Anschütz Projecting Schnellseher(1894–1895)

[This entry is a continuation of Anschütz Automat Schnellseher.]

In November 1893, with the Electrical Wonder Company (London) undercapitalized and unable to pay its outstanding debts, Ottomar Anschütz produced one last invention that attempted to demonstrate the viability of photographic moving pictures – the Projecting Schnellseher, also sometimes called the Projecting Electrotachyscope. 

The apparatus had its premiere over three days (Nov. 26, 27 & 28, 1894) in the Grand Lecture Hall of the Post Office building on Artilleriestrasse in Berlin, projecting mostly “entertainment” series onto a screen 6m (19.68 ft) high and 8m (26.25ft) wide (Photographisches Wochenblatt, 1894: pp. 424–5). Accompanied by lectures by Prof. Dr. Mullenhoff (Nov. 26 & 28) and Captain Tanera (Nov. 27), the full programme ran to about 90 minutes and was run three times each day, with the morning sessions for invited guests of Culture Minister von Goslar, the afternoon sessions reserved for members of the Berlin Photographic Association, and the evening sessions open to the public at an admission fee of 2 marks (reduced to 1.50 marks on the last day). Those who witnessed the impressive large-screen projections noted the equally impressive noise the machine made, in advancing its weighty image-carrying discs. Observers also noted considerable image jitter on the screen, resulting from the extreme magnification of the transparencies, even though a full Maltese cross mechanism was used to stabilize their movement.

Anschütz had borrowed the powerful 40-amp carbon arc lamps from the electrical engineering company Siemens & Halske, to provide the necessary illumination for such a large-screen presentation – he was assisted in the projection by the Siemens & Halske engineer Anton Verständig. The Projecting Schnellseher was next seen at the 300-seat auditorium of the old Reichstag building on Leipzigerstrasse in Berlin, from February 22 through to March 30, 1895 (Traub, 1940: p. 34), for public screenings with almost exclusively entertainment series such as Skatspieler, Einseifen beim Barbier and Zwei Zimmerleute früstückend (respectively: Card Players, Lathering Up at the Barber’s and Two Carpenters Breakfasting). Anschütz reported a total income of 5,400 marks from this show, but also 3,400 marks in expenses. In addition to its high running costs, the illumination was only on loan, and the Projecting Schnellseher made only two further public outings: the first at Carl Heckel’s Concert Hall in Hamburg, from May 29 to June 12, 1895, where it was again accompanied by lectures (Wagner, 1972); and the last at the Hotel Stadt Nürnberg in Leipzig, during April 1896 (Leipziger Tageblatt, 1896). This marked the end of Anschütz’s public exhibition of his moving picture work, although he kept an earlier model Schnellseher, for occasional use by visitors to his photographic studio in Berlin, up until his death in 1907.