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April 1895: Edison Ships Sound and Motion
By mid-1895, the public’s fascination with the fourteen-month old Kinetoscope was already beginning to wane, seemingly proving Edison right when he claimed they were a novelty of only passing interest. It has to be said, however, that, by then, the manufacturers of cheaper copies of his machine were undoubtedly starting to erode Edison’s share of the market. In an attempt to reverse this slump in business, Edison shipped the first Kinetophone to Raff & Gammon, his US & Canada distributors, in mid-April 1895.
As its name suggests, the Kinetophone was essentially a standard Kinetoscope fitted with one of Edison’s Phonographs, and was the first realisation of Edison’s ambition to wed sound and motion. To operate the Kinetophone, the viewer looked through its peephole while listening to the phonograph through rubber ear tubes attached to the machine. Connected by a belt, the picture and sound were roughly synchronous.
While the new device did create some interest from the public, it failed to halt the decline in sales. Within a few weeks, the price of the Kinetophone had fallen 25% to $300, and a total of only 45 of the devices were sold. [ADD]
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