ZOETROPE ( HISTORY OF ANIMATION)

A zoetrope is a device that
produces the
illusion of motion from a rapid
succession of
static pictures. The term zoetrope
is from the
Greek words ζωή zoe , "life" and
τρόπος tropos,
"turn". It may be taken to mean
"wheel of life".
The zoetrope consists of a cylinder
with slits
cut vertically in the sides. On the
inner surface
of the cylinder is a band with
images from a set
of sequenced pictures. As the
cylinder spins,
the user looks through the slits at
the pictures
across. 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.
The earliest known zoetrope was
created in
China around 180 AD by the
inventor Ting Huan
(丁緩). Ting Huan's device, driven
by
convection , hung over a lamp and
was called
chao hua chich kuan (the pipe
which makes
fantasies appear). The rising air
turned vanes
at the top, from which translucent
paper or mica
panels hung. When the device was
spun at the
right speed, pictures painted on
the panels
would appear to move.
The modern zoetrope was invented
in 1833
by British mathematician William
George
Horner. He called it the
"daedalum", most likely
as a reference to the Greek myth of
Daedalus,
though it was popularly referred to
as "the
wheel of the devil". The daedalum
failed to
become popular until the 1860s,
when it was
patented by both English and
American makers,
including MiltonBradley . The
American
developer William F. Lincoln named
his toy the
"zoetrope", meaning "wheel of life".
Almost
simultaneously, similar inventions
were made
independently in Belgium by
Joseph Antoine
Ferdinand Plateau (the
phenakistoscope ) and in
Austria by Simon von Stampfer
(the
stroboscope ).
The zoetrope worked on the same
principles as
the phenakistoscope, but the
pictures were
drawn on a strip which could be
set around the
bottom third of a metal drum, with
the slits now
cut in the upper section of the
drum. The drum was
mounted on a spindle and spun;
viewers
looking through the slits would see
the cartoon
strip form a moving image. The
faster the drum
was spun, the smoother the
animation
appeared.