Wordsworth Donisthorpe was an English individualist anarchist and inventor, pioneer of cinematography and chess enthusiast.
On 9 November 1876 Donisthorpe applied for a patent for the Kinesigraph, an apparatus ‘to facilitate the taking of a succession of photographs at equal intervals of time, in order to record the changes taking place in or the movements of the object being photographed, and also by means of a succession of pictures so taken … to give to the eye a representation of the object in continuous movement …’
In 1894 William Crofts died, and any hope that might have remained for the eventual success of the Kinesigraph project died with him, Donisthorpe never being able to acquire backing for the project of moving pictures.
It is sad to know that one of the pioneers of videography did not live to see how his work changed technology for people after him. It just goes to show that no creative idea is really bad. Its what we do with those ideas that count.
Yeah, Donisthorpe paved the way for all motion imagery. Cinematography, clip-shots,and all alike. Pioneer such as him serve as the stepping stones to modern day photography. It’s a pleasure to appreciate such a great mind.
It just goes to show you how a simple idea can be life changing. Its just sad that Wordsworth Donisthorpe couldn’t live to see his idea of the Kinesigraph’s evolution and growth into what many may refer to as Motion Capturing, Cinematography, Photography, etc in the modern world today. His influence is greatly felt today whether people know or not.
This is similar to Eadweard Muybridge and his idea to capture the motion of a horse galloping. I feel that Donisthorpe’s Kinesigraph was an amazing idea for its time. Being able to capture motion in one device instead of Muybridge’s multiple camera approach is something worth praising.