Zoetrope - the spinning animation device

What is a zoetrope?

A zoetrope is a device consisting of a cylinder with holes, or slits, cut around the side of it enabling you to see through the sides. The cyclinder is positioned on a stand so that it can spin. Inside the cyclinder is a strip of paper with images drawn on it, each of these images is like a cell in an animation so as the cyclinder spins and you look through the slits in the side it looks as though the images are moving, provided of course that the images are drawn in a way that translates to movement.

The images don't have to been drawn images, they can be photos too. You will find that when you view the images through the slits in the side of the cyclinder that it tends to make the image thinner, so photos may look a little strange.

When was it invented?

William George Horner, a British Mathematician from Bristol, invented the zoetrope in 1834 although then it was known as the Daedalum which means "wheel of the devil". The idea was actually based on Joseph Plateau's phenakistoscope from 1831. Phenakistoscope being a greek word meaning "deceiving viewer". This was a disc with a series of slits in it and the images would be drawn onto the disc too. The disc would be spun and you would look through the back of the disc through the slits and look at the image which was reflected in a mirror. The phenakistoscope was also invented simultaneously by an Austrian, Simon von Stampfer. The zoetrope design had the advantage that it didn't require a mirror plus, as it was a cylinder, it allowed more than one person to look through the slits at the same time allowing several people to enjoy the zoetrope animations.

It wasn't until 1867 when the zoetrope became patented in both England and America, but at that point it was still called the Daedalum, it was William F. Lincoln, the person who patented the design in America, who renamed it the zoetrope.

What replaced the zoetrope?

In 1877, a frenchman called Charles-Émile Reynaud invented the praxinoscope which used the same spinning cylinder idea as the zoetrope, but replaced the slits around the cylinder with mirrors in the centre of the cylinder. This allowed you to view the reflected image, giving a brighter, less distorted view.

In 1889 the praxinoscope was taken a stage further to allow the image to be projected onto a screen. This was called the Théâtre Optique. The photographic film projector soon became a more popular option and so the zoetrope and it's evolutions soon became replaced.