Birt Acres
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birt Acres (July 23, 1854–1918), born in Richmond, Virginia, USA of English parents was a photographer and film pioneer.
He was the inventor of the first British 35 mm moving picture camera, the first daylight loading home movie camera and projector, Birtac, was the first travelling newsreel reporter in international film history and the first European film maker who had his films shown in the United States in public performances.
He contributed much to the introduction and development of cinematography in all its aspects, from the construction of cameras, projectors, film viewers, coating- and slitting machines and the manufacture of highly sensitized 35 mm raw film stock, to mobile newsreel reporting and the public projections of moving pictures.
With his partner Robert W. Paul, he was the first person to build and run a working 35 mm camera in Britain. The pair fell out after Acres patented their design in his own name on May 27, 1895. He made some very early silent films during the Victorian era including in 1895: a film of the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race, The Arrest of a Pickpocket, The Comic Shoeblack, The Boxing Kangaroo and Performing Bears.
[edit] Most important achievements
- 1889 Apparatus for washing prints (patented).
- 1891 Printing process for stereoscopic photograhps (for continuously contact print making) (patented).
- 1893 Hopper feed installation for rapidly projecting slides in a biunial lantern to create the illusion of movement (patented).
- 1895 Kinetic Camera with appliance for loop forming (patented).
- 1895/96 Electroscope, apparatus for continuous viewing by more than one spectator of 35mm film.
- 1896 Installation for wholesale production of raw stock 35 mm film.
- 1896 Kineopticon, improved apparatus for projecting 35 mm film (patented).
- 1897 Cine camera with 2 lenses to resolve flicker problems and to enhance brightness.
- 1898 Birtac, home movie camera for daylight loading of 17,5 mm film (patented).
