Phenakistoscope

Phenkistoscope

A phenakistoscope is a disk with figures shown around the center, there are slits near the edges so that the figures are then viewed by a mirror. There are two different sized circles, one being the bigger for the slits, and the second being smaller for the animation drawings. Once you spin the wheel you will be able to see a progressing animation through the slits. 

Joseph Plateau was the first person to demonstrate the illusion of moving image when he invented the phenakistoscope in 1832, the phenakistoscope was produced to create an illusion of motion. Joseph Plateau was a physicist who was born in Brussels in 1801 and passed away in 1883. Plateau researched into the effect of colours in his doctoral thesis which included the observation of the distortion of moving images as well as the reconstruction of distorted images through counter revolving discs. This then lead to Plateau's invention of The Phenakistoscope. 

The phenakistoscope with two discs included; one disk with slots around the edges and another disc containing drawings of action. The discs would both then spin together in the same direction. You could also view it in a mirror through the first disc's slits which would give you the illusion of the pictures on the second disc moving.