The Kinetophone

In the fall of 1894, the Edison Company was experimenting with "talking" motion pictures under the supervision of W. K. L. Dickson. A year later in 1895, the company began offering kinetophones to the public. A kinetophone was a kinetoscope with phonographs inside of the cabinets which allowed the viewer to watch a motion picture, which was not completely synchronized, while listening to the phonograph through two rubber ear tubes. The kinetophone needed more work, but unfortunately the business declined which ended further work for 18 years. In 1913, a new version of the kinetophone was introduced but this time; the sound was synchronized with the motion picture which was projected onto a screen. That year, nineteen motion pictures were produced by Edison. He once again abandoned work on the kinetophone, this time for good. There were a few reasons; one being union rules stated that local union projectionists were to operate the motion pictures even though they were not properly trained to use them. For that reason, the audience was dissatisfied in many instances because the union projectionists were unable to achieve synchronization.

The Kinetophone