Woodville Latham

Major Woodville Latham (1837-1911) was an ordnance officer of the Confederacy during the American Civil War and professor of chemistry at West Virginia University. He was significant in the development of early film technology.

Woodville Latham was the father of Grey Latham and Otway Latham, former Thomas Edison employees. In December 1894 Latham and his two sons formed the Lambda Company at 35 Frankfort Street, New York City where they developed their prototype movie projector, the Panoptikon (eventually renamed Eidoloscope), which was demonstrated for members of the press on April 21, 1895. It was the first public demonstration of projected motion pictures in the United States.

The Lambda Company employed Eugène Lauste and William Kennedy Dickson.

In 1898 the Lathams abandoned motion pictures and soon lost their patents. Major Latham outlived his sons; by 1910 both Otway and Grey, who are said to have been hedonistic in nature, had died.

Latham is notable for the invention of the Latham loop, a significant development in the history of cinema. Shortly before his death in 1911, Latham testified regarding the 'Latham loop' at a patent hearing.

ource

* [http://www.victorian-cinema.net/latham.htm Who's Who of Victorian Cinema]

External links

* [http://www.google.com/patents?id=EAJmAAAAEBAJ&dq=woodville+latham Projecting kinetoscope] , U.S. Patent filed by Woodville Latham in June 1896.
* [http://www.google.com/patents?id=jIxMAAAAEBAJ&dq=woodville+latham Apparatus for photographing objects in motion and projecting pictures] , U.S. Patent filed by Woodville Latham in December 1896.