Herman Casler
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Herman Casler (March 12, 1867 in
Sandwich, Illinois Sandwich is a city in DeKalb and Kendall counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. Its population was 7,421 at the 2010 census and 7,221 at the 2020 census. History The town's history is tied to politician "Long John" Wentworth and his efforts t ...
– July 20, 1939 in
Canastota, New York Canastota is a village located inside the Town of Lenox in Madison County, New York, United States. The population was 4,804 at the 2010 census. The village of Canastota is in the southern part of the Town of Lenox. Canastota High School is loca ...
) was an American inventor and co-founder of the partnership called the K.M.C.D. Syndicate, along with W.K-L. Dickson,
Elias Koopman Elias Bernard Koopman (1860 – August 23, 1929) was a founder of the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. He was also a founder of The Magic Introduction Company. He later headed the Runsyne Corporation, a maker of electrical signs. Biogr ...
, and Henry Marvin, which eventually was incorporated into the
American Mutoscope Company The Biograph Company, also known as the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1916. It was the first company in the United States devoted entirely to film production and exhibition ...
in December 1895.


Biography

Casler, Dickson, and Marvyn had worked together in 1893 on a detective camera the size of a watch called the Photoret. Dickson, who at the time was working for
Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventio ...
, next proposed that they work on a peephole film viewing device superior to Edison's
Kinetoscope The Kinetoscope is an precursors of film, early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic ...
machine. Casler, following Dickson's proposal, invented the "
Mutoscope The Mutoscope is an early motion picture device, invented by W. K. L. Dickson and Herman Casler and later patented by Herman Casler on November 21, 1894. Like Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope, it did not project on a screen and provided viewing to ...
", which displayed short films through flip-cards rotated by a hand crank that could be slowed at the operator's will, unlike Edison's motorized Kinetoscope, in which films were viewed through actual 35 mm film. The prototype of the "Mutograph" camera was completed in November 1894, first tested with film in June 1895, and the first official Mutoscope films were made in August 1895. To avoid infringement on Edison's motion photo patents, the Mutograph camera used continuous movement friction rollers to move 68 mm film into the camera, instead of intermittent movement by sprockets as Edison's 35 mm camera did. Casler's patents, which he assigned to American Mutoscope in January 1896, were used as security for financing the new company. The Mutoscope became as popular in nickelodeon parlors as the Kinetograph. However, the first public demonstration of projected motion pictures in the United States had already occurred in April 1895. Casler then designed the Biograph Projector, which was introduced on a tour of vaudeville houses in September–October 1896. The 68 mm film that Casler's camera and projector used offered four times the image area of Edison's 35 mm film, a quality improvement noted by early viewers. Both the Mutoscope and Biograph had great success. The company name was changed to
American Mutoscope and Biograph Company The Biograph Company, also known as the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company, was a motion picture company founded in 1895 and active until 1916. It was the first company in the United States devoted entirely to film production and exhibition, ...
in 1899. Casler helped develop a portable hand-cranked camera in 1900 to replace the bulky, motor-operated camera used until then. After Biograph switched to 35 mm film production in 1902, and the number of frames per second was halved, Casler also helped John Pross to develop a three-blade projector shutter that greatly reduced flicker in the projected image. Casler was associated with Biograph until 1921 in the design and manufacture of motion picture cameras, projectors, automatic printing machines, and other special machines associated with the production of motion pictures. Casler was raised in
Fort Plain, New York Fort Plain is a village in Montgomery County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the village population was 2,322. The village is named after a fort built during the American Revolution at the junction of the Mohawk River and its tr ...
, and served as an apprentice to his cousin, machinist and inventor Charles E. Lipe, founder of the C. E. Lipe Machine Shop in
Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a City (New York), city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffa ...
from 1889 to 1893. During 1893—1895, Casler worked as a
draftsman A drafter (also draughtsman / draughtswoman in British and Commonwealth English, draftsman / draftswoman or drafting technician in American and Canadian English) is an engineering technician who makes detailed technical drawings or plans for m ...
for the
General Electric Co. General Electric Company (GE) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York (state), New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated ...
, in
Schenectady, New York Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...
, designing electric rock drills. He was superintendent of the Marvin Electric Drill Co. of Canastota, New York, in 1895—1896, with Harry Marvin as his employer. Marvin and Casler formed the Marvin & Casler Co. in 1896 to manufacture the Mutoscope and other Casler inventions, notably
penny arcade ''Penny Arcade'' is a webcomic focused on video games and video game culture, written by Jerry Holkins and illustrated by Mike Krahulik. The comic debuted in 1998 on the website ''loonygames.com''. Since then, Holkins and Krahulik have establish ...
machines. Casler later became sole owner of Marvin & Casler, which he sold in 1919. He retired in 1926, but continued to serve as a consulting engineer to a number of corporations, and filed his last patent in 1937, two years before his death.


Sources

* "Herman Casler," ''The National Cyclopædia of American Biography'' (1950), vol. 30, p. 347. *
Charles Musser Charles John Musser (born 16 January 1951) is a film historian and documentary film maker. Since 1992 he has taught at Yale University, where he is currently a professor of Film and Media Studies as well as American Studies and Theater Studies. H ...
(1990). ''The Emergence of Cinema: The American Screen to 1907''. New York: Scribner.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casler, Herman 1867 births 1939 deaths 19th-century American inventors 20th-century American inventors People from Sandwich, Illinois People from Fort Plain, New York People from Canastota, New York