doesn鈥檛 love a good Hollywood story? In the 1930s and '40s, there was a vogue for biopics about scientists and inventors: Don Ameche played Alexander Graham Bell, Paul Muni won an Oscar for playing Louis Pasteur, Greer Garson was Marie Curie, even Edward G. Robinson got into the act as the Nobel-winning immunologist Dr. Paul Ehrlich, and Spencer Tracy starred in 1940 in Edison, the Man. Diligent workers all, long hours over many years, many obstacles and setbacks, only to win through in the final reel to success and notoriety forever as the score swells over the closing credits. Stirring stuff.
While this isn鈥檛 a story about Hollywood, it鈥檚 among the first stories about motion pictures 鈥 the origin story, if you will 鈥 how it all got started and while there are no spoilers here, I can tell you that it does indeed have a classic Hollywood ending 鈥 though maybe not quite the one you know or expect.
A document that changed the world: Patent #423, granted to Louis Le Prince by the British Patent Office, 1888
I鈥檓 Joe Janes of the University of Washington Information School, and I鈥檓 joined here by my student Ellianna Thayne, who researched, wrote and produced this episode.
Picture a mahogany box with applewood feet and brass fittings, weighing in at some forty pounds; something you might mistake for an odd side table, if it wasn鈥檛 for two lenses peeking out at the front and a reel of film in the back, set on two spools to capture passing images held for exposure behind a brass plate, which is your main indication that this is the first motion picture camera. On the fourteenth of October, 1888, this camera recorded the very first known film in the Roundhay suburb of Leeds, England, featuring the inventor鈥檚 son, in-laws, and good friend walking around a garden. The surviving frames 鈥 now available on YouTube, of course, constitute a two-second film that stands today as proof that, yes, Louis Le Prince, is indeed the original inventor of the motion picture camera. To which you are likely now saying, 鈥淲hat, who?鈥
In late 1886, Le Prince files a patent application, US #376,247, titled 鈥淢ethod of and apparatus for producing animated pictures of natural scenery and life鈥, for a 16-lens system meant, as many early attempts at motion pictures did, to capture photographs in rapid sequence. It also marked the end of his time in New York, where he鈥檇 been living with his wife and children; shortly after, Le Prince moved to Leeds 鈥 where he鈥檇 be closer to benefactors 鈥 and on January 10th, 1888, he would submit another patent application, this one in Britain, #423, which claimed: 鈥淚mprovement in the method of and apparatus for producing animated photographic pictures and that he is the true and first inventor thereof鈥. This patent was actually written for the 16-lens camera and projection system 鈥 but right before he sent it off to the British Patent Office, Le Prince tacked on a provision for his newly-developed single-lense camera and projection system.
The distinction between a 16- and single-lense system gets to the heart of the definition of 鈥渇ilm鈥: Film, as we all know, isn鈥檛 just a bunch of pictures taken really fast, it鈥檚 a continuous recording from a single point of view, a feat Le Prince achieved after many years of experimentation at his workshop in Leeds.
It鈥檚 likely that this interest in cinematography actually began in his childhood; his father was good friends with Louis Daguerre, the inventor of the Daguerreotype, who taught Le Prince about chemistry, art, and photography at his studio. By the time he began submitting patents for his own inventions, Le Prince had completely dedicated his life to discovering the mechanisms that could record and reproduce moving life.
The British patent office accepted Le Prince鈥檚 application on the 16th of November, 1888, a month after Edison began work on his own motion-picture device, and, coincidentally we hope, a week after the last of what鈥檚 known as the 鈥渃anonical five鈥 murders of Jack the Ripper. Depositions given to the US consulate, concerning Le Prince鈥檚 American patent application, further corroborated his inventorship. James Longley, a mechanic who assisted Le Prince in his workshop, told the consul he鈥檇 constructed 鈥渁n improved camera of one lens for taking Photographs at a great number per minute. I also partly made the delivering machine for throwing the Pictures at the Same rate as taken in the Camera, onto a large white Screen鈥. Engineer John William Vine confirmed he鈥檇 seen this projection device in action in 1889. A friend named Henry Woolf claimed he鈥檇 witnessed 鈥渆xhibited on a screen a moving figure of a man, which gave the impression of life-like movement鈥 back in 1886. Patent secured, Le Prince was ready to share his invention with the world. His wife, Lizzie, organized a public film showing back in Manhattan. On September 16th, 1890, Le Prince said goodbye to his brother before boarding a train from Dijon to Paris, his second-to-last stop before setting off for New York. He was never seen again.
Le Prince鈥檚 disappearance baffles still today. Despite the efforts of his friends and family, no evidence has ever been found to indicate whatever fate befell him: no eyewitnesses (despite the fact that he was a striking 6鈥4鈥 with a distinctive mustache), no body, no deathbed confessions. Sensational theories abound, of course, though none hold water. However, here鈥檚 something tangible to chew on: Thomas Edison submitted a 鈥渃aveat鈥 to the US patent office for a motion-picture camera undeniably similar to Le Prince鈥檚 single-lens, mere weeks after he, dare we say, 鈥渃inematically鈥 vanished off the face of the earth.
Edison was infamous for his use of caveats to keep his foot in the door of multiple evolving industries. Here鈥檚 how it worked: he would file a caveat with a vague description of some new groundbreaking technology. When competitors sent in their full patent applications for the same, or similar, inventions, the patent office would notify Edison, giving him three months to submit his patent application. When he did so, the caveat would establish precedence, and Edison would be declared the original inventor. If that sounds like cheating to you, you鈥檇 be right 鈥 the United States outlawed the caveat in 1910 under the very same logic.
The most damning part? Edison鈥檚 previous designs hadn鈥檛 even been close to the mechanism that powered Le Prince鈥檚 single-lens. In 1888, when he assigned the work of inventing a motion-picture device to his assistant, William Kennedy Laurie Dickson, Edison insisted that a glass cylinder be used as the photographic base for the camera, and that a peephole device be implemented for viewing. By the time his motion-picture 鈥渋nvention鈥 was announced to the public, however, the camera 鈥 coined the 鈥淜inetograph鈥 鈥 utilized not a glass cylinder but a roll of celluloid film, and instead of a peephole device he鈥檇 created the 鈥淜inetoscope鈥, a projector. Remember Henry Woolf? When he saw that announcement in The Sun, he reached out to Lizze Le Prince, outraged: this was 鈥渁n infringement on Le Prince鈥檚 machine,鈥 he declared. The United States patent office agreed. They rejected Edison鈥檚 first two attempts to patent the Kinetograph, stating: 鈥淭he claims are anticipated by patents to Le Prince 376247, Jan. 10, 1888鈥.
Even when the patent was finally accepted in 1893, the fight wasn鈥檛 over. William Dickson, the assistant who developed the Kinetograph and Kinetoscope 鈥 and unsurprisingly got none of the credit 鈥 left Edison鈥檚 employment and founded the American Mutoscope Company, a competing enterprise. As you can imagine, that didn鈥檛 go over well. Before long the rival companies were engaged in a bitter court case: Equity 6928: Thomas A. Edison vs American Mutoscope Company, with the intention of determining whether 鈥淭homas A. Edison was the original, first and sole inventor or discoverer鈥 of cinematography.
In 1898, a year after Le Prince was legally declared dead, his family became involved in the case. His son Adolphe 鈥 who鈥檇 featured in the Roundhay Garden Scene as a child 鈥 jumped on the opportunity to bring a public spotlight to his father鈥檚 inceptive inventorship. The Le Prince family had been trying to advocate on behalf of Louis since his disappearance, but in the mandatory waiting period following his disappearance before he could be declared deceased, they couldn鈥檛 take legal action against Edison, nor did they possess the financial or technical abilities to publicize his films. By the time they could take legal management of Le Prince鈥檚 patents, Edison and other film pioneers had already dominated the emerging cinema industry. When Adolphe arrived in court, he brought with him his father鈥檚 cameras as physical proof and further testimony to support the record of antecedency. Perhaps the most timeline-affirming piece of evidence was the Roundhay Garden Scene, confirmed as predating Edison鈥檚 caveat by two years because it featured Le Prince鈥檚 sister in-law 鈥 who died a matter of days after she was filmed. American Mutoscope, however, walked a fine line. They only wanted to disprove Edison鈥檚 claim to originality; if they were to prove Le Prince鈥檚 inventorship, they would have to pay his family royalties.
The first motion-picture camera sat just outside the doors of the courtroom as American Mutoscope鈥檚 lawyers cunningly manipulated Adolphe鈥檚 testimony to their own ends. The case did not end in the reestablishment of Le Prince鈥檚 primacy. The resolution, reached in 1901, declared Edison the first and sole inventor of motion picture camera. A court of appeals overturned that ruling in 1902, but Adolphe didn鈥檛 live to see it. Regardless, the overturning did nothing to rescue the acclaim his father deserved, nor did it halt Edison鈥檚 supremacy over cinematography. Patents, as the Le Prince family tragically discovered, do not decide inventorship, contra their purpose. Even the courts that handle patenting disputes cannot rule on legacy 鈥 only those with the influence to sway the court of public opinion can do that. The names we remember today are cemented by foundations of publicity, not patent files gathering dust on the shelves of history. Yet, the people of Leeds, where Le Prince鈥檚 workshop once flickered with the future of film, never forgot him. In 1930, the Lord Mayor erected a bronze memorial plate in his honor. It reads: 鈥淟ouis Aim茅 Augustin Le Prince had a workshop on this site where he made a one-lens camera and with it photographed animated pictures. He also made a projecting machine and this initiated the art of kinemetography.鈥
Doesn鈥檛 this feel like a movie? The inventor going missing, the dead sister-in-law, the courtroom battle with the camera just outside the door, powerful forces depriving the plucky true creator of his due, even Jack the Ripper as a cameo, all very appropriately cinematic; it鈥檇 be a great part for Bradley Cooper, Greta Gerwig could direct. In reality, this isn鈥檛 a story about one document, it鈥檚 2, no wait, 3 鈥 hang on, 4: the camera, the patent, the first film, and the caveat, which eventually won through. And there鈥檚 your Hollywood ending: not the vindication of the hero, but rather the triumph of money and power 鈥 and name recognition 鈥 winning through as it so often seems to do.
References
鈥淏log | Life, Mystery and Legacy of Louis Le Prince.鈥 n.d. Accessed July 21, 2025. .
Casey, Kieron. 2013. 鈥淭he Mystery of Louis Le Prince | National Science and Media Museum.鈥 National Science and Media Museum Blog, August 29. .
Greenblatt, Leah. 2022. 鈥淗e Created the First Known Movie. Then He Vanished.鈥 Books. The New York Times, April 14. .
Howells, Richard. 2006. 鈥淟ouis Le Prince: The Body of Evidence.鈥 Screen 47 (2): 179鈥200. .