The first movie camera patented in the U.S. that showed animated pictures or movies was called the "wheel of life" or "zoopraxiscope". Patented in 1867 by William Lincoln, he made moving drawings or photographs that were watched through a slit in the zoopraxiscope.Modern motion picture making began with the invention of the motion picture camera.A Frenchman by the name of Louis Lumiere is often credited as inventing the first motion picture camera in 1895. But in truth, several others had made similar inventions around the same time as Lumiere. What Lumiere invented was a portable motion-picture camera, film processing unit and projector called the Cinematographe, three functions covered in one invention.In 1891, the Edison company successfully demonstrated the Kinetoscope, which enabled one person at a time to view moving pictures. Later in 1896, Edison showed his improved Vitascope projector and it was the first commercially, successful, projector in the U.S.