Tangible Media: Removable Storage of Image, Sound, Motion and Data
Tangible Media: Removable Storage of Image, Sound, Motion and Data
Tangible Media: Removable Storage of Image, Sound, Motion and Data
Chemistry
Ives Lantern Kromskop

Title:

Turkish Rug and Tabaret

Date:

c. 1895

Material:

Glass plates, woode5n mount

Dimensions:

Mount 9 × 3 in. (229 × 76 mm),  images 2⅛ × 2⅛ in. (54 × 54 mm)

Location:

London, UK

Color separations mounted for projection by a magic lantern. The lantern was augmented by a device called a Kromskop positioned in front. The device split the beam using first-surface mirrors and semi-transparent glass reflectors, then sent it through the three separation images and color filters (see diagram below). Significant light was lost in the process, which limited the size of the projected image to approximately 2½ to 3½ ft. square (76 to 107 cm) depending on the brightness of the lamp (Sanger-Shepherd-1900, 4).

Ives patented the process and device in 1890 (UK Patent 672,573) and in 1889 first demonstrated it publicly in a presentation to the Franklin Institute (Ives 1889, 54–58). Ives also produced table-top devices for viewing color separations: the Junior Kromskop and the Stereo Kromskop.

The device, which contains its own objectives and condenser, is placed in front of a magic lantern with the original objective and condenser lenses removed (Ives 1898, 6).
Schematic of optical paths through the projecting Kromskop. The original beam of light enters through the condenser lens on the left. It is split into three parts by the glass plates h and I. Each of the three resulting beams is directed (using mirrors k and j for blue and red) through a filter of the same color as used in the camera and focused on the screen by the objectives d (blue), e (green), and f (red) (Ives 1898, 4).
References
⌃  Back to citationIves, Frederick E. 1889. Heliochromy. Journal of the Franklin Institute 127 (1): 54–8.
⌃  Back to citationIves. Frederick. 1898. Directions for Use of the Kromskop Lantern. London: The Photochromoscope Syndicate, Ltc.
⌃  Back to citationSanger-Shepherd & Co. 1900. Natural Colour Photography. Descriptive Catalogue of Apparatus and Material for the Photography of Colour. Sanger-Shepherd & Co. Ltd.