Urban Motion Picture Industries, NY, Spirograph projector *

The first motion picture disc player, the Spirograph, was patented in 1907 by U.K. inventor Theodore Brown (1870–1938), although it was never produced commercially during his lifetime. Only after Brown sold the rights to U.S. motion picture pioneer Charles Urban (1867–1942) did marketing and production begin. Urban was already promoting the Spirograph as early as 1915, and in 1921 he founded Urban Motion Picture Industries, Inc. in New York City to manufacture the device. Production, however, lasted only two years before the venture proved unsuccessful and ceased in 1922.

The Spirograph is a hand-cranked mechanical device designed to play 10½-inch “motion picture records.” Each disc contains 1,200 frames of silent film arranged in a spiral. When operated at the correct speed, the films run for approximately 1¼ minutes. These films were never intended for theatrical release; the Spirograph was conceived as a personal home entertainment system.

The example offered here is in excellent condition (the crank has been repaired in the past) and is accompanied by four original film discs. It is one of the rarest and most attractive motion picture projectors ever made.