Urban Motion Picture Industries Spirograph

Irvington-on-Hudson, New York, black enameled body with nickel-plated fittings, mahogany base with compartments for two Ever-Ready dry cell batteries, detachable lamp house for “A” lamp. With reproduction instruction booklet. (lamp house was designed to be used with a rheostat or transformer which is not included) With Spirograph Safety Film Discs 10 ½" diameter. These discs were said to be the equivalent of 100 feet of 35mm movie film, contained about 1200 frames in a spiral and were about 2 minutes in duration. The original price was $1.00. All contained in original carrying case. In 1905 Theodore Brown conceived of the Spirograph which he patented on June 24, 1907 (British Patent No. 14493). That year Brown brought the idea to Charles Urban’s office in London. It was later reported that in early 1908 Urban paid Brown $18,000 for the rights to the Spirograph. It is unlikely that Brown received such a large sum and this amount probably includes the cost of development. Urban then had his chief engineer Henry W. Joy work on making a machine for market. Development was slow since most of Urban’s efforts were directed toward Kinemacolor at the time. Work appears to have started again in 1917 and by 1920 the machine was ready. An ambitious marketing plan was in the works with a proposed lending library of film discs and an inexpensive movie camera in development. It appears that very few machines were made or sold during 1921-22. This was because of Urban’s financial problems due to ongoing Kinemacolor litigation and the introduction in late 1922 and 1923 of Pathé 9.5mm and Kodak 16mm movie systems. By 1923 the rights to the Spirograph reverted back to Theodore Brown who, as late as 1926 was trying to re-market the projector. This particular machine is illustrated in "History of Photography", Vol.6, No.1, January 1982, p.79-81. Reprinted in "Sixteen Frames", Vol.4 No.1, Summer 1991, p.13. and "The History of Photography as Seen Through the Spira Collec