Thomas J. Armat (October 25, 1866 – September 30, 1948) was an American mechanic andinventor, a pioneer ofcinema best known through the co-invention of the EdisonVita
Armat studied at the Mechanics Institute inRichmond, Virginia and then in 1894 at theBliss Electrical School inWashington, D.C., where he metCharles Francis Jenkins. The two classmates teamed up to develop amovie projector using a new kind of intermittent motion mechanism, a "beater mechanism" similar to the one patented 1893 byGeorges Demenÿ inFrance. It was one of the first projectors using what is known as theLatham loop (an extra loop of the film before the transport mechanism to reduce the tension on the film and avoid film breakage, developed independently at the same time byWoodville Latham and his sons). They made their first public projection using their invention, namedPhantoscope after an earlier model designed by Jenkins alone, in September 1895 at theCotton States and International Exposition inAtlanta.
Following this success, the two co-inventors broke up overpatent issues. Jenkins tried to claim sole inventorship, but was turned down and sold out to Armat, who subsequently joined and sold the patent toThomas Edison, who marketed the machine as the 'Vitascope'. The projector was used in a public screening inNew York City beginning April 23, 1896 and lasting more than a week.
Working for Edison, Armat refined the projector in 1897 by replacing the beater mechanism with a more preciseGeneva drive, duplicating an invention made a year earlier inGermany byOskar Messter and Max Griewe and inEngland byRobert William Paul.
