Georges Mendel
Georges Mendel (1863-1937) was the inventor and maker of several devices related to gramophones and cinema:
- A device to synchronize a cine presentation with sound from a gramophone. His first patent[1] was filed in 1906. A subsequent patent describes the application of (presumably) the same device to a gramophone and cinematograph.[2]
- An air valve, which was to release compressed air in response to the vibrations of a gramophone or phonograph record, and thus serve as a loudspeaker.[3]
- A cine projector with hand-cranked film transport and electric lamp (powered by a hand- or foot-driven magneto). The patent specifies that the lamp housing can be shifted up, down or sideways to recentre the projected image as desired during the projection.[4]
In some of the patents, Mendel described himself as a 'photographic apparatus manufacturer':[5] the company sold, and probably also made, some cameras for still photography.
Mendel opened his first business in 1889 at 4, rue de l'Échiquier, Paris; moved after a year to 22, boulevard Saint-Denis (a move of a couple of streets), and in 1900 moved to 10 & 10bis boulevard Bonne-Nouvelle (again, a short move along the street, presumably for better premises).[6] In the meantime he had bought the business of Enjalbert. He dealt in equipment by other makers as well as his own. He also sold cinema films made by Pathé, and later made many films, using his patented sound-synchronisation equipment.
Notes
- ↑ At least, the first listed at Espacenet, the European Patent Office's patent search database, Spanish Patent 38157, Un aparato de sincronismo, granted 16 May 1906: Espacenet only has bibliographic details of this patent, none of the text.
- ↑ French Patent 370449, Régulateur distributeur automatique d'énergie électrique pour mobiles synchrones (Automatic distributor/regulator of electric power for synchronised drives). There are several related patents filed in other countries, and later French ones.
- ↑ French Patent 373539, Dispositif de parleur à air comprimé (Compressed air loudspeaker device), filed 11 January 1907 and granted 17 May 1907.
- ↑ French Patent 450437, Groupe cinématographique électrique (Electric cinematic group), filed 11 November 1912 and granted 25 March 1913.
- ↑ British Patent 8808 of 1907, Improvements in or relating to phonograph and like apparatus (the British patent for the compressed-air loudspeaker).
- ↑ Notes on Mendel at Cinématographes (French).
Links
- Catalogue: 'Cinéma Électric No. 1' issued by Georges Mendel, previously at Cinématographes and archived at the Internet Archive in 2016, showing some of the devices described above.
- Still cameras:
- Stereo tailboard camera in Michael Cleveland's Flickr stream. The maker's plate gives the bvd Bonne-Nouvelle address.
- Falling-plate 9x12cm detective camera bearing Georges Mendel's plate (perhaps as retailer) giving the bvd Saint-Denis address; at Collection Appareils
- Tailboard camera, size not stated but perhaps 13x18cm, at Chinese Photography Camera Museum (text in Chinese) giving the bvd Saint-Denis address.
