The Eidoloscope was an early motion picture system created by Eugene Augustin Lauste, Woodville Latham and his two sons through their business, the Lambda Company, in New York City in 1894 and 1895.
The Eidoloscope was demonstrated for members of the press on April 21, 1895, and opened to the paying public on Broadway on May 20.
This relieved strain on the filmstrip and so enabled the shooting and projection of much longer motion pictures than had previously been possible.
[6] Woodville's sons were in the business of showing boxing matches and would frequently hear complaints from patrons about how someone should make a machine that projects film on a screen.
W.K.L Dickson, an employee of Thomas Edison at the same time, joined the Lathams and their project to help raise finances and the knowledge of how to move forward in the business.