Henri Joly
In 1895, Henri Joly (1866 - 1945) went to Pathé to buy an Edison Kinetoscope that he intended to use at fairs.

Pathé then sold English counterfeits, made by Robert-William Paul, but was unable to supply films, much less make them.
Joly, who had knowledge of mechanics, offered to make a camera and reached an agreement with Pathé, who provided the funds.

On August 26, 1895, Joly filed a patent for “a new chronophotographic device” that allowed him to make a few strips for the Kinetoscope.

Joly then designed a 4-eyepiece version of Edison’s device, the Photozootrope, for which he filed a patent on November 8 of the same year. The device was marketed by Pathé, but since the time had come for the projection of animated images, it was not very successful.

In early 1896, Pathé separated from Joly, who had to find new sponsors. After trying his luck with G.W. de Bedts, he finally joined forces with Ernest Normandin, who manufactured and marketed a new reversible camera, patented by Joly in March 1896.

This satellite-movement cinematograph produced images over a height of 5 perforations. At the end of the year, Joly also designed a small model, operating with a ratchet wheel, producing standard images.

From 1900, Joly became interested in sound cinema. He filed a patent for a synchronization mechanism between a phonograph and a cinematograph and founded the Société anonyme du Biophonographe on February 6, 1900... which was dissolved the following year.

The patent for the Biophonograph was bought by a man named Roy.
In 1905, he filed a patent for a new synchronism mechanism, which was this time successfully marketed by Georges Mendel, in the Cinémato-Gramo-Théâtre.
In 1906, Henri Joly founded the Société anonyme des Phonographes et Cinématographes Lux, with a capital of 1,100,000 francs, which he left two years later (the company was dissolved in 1913).
In the 1910s and 1920s, he continued to invent and filed numerous patents in often varied fields. Deprived of industrial support, he ended up ruining himself and then worked in various activities, as a race car driver, then as a night watchman in the metro, before disappearing in 1945, forgotten by all.

Source http://cinematographes.free.fr/joly.html Eric Lange collection

BIOPHONOGRAPHE SHARE History

100 franc bearer share issued in Paris in 1900.

Henri, Ernest Joly (1866-1945) was an inventor and pioneer of cinema. He developed a camera inspired by Thomas Edison's Kinetoscope sold by Charles Pathé in 1895. The device was operated by Pathé.

He designed the photozootrope, a kinetroscope with four eyepieces. The biophonograph company was created when the patent for sound and cinematographic synchronization was filed.

The company was quickly dissolved but Joly continued to file patents. In 1906, he founded the Société des Phonographes et Cinématographes Lux, which itself was dissolved in 1913.

Due to lack of funding and support, Joly ended up ruined and forgotten, even though he had made a significant contribution to the film industry.

Very rare title: small issue of 1200 shares.

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