apparatus [ap-uh-rat-uhs]

ap·pa·rat·us [ap-uh-rat-uhs] noun

A combination of instruments, machinery, or tools built for a particular purpose. Early cinema: the trade's term for its cameras, projectors, and printers. "The director yelled 'Camera!' and the cameraman began cranking his apparatus."

Hand-cranked motion picture cameras of the silent era, and the stories behind them.