A cinematograph is a film camera, which also serves as a film projector and developer. It was invented in the 1890s.[notes 1]
There is much dispute as to the identity of its inventor. Some argue that the device was first invented and patented as "Cinématographe Léon Bouly" by French inventor Léon Bouly on February 12, 1892. It is said that, due to a lack of fee, Bouly was not able to pay the rent for his patent the following year, and Auguste and Louis Lumière's engineers bought the license.
Popular thought, however, dictates that Louis Lumière was the first to conceptualise the idea, and both Lumière brothers shared the patent. They made their first film, Sortie de l'usine Lumière de Lyon, in 1894. The film was publicly screened at L'Eden, the world's first and oldest cinéma, located in La Ciotat in southeastern France, on September 28, 1895. The first commercial, public screening of cinematographic films happened in Paris on 28 December 1895 and was organised by the Lumière brothers.[1]
Several versions of cinématographes were developed, including ones by Robert Royou Beard, Cecil Wray, Georges Demenÿ, Alfred Wrench, and that of the Lumière brothers.[2]
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