Woodsworth Donisthorpe

Biography

Wordsworth Donisthorpe was an English individualist anarchist and inventor, pioneer of cinematography and chess enthusiast. In 1876, Donisthorpe filed for a patent for a film camera, which he named a "kinesigraph." The object of the invention was to: “facilitate the taking of a succession of photographic pictures at equal intervals of time, in order to record the changes taking place … Read more

Wordsworth Donisthorpe was an English individualist anarchist and inventor, pioneer of cinematography and chess enthusiast. In 1876, Donisthorpe filed for a patent for a film camera, which he named a "kinesigraph." The object of the invention was to: “facilitate the taking of a succession of photographic pictures at equal intervals of time, in order to record the changes taking place in or the movement of the object being photographed, and also by means of a succession of pictures so taken of any moving object to give to the eye a presentation of the object in continuous movement as it appeared when being photographed.” Although unsuccessfully at first, in 1890 he produced, together with his cousin W. C. Crofts, a moving picture of London's Trafalgar Square. In 1889 they already patented this camera, and the projector necessary to show the motion frames.