A pre-cinema animation device: a rotating drum with vertical slits along its sides and a strip of sequential drawings on its inner wall, so that a viewer looking through the moving slits sees the pictures as continuous motion rather than a blur. Simon Stampfer and William George Horner independently worked out the principle in the early 1830s, but William Ensign Lincoln's 1867 patented version with replaceable picture strips became the device most people mean by the name.
Facts
Introduced Year1834 marks William George Horner's Daedaleum, the earliest cylindrical version worked out alongside Simon Stampfer; William Ensign Lincoln's now-standard replaceable-strip form followed in 1867 and is what most people mean by the name today. OriginWilliam Ensign Lincoln patented the definitive replaceable-strip zoetrope on 23 April 1867 while a student at Brown University, and Milton Bradley sold it successfully as a toy from 1866. James Clerk Maxwell built an improved version with lenses instead of slits in 1868, for sharper images. 1 FAQs
Who invented the zoetrope?
Simon Stampfer and William George Horner independently worked out the rotating-drum animation principle in the early 1830s, but William Ensign Lincoln's 1867 patented version with replaceable picture strips became the device most people mean by the name.
Simon Stampfer and William George Horner independently worked out the rotating-drum, slitted-sides animation principle in the early 1830s, but William Ensign Lincoln's 1867 patented version, with replaceable picture strips, became the device most people mean by the name. Lincoln patented it on 23 April 1867 while a student at Brown University, and Milton Bradley had already sold an earlier form successfully as a toy from 1866. James Clerk Maxwell built an improved version with lenses instead of slits in 1868, for sharper images.
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Additional Source Praxinoscope (Wikipedia)Lead section
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1. Wikipedia
Wikimedia FoundationWhat Is a Zoetrope section
The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together, and the user sees a rapid succession of images, producing the illusion of motion.
Wikipedia: Zoetrope, Etymology section
The name zoetrope was composed from the Greek root words zoe, life and tropos, turning, as a translation of wheel of life.
View the Source Zoetrope (Wikipedia)
Historical Development sectionQuote, Historical Development section
The definitive version of the zoetrope, with replaceable film picture film strips, was introduced as a toy by Milton Bradley in 1866 and became very successful.
Praxinoscope (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Praxinoscope, Lead sectionQuote, Associated With: Praxinoscope, Lead section
Like the zoetrope, it uses a strip of pictures placed around the inner surface of a spinning cylinder.
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