Zoetrope

The zoetrope, also zootrope ( popularly called miracles drum) is a simple optical device that produces mechanical means moving pictures. There is thus a precursor of cinematography.

Operation

The zoetrope consists of a dark, open-top rotary drum at the edge are located at regular intervals narrow slits. On the inner wall of the drum is a piece of paper with drawn movement phases or photography series, with as many pictures as the drum has slots. The drum is rotated and the viewer looks through the passing slots on the paper. Like the flipbook the stroboscopic effect is exploited in order to create the illusion of continuous motion sequence. This is due to the inertia of human vision, whereby the eye by in rapid succession (more than 15 per second) recorded images are not individually resolved and perceived as continuous motion. The operation is basically the same of the film projector.

History

The zoetrope was founded in 1834 by William George Horner ( 1786-1837 ), an English mathematician, invented under the name Daedaleum or Daedatelum. The name refers to the captured motion phases, which is said to have created the master builder and sculptor Daedalus in Greek mythology as sculptures. In the 1860s, was the invention - first in the United States - under the name zoetrope, or Wheel of life distribution, including a much-used toys. This was followed by further developments such as the Praxinoscope.

To date, the zoetrope is known primarily as a children's toy, not least because it comes with little effort can make anyone self. But even in the historical collections of film museums, the zoetrope has its place, as it represents the basic functioning of the film in a simple way.