The History of the Slide Projector

By Sarah Badger, eHow Contributor

updated: July 23, 2010

Carousel slide projectors hold up to 140 slides at once.

Used by amateurs and professionals alike, slide projectors illuminate and enlarge images on film slides for viewing on a flat surface. Most popular in the mid-twentieth century, the use of slide projectors declined with the advent of digital photography.

Magic Lantern Projectors

First used by 17th century scientists, Magic Lanterns functioned similarly to the slide projectors used today. Fire illuminated images painted on heavy glass slides and projected them onto a flat surfaces, likes walls or pieces of fabric.

Early Electric Slide Projectors

Electric slide projectors gradually replaced Magic Lanterns in the early 20th century. The Kodaslide projector model, introduced in 1939, displayed individual color Kodachrome film slides placed manually into the projector, one by one.

Carousel Slide Projectors

Louis Misurace created the Carousel slide projector in the 1950s, before selling the invention to the Kodak company. The Carousel's rotating design could hold dozens of slides at a time and automatically project them sequentially.

Slide Projector Advances

As the popularity of Carousel projectors surged in the 1960s and 70s, Kodak expanded the size of its regular projectors, allowing them to hold up to 140 slides at once. The company also introduced a "pocket" Carousel model designed for miniature slides.

Slide Projectors Discontinued

As digital photography usurped film in the 1990s and 2000s, slide projectors fell out of common use. Kodak discontinued the production of its projectors in 2004.