Projectors: a brief history

At Tornado Event Hire, we love projectors! We decided to do a bit of research into this wonderful invention…

In the 17th Century, there was a very basic projection device invented, called a Magic Lantern. The first motion picture projector was invented in 1879, and it worked by glass discs spinning very fast to give the image motion.

Advances in projectors throughout history have been very slow. It wasn’t until 1951 we began using electricity to project large images and videos for large gatherings of people. Throughout the later half of the 20th century, overhead projectors were widely used by schools and businesses. Slide projectors were also popular during the same period. Families would gather around to view a ‘slideshow’ as entertainment!

Throughout the 1990s, ‘slides’ were gradually replaced by digital media. Fast forward to 2015, 3 different types of Projector available today are known as LCD, DLP and LED.

LCD : uses a Metal Halide lamp to produce a very bright light, which is then split up, it blocks out the elements you don’t need, re-combines the light before projecting onto ANY flat surface. Put in VERY simple terms they break up the light and put it back together as your image!

We use DLP Projectors, which first appeared on the market in the mid 1980s. They work by filtering the light first through a colour wheel then through a DLP Chip, which contains up to 2million tiny mirrors that all move position independently to position the colours into an image. DLP Projectors can use a traditional lamp or by using LEDs.

The latest projector technology is LED (Light Emitting Diodes). The traditional lamp has now been replaced by more efficient and longer lasting LEDs in Red, Green and Blue. LED Projectors do not require warm up time, deliver a crisp and colorful image and have a longer life expectancy.

Did you know… Tornado Event Hire are happy to be an official contractor to Mitsubishi and carry out repairs and servicing. Contact us for more info!


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