Location: SJ McKee Archives, Brandon University
This is an early type of image projector employing painted pictures or photographs on sheets of glass, a lens and a bright light source. It was developed in the 17th century and commonly used for educational and entertainment purposes.
It used a concave mirror in back of a light source to direct as much of the light as possible through a small rectangular sheet of glass—a “lantern slide”—on which was the painted or photographic image to be projected, and onward into a lens at the front of the apparatus. The lens was adjusted to optimally focus the plane of the slide at the distance of the projection screen, which could be simply a white wall, and it therefore formed an enlarged image of the slide on the screen.
The projector is located in the Reading Room of the S.J. McKee Archives, Brandon University.
Research and description by Jaime W.
