Career
He was significant in the development of early film technology. Woodville Latham was the father of Grey Latham and Otway Latham, owners of a kinetoscope parlor in New York City. Dickson would not leave Edison"s employ until April 1895 and initially lent his expertise to the Lathams in secret.
These were the first public demonstrations of projected motion pictures in the United States.
In 1898 the Lathams abandoned motion pictures and soon lost their patents. Latham, aided by the collaboration of Dickson and Lauste, is notable for the invention of the Latham loop inside movie cameras and projectors, a significant development in the history of cinema because it allowed motion pictures to be continuously shot and projected for a much longer period than the one-minute films of Thomas Edison"s kinetoscope.
Shortly before his death in 1911, Latham testified regarding the "Latham loop" at a patent hearing.