Elias Bernard Koopman

Elias Bernard Koopman (1860 – August 23, 1929) was a founder of the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company. He was also a founder of The Magic Introduction Company. He later headed the Runsyne Corporation, a maker of electrical signs.

He was born in 1860. In 1895 with William Kennedy Dickson and Herman Casler and Henry Marvin he founded the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company.

He committed suicide by stabbing himself in the abdomen in 1929 in the Hotel Cumberland. He was taken to the hospital while still alive, but he died a few hours later. He left a note for his brother, Harry Koopman telling him of his intentions. In the note he asked that his family not mourn for him. He also asked that his body be donated to science. He was 69 years old.

• U.S. Patent 414,058 pocket lamp

• "The Magic Introduction Company". The Lampworks. Retrieved 2007-09-25. One of the principals of The Magic Introduction Company, Elias Bernard Koopman, (b. 1860, d. 1929) was granted patent number 414,058 on October 29, 1889 (see photo above). His invention for a "pocket lamp" is in effect an early incarnation of the cigarette lighter.