The Elektrischen Schnellseher (from German: 'Electrical Quick-Viewer') or Electrotachyscope was an early motion picture system developed by chronophotographer Ottomar Anschütz between 1886 and 1894. He made at least seven different versions of the machine, including a projector, a peep-box viewer and several versions with illuminated glass photographs on a rotating wheel viewed on a 12.5 cm (4.9 in) wide milk glass screen by up to seven people at the same time.

History

Before working on chronophotography and motion pictures, Anschütz had already received much acclaim for his instantaneous pictures of flying storks in 1884.

In 1885, Anschütz made his first chronophotographs of horses, sponsored by the Prussian minister of Culture. Initially, he used 12 cameras, later on 24.^[1] The quality of his pictures was generally regarded to be much higher than that of pioneer Eadweard Muybridge's chronophotographic series. He continued with studies of horses in motion at the Königlichen Militärreitinstitut [de] (Royal Military Institute) in Hanover during 1886.^[1][2]

From the beginning, Anschütz wanted to reproduce the recorded actions and worked on devices to enable this. In 1886, he built a machine with a 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) wheel that had twenty-four, 9 cm × 13 cm (3.5 in × 5.1 in) glass plate photographs attached to its circumference. The pictures were illuminated from behind by a fast succession of electric flashes from a synchronized Geissler tube, while the wheel was hand-cranked to rotate at a speed of approximately 30 frames per second. About four spectators could watch the images on a 12.5 cm (4.9 in) wide milk glass screen in a wall in a small darkened room. Anschütz introduced the first successful model from 19 to 21 March 1887 at the Kultusministerium (Ministry of Culture) in Berlin, receiving much praise from invited colleagues, politicians, and scientists. From 16 July to 26 August 1887, the moving pictures were screened to around 15,000 paying customers at Stadtbahnbogen 21 in the Ausstellungspark in Berlin. During the next few years, Anschütz demonstrated his electrical Schnellseher at many international exhibitions, fairs and conventions, visiting Wiesbaden, Frankfurt and Dresden in 1887, Brussels and Florence in 1888 and Kassel, Saint Petersburg, New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia in 1889.^[1][3][4][5]

In 1888, Anschütz moved to a studio at Charlottenstr. 59 in Berlin, where frequent demonstrations of Schnellsehers took place to at least 1900 (and less frequently until years later).^[3]

Early January 1890, Anschütz presented a new type of chronophotography on the glass wheel Schnellseher to emperor Wilhelm II's family: "Sprechende Porträts" (Speaking Portraits). He introduced it publicly on 16 January 1890 at the Photographic Association in Berlin.^[3]

At the same 16 January 1890 presentation, Anschütz introduced a much smaller Schnellseher in a cabinet that could be mounted to a wall or otherwise placed at eye-height. By the end of the year, he was negotiating with Siemens & Halske about the commercial manufacture of such machines. In 1891, Siemens & Halske started production of a coin-operated peep-hole Electrotachyscope, of which approximately 152 copies were made. This version had eighteen to twenty-four, 9 cm × 12 cm (3.5 in × 4.7 in) celluloid pictures in a 1.25 m (4 ft 1 in) disc. It was demonstrated at the Elektrotechnischen Messe in Frankfurt on 16 May 1891 and exhibited there from 18 July to December, with over 17,000 spectators in the first 2.5 months.^[3] Models were demonstrated or installed in Berlin, Warschau, Amsterdam, Brussels und New York. The machine was licensed to Joe Livingston for Schwarz & Co in New York for the US since 9 September 1891, and to Edgar Cohen for worldwide exploitation (except for Germany and the US) since 19 October 1892 (as Electrical Wonder Company from 12 November 1892 to 2 December 1893). Electrotachyscope automats were installed in popular venues in New York, in Paris, in Boston, at The Crystal Palace in London, at the Berlin Zoo, and in more cities. About 34,000 people came to view the motion pictures in July and August 1892 at the Ausstellungspark in Berlin.^[1][3] The Elektrotachyscope was exhibited at the Chicago World's Fair of 1893 as "Greatest Wonder of the World". These machines may have been mistaken for Edison's long-awaited Kinetoscopes that were planned to be installed at the fair, but seem never to have arrived.^[3][5][6]

Before Siemens & Halske were involved, Anschütz had also developed an automated 65 cm (26 in) cylindrical Schnellseher. It had six milk glass screens, each showing a different scene. This Elektro-tachyscope was shown to paying spectators in Vienna in November 1890, and probably in Brussels in 1891.^[7]

In 1893, the Edison Manufacturing Company started the wide distribution of their long-awaited Kinetoscope, which had been in slow development since 1888. After initial experiments based on phonograph cylinders, they had shortly worked on a design based on the Schnellseher automat.^[3] Their main ambition was to enable longer motion pictures that ideally would reproduce opera performances in combination with the phonograph. The disc format had therefore been abandoned and experiments continued with celluloid film strips. The eventual coin-operated peep-box Kinetoscope automats did show relatively long scenes, but the company was unable to offer a combination with sound.

When the Electrical Wonder Company went under in 1893, it left Anschütz with a large debt with Siemens & Halske for large orders of Schnellsehers. Siemens & Halske started to commercially exhibit the remaining 52 copies themselves as an attempt to lift some of Anschutz' debt and helped him with the development of his new project that aimed to project motion pictures on a large screen.^[8]

On 6 November 1894, Anschütz patented a projector with two intermittently rotating large disks and continuous light. On 25, 29 and 30 November 1894, he introduced his new device with two linked discs projecting the moving images on a 6 by 8 m (20 by 26 ft) screen in the darkened Grand Auditorium of a Post Office Building in Berlin. From 22 February to 30 March 1895 commercial 1,5-hour program of 40 different scenes was screened for audiences of 300 people at the old Reichstag and received around 4,000 visitors.^[9][10][3]

In 1895, other motion picture pioneers entered the market of motion pictures projected on large screens, including Max and Emil Skladanowsky with their Bioscop, and Auguste and Louis Lumière with their cinematograph. Their films were much longer than the Schnellseher picture loops and after 1895 Anschütz' career in motion pictures was diminished to the sales of home model Tachyscopes at his studio.

Demonstrations, exhibitions and screenings

Inventory of known presentations of Schnellsehers^{[3][1][7][10]}

Hardly any differentiation between the many variations of Schnellseher is clear from the available reports. For this table, if no precise information is available, devices exhibited before 1890 are assumed to be rotating wheel Electrotachyscopes, those exhibited in 1890 are assumed to be the cylinder machines and the "Talking Portraits" presentations are assumed to be from wheels. From 16 May 1891 onward, most devices are assumed to be the Siemens & Halske automat.

Tachyscope home models

Anschütz developed four types of a patented "Schnellseher" or "Tachyscope" that were improved versions of the zoetrope.

In September 1887, Anschütz introduced a hand-cranked Tachyscope with a diameter of 58 cm (23 in) and with the choice to look through one of three rows with 19, 20 and 21 apertures. This allowed the use of strips with different amounts of pictures and the choice to view the images either as staying in place or moving around. Scientific chronophotographer Étienne-Jules Marey bought such a Tachyscope in March 1889. It was followed in 1890 by a "Salon Tachyscope" for which the 180 cm (71 in) long picture bands had to be attached to a base to form the zoetrope-type drum. Each strip had the appropriate amount of slots in between the lithographed pictures and the base could be turned into a vertical position. Anschütz produced two simplified versions in 1891. The zoetrope-type Schnellsehers were mainly made for people to use at home and Anschütz probably wanted to make his work available to many people through commercial exploitation, but he was very careful to keep the image quality high and chose to manufacture all image strips personally at his studio, which resulted in relatively small quantities.^[2]

At his own studio in Berlin, Anschütz offered hand-cranked home models with glass wheels and Geissler tubes as well as zoetrope Schnellsehers until at least 1905.

Motion picture works

Anschütz made many chronophotography series and adapted at least 60 of them for the Elektrotachyscope. He started with chronophotography studies of horses for the military in 1885. In 1888, he made motion studies of animals in the Breslau Zoo. He also recorded acrobats, dancers, athletes, boxers, wrestlers, sports and horse races. Already more an artistic and skilful photographer than a scientist, he chose different subjects when he started commercially exploiting the Schnellseher as an attraction. He recorded several comical scenes based on everyday life, including Lustige Fahrt (Funny Journey), Zwei ZimmerleuteFrüstückend (Two Carpenters Breakfasting), Familie essend aus einem Topfe (Family Eating from a Single Bowl), Raufende Jungen (Boys Fighting),Zwei Herrn eine Prize Schnupftabak nehmend (Two Men Taking a Pinch of Snuff), Einseifen beim Barbier (Latherin Up at The Barber's),Tabakschnupfender Alter (Old Man Taking Snuff) and Skatspieler (Card Players).^[5]

Little of Anschütz' motion picture output has yet resurfaced. Although many examples of his printed chronophotography survived, all that could be found (as of 2016) from his later entertainment-oriented work was a fuzzy image with three card players as seen in a detail of a 1926 photograph of a home model automat Schnellseher.^[5]

Legacy

By 1886, when Anschütz developed his first Schnellseher and presented it to family and friends, photographic motion pictures recorded in real-time (known as cinematography) had only been seen from chronophotograph prints in zoetropes or similar devices (and rarely in public). Eadweard Muybridge had mostly shown moving silhouettes traced from his chronophotographs onto glass discs with his zoopraxiscope in lectures since 1880; the only projected photographic moving images he ever made featured a stop motion animation of the skeleton of a horse. The Roundhay Garden Scene, October 1888 by Louis Le Prince, is the oldest known cinematographic film.

Anschütz publicly presented his first Schnellseher in March 1887, presumably as the first device dedicated to the presentation of cinematography. The presentation of his projection Schnellseher on 25 November 1894 was presumably the first public instance of the cinematographic projection.

The Kinetoscope made by the Edison Manufacturing Company was most likely much influenced by the coin-operated Schnellseher automat, but mainly intended to show longer scenes. Of the 22 films produced by the company from 20 May 1891 (Dickson Greeting) to mid-March 1894 (Boxing Match), at least 15 have subjects that are very similar to those found in the works of Anschütz. Although several are logical examples of motion studies, some seem to have been based on (lost) Schnellseher discs. The Barbershop (produced late 1893, premiered 14 April 1894) is probably an extended remake of Anschütz' (lost) Einseifen beim Barbier" (1890). Fred Ott's Sneeze was probably based on Tabakschnupfender Alter.^[5]

Auguste and Louis Lumière's Partie d’écarté (16 January 1896, the thirteenth Cinématograph production) seems very similar to the one image known from Anschütz' Skatspieler.^[5]

Related devices

An earlier, related device^{[clarification needed]} is described in the 24 January 1878 issue of the journal Nature.