Reflecting on the Past and Projecting the Future

The reectoscope, a tool used to project opaque pictures or natural objects, was introduced byA.T. Thompson and patentedin February 1905. Accordingto Burns (1938), two ywatt lamps supply the necessary illumination and two convex lenses project the image, right side up and in natural color, on a white wall or screen (p. 24). Advertisements in The Homiletic Review, The Literary Digest, and Van Norden Advertising publications (1909) proclaimed that the reectoscope projector printed objects such as postcards, book illustrations, photographs, drawings, and other objects like owers, fabrics, coins, minerals, and models in their authentic form and color. Postcards could be enlarged to eight, ten, or twelve feet. In addition, unlike other projectors before it, the reectoscope required no additional slides. If you were to place your hand within the reectoscope, it would be magnied 500 times and would be a perfect image reproduction highlighting the esh tints and details, not just a shadow.