1897:  Thomas Edison received a patent for the kinetographic camera, "a certain new and useful Improvement in Kinetoscopes," the forerunner of the motion picture film projector. Edison and his assistant, W. K. L. Dickson, had begun work on the project - to enliven sound recordings with moving pictures - in hopes of boosting sales of the phonograph, which Edison had invented in 1877. Unable to synchronize the two media, he introduced the kinetoscope, a device for viewing moving pictures without sound - on which work had begun in 1889. Patents were filed for the kinetoscope and kinetograph in August 1891. The kinetoscope (viewer), which Edison initially considered an insignificant toy, had become an immediate success about a decade earlier. The invention was soon replaced, however, by screen projectors that made it possible for more than one person to view the novel silent movies at a time. (Source: Library of Congress)