Eidoloscope

The Eidoloscope was an early motion picture system created by Woodville Latham and his two sons through their business, the Lambda Company, in New York City in 1894 and 1895.

History
Originally called the Panoptikon, it is perhaps the first widescreen film format, with an aspect ratio of 1.85:1. It had a film gauge of 51 mm and an aperture of 37 mm by 20 mm. It was instrumental in the history of film in that it created what became known as the "Latham Loop", which are two loops of film, one on each side of the intermittent movement, which act as a buffer between continuously moving sprockets and the jerky motion of the intermittent movement. The Latham Loop concept is a ubiquituous part of virtually every movie camera and movie projector to this day.