The first man to combine Kircher’s magic lantern and the Plateau-Stampfer disk and thereby achieve moving images on a screen visible to an audience was Baron General Franz von Uchatius. A type of bronze was named for this Austrian ballistic expert but, though his machine was the pattern for motion picture projectors until the advent of film at the end of the century, his name was not linked with the device. With Uchatius also came the first impact of projected pictures on the science of war. From these small beginnings, in less than a century, the motion picture—in our day—became a great weapon of psychological warfare.

Franz Uchatius, the second son of a former artillery officer and instructor in the cadet school who resigned after 19 years’ service to become street commissioner in a small Austrian town, was born on October 20, 1811, at Theresienfeld, Wiener Neustadt, Austria. The father had married a woman from Bavaria and lived comfortably, for in addition to his town job he managed an estate and derived income from an agricultural sowing machine which he had invented.

After elementary and high school education near his home, Franz was apprenticed to a Viennese merchant. His father had to pay an annual fee of some 300 gulden (about $120) for the privilege. Franz, a small, sensitive boy, was very unhappy as an apprentice, having no interest in merchandising. After much persuasion, for his father evidently had found life happier outside the army, Franz received permission to join his eldest brother, Joseph, in the artillery. There was another difficulty. Franz was under the minimum height established for that branch of the army. Special permission had to be received from Archduke Ludwig, the youngest son of Emperor Francis and the general inspector of artillery, before he could enter the artillery school.

But everything was arranged and on August 5, 1829, when Uchatius was 17, he was taken to the Rennweger armory in Vienna to start training as an artillery sub-cadet. Uchatius was especially interested in physics, mathematics and chemistry. Chemistry was not highly regarded then and was usually reserved for non-commissioned officers. Uchatius overcame this prejudice by becoming the laboratory assistant to the professor.

Military advancement came slowly to Uchatius. At 25 he was a gunner but also was able to attend lectures at the Polytechnical School. The next year, 1837, he again became assistant to the chemistry professor at the artillery school, keeping this position until 1841. During that period he served as special tutor to Turkish officers, then studying in Vienna, and also worked in the gun foundry.

Finally in 1843, at the age of 32, he was commissioned a lieutenant. It was at this period that he did his first inventing. A special fuse for guns was his initial achievement. Somewhat later he invented the first European hydrocarbon lamp. This was a special lantern designed for use aboard ship. It was so constructed that it would not go out even when completely overturned. A modification of this lamp was used by Uchatius in one model of his pre-film motion picture projector.

The description of Uchatius’ “Apparatus for the presentation of motion pictures upon a wall” was not published until 1853. The account appeared in the Sitzungsberichte of the Kaiserliche Akademie der Wissenschaften of Vienna.

But, as Uchatius himself said, he was asked to develop the invention as far back as 1845, at the request of Field Marshal Lieutenant von Hauslab. That general very probably thought that if moving figures of the Plateau-Stampfer magic disks could be projected on the wall there would be available a potent instrument for military instruction. In our own day the motion picture has come to be an important aid in military training all over the world.

Uchatius wrote as follows:

The method used by Uchatius to throw a connected series of images on a wall “in any desired size” is indicated by the illustrations.

Uchatius noted that the Plateau-Stampfer disk had a certain disadvantage not only because but one person could observe the effects at a time but also because the pictures were not sharp and clear.

The first model developed by Uchatius was described as follows:

This machine was satisfactory but limited. Uchatius was a sharp critic of his own work: “The apparatus produced very good motion pictures whose size, however, could be enlarged to a maximum of only six inches in diameter, because should the wall, (G), be moved far from the projector the pictures became too dark on account of the light cut off by the slits. And an enlargement of the slits brought about greater indistinctness. However, a projected motion picture had been attained which could be viewed simultaneously by a considerable number of people. But it still remained desirable to project this picture in a suitable size on a wall and thus show it in an auditorium or theatre.”

The first model had shown that the use of slits, even with the brightest light, could not result in a successful picture, according to Uchatius. (Illustration facing page 105.)

He then constructed the improved model.

Uchatius was pleased with this machine. “The result is now evident. The successively illuminated pictures appear on the wall in the same way as the so-called dissolving views but much more rapidly, thereby causing the effect of a moving picture. The size of the picture is not limited by the slits and the sharpness is not affected since no motion of the object picture occurs.”

In this manner Uchatius solved the problem of projecting these pre-film hand-painted motion pictures. In the very beginning of magic shadow projection Athanasius Kircher had sought the same results but did not have the apparatus or the knowledge of vision and movement necessary to carry out his wish. The lantern model of Zahn equipped with a revolving disk approximates the plan of Uchatius but failed, as did Kircher’s, and for the same reason. So far as Plateau was concerned, the illusion of moving images visible to one person at a time was sufficient. Anyway, the blind man—missing his own sight—probably did not feel impelled toward arranging simultaneous viewing for others. Doubtlessly he thought that to see motion pictures—one person at a time—was a sufficient marvel. Edison, more than half a century later, tended to the same opinion.

Uchatius said that his model projector was equipped with space for twelve pictures painted on glass slides, but he added: “There are no insuperable obstacles in the way of constructing a similar apparatus with 100 pictures, thereby a moving tableau with an action lasting one-half minute could be presented. The apparatus would not need to be more than six feet high.”

This shows that Uchatius also was looking ahead to the story motion picture. Until the middle 1890s there were no real motion picture scenes on any screen for more than the one-half minute indicated by Uchatius. His machine was the basic model for four decades and had an influence on the design of many early motion picture projectors and cameras.

Uchatius pointed out that the projector would be useful in demonstrating its own principle in physics and vision classes and could show in a vivid way action of sound waves and “indeed all motions which cannot be demonstrated by mechanism.”

The first motion picture projector dealer was W. Prokesch, an optician and lens maker of 46 Lainbruge Street, Vienna, who, Uchatius said, “prepares apparatuses of this sort with greatest precision and upon request also furnishes pictures therefor.” Prokesch wrote many years later that the records show that Uchatius began his correspondence with the optical firm about the motion picture projector on February 16, 1851.

It is possible that Uchatius solved the problem of the projector soon after the assignment was given to him by General von Hauslab in 1845. But he was a very busy man from that year, when he became a member of the Academy of Science, until the 1851–53 period when he had time to complete the work, arrange for commercial construction of projectors and write the report for the journal of the Polytechnical School, Akademie der Wissenschaften, Sitzungsberichte.

In 1846 Uchatius was given orders to open up a section of the gun foundry and astounded military circles by producing the then great quantity of 10,000 six-pound cannon balls in three months. He taught the Emperor’s brothers at the Polytechnical School in 1847. At the age of 37, in 1848, when he had a family of three children and had been in the artillery service for 19 years, he received a promotion to first lieutenant. Advancement was slow because this extremely talented man had no influence in political circles.

In 1848 Uchatius was assigned to Italy and assisted at the siege of Venice. There he started the unenviable precedent of the aerial bombardment of cities. In three weeks he had constructed more than 100 balloons fitted to carry explosive charges to be dropped on the heads of the “besieged, rebellious Venetians.” Uchatius and his brother, Joseph, studied the problem on the spot. The experiment was only partially successful. The Venetians were probably as terrified by rumor of bombs falling from the heavens as were the invaders under Marcellus before Syracuse when Archimedes developed his Burning Glasses.

Uchatius’ relations with the Navy which was directing the siege were not the best and he was glad to be able to return to Vienna. During the next few years he continued to make little progress in the military world but was doing excellent scientific work. He began to test guns and had an opportunity to travel and inspect foreign ordnance and manufacturing methods. In 1867, at the age of 56, he received his first important recognition. He was decorated for his work and made colonel commander of the artillery ordnance factory in 1871. Previously he had helped to direct the construction of the arsenal at Vienna.

In 1874 he developed the first steel-bronze cannon out of “Uchatius” bronze. Through the next few years he carried on a struggle for the establishment of a native ordnance industry so that Austria would not depend upon a foreign munitions supplier. Some in authority wanted the heavy guns made at Krupp, in Prussia, but Uchatius finally won and was promoted to the rank of major-general by the Emperor, given the Commander’s Cross of the Order of St. Stephen, a lifetime personal annual bonus of 2,000 gulden, together with baronship.

Uchatius’ weapons were used by Austria in the occupation at Bosnia and Herzegovnia in 1878–79, when the Turks withdrew, in accordance with the Treaty of Berlin.

It is easy to see that a man of such activity had no time to further work on the motion picture projector which he had invented as a young man, passing away tedious years while awaiting promotion and responsibility.

Eventually Uchatius became a Field Marshal, but he died unhappy. He wrote a farewell note, “Forgive me, my dear ones, because I am unable to endure life any longer,” and killed himself on June 4, 1881, at the age of 69. He was broken-hearted. Though his artillery weapons had been a great success, he had yet to perfect coast defense guns. The final blow was a remark passed on from the Austrian War Department, that the officials doubted they would live to see successful completion of Uchatius’ coastal guns. Also, an order was sent to Krupp for four such guns for the harbor of Pola, then an Austro-Hungarian seaport, and after World War II, a port in the area disputed by Italy and Yugoslavia. It was said that the general was ill, suffering from an incurable cancer of the stomach.

Uchatius was naturally a hero of the Austrian artillery. A monumental obelisk was raised to his memory by subscriptions from the men who were using his weapons. His biographer, Karl Spaĉil, wrote: “As often as this country (Austria) begins to rearm, it is no wonder that the name of Uchatius is mentioned and praised anew.”

But Uchatius then and now should have been praised not for his engines of war but for his important contribution to the magic shadow art-science. For by perfecting a motion picture machine which would bring living pictures before audiences, Uchatius, together with Kircher and Plateau, the other great magic shadow pioneers, deserves credit and the gratitude of untold millions who down through the years have had their lives enriched through this great new medium of expression.

The use of Uchatius’ projector spread rapidly. It satisfied a natural urge. Man from the beginning sought to recreate life naturally and realistically. Large screen motion pictures, even of but one scene, repeated over and over, represented a definite step on that road.

Within a few years after the publication of accounts of the Uchatius motion picture projector, models were brought out by English and French inventors. Projectors, including one which threw onto a screen by means of a mirror system images of living persons, were used at the London Polytechnic Institute.

For many years after the announcement of the Uchatius picture projector, only hand-drawn designs were used. The new photographs were available only in single stills. But now the modern motion picture was just around a not too distant corner.