History of Animation and their creators

History of Animation

The Creators

Joseph Plateau [phenakitoscope]

Joseph Plateau and sons introduce the Phenakistoscope. Like other toys of its kind, the Phenakistoscope was one of the more successful illusion toys. Pictures on one disc viewed through slots in the other, appeared to move when the two were spun and viewed in a mirror.

William Horner [zoetrope]

Zoetrope was introduced by William George Horner. The Zoetrope used the same principle as Plateau's Phenakistoscope but instead of discs the pictures and slots are combined in a rotating drum. Zoetrope's were widely sold after 1867.

Edison (kinetoscope)

Of the whopping 1,093 US patents credited under American inventor Thomas Edison, one of them is an early filmmaking device which he called the kinetoscope. Edison built it in 1891, sparked by an interest in motion picture.

Emile Reynaud [praxinoscope]

Emile Reynaud introduces the Praxinoscope. Similar in design to Horner's Zoetrope, the illusion of movement produced by the Praxinoscope was viewed on mirrors in the centre of the drum rather than through slots on the outside.