1877 – French inventor
Charles-Émile Reynaud improved on the
Zoetrope idea by placing mirrors at the center of the drum. He called his invention the
Praxinoscope. Reynaud developed other versions of the Praxinoscope, too, including a Praxinoscope Theatre (where the device was enclosed in a viewing box) and the Projecting Praxinoscope. Eventually he created the "
Théâtre Optique", a large machine based on the Praxinoscope, able to project longer animated strips. In the United States, the
McLoughlin Bros. from New York released in 1879 a simplified (and unauthorized) copy of Reynaud's invention under the name "Whirligig of Life".
1877–1878 –
Thomas Edison's announcement of his
phonograph invention inspired Scientific American to suggest combinations with
stereoscopic photographs and projection.
Wordsworth Donisthorpe replied that his Kinesigraph (patented in 1876) would soon produce moving life-size photographs with the motion of lips and gestures corresponding to the words from the phonograph.
1878 –
Eadweard Muybridge records his famous
chronophotographic series of pictures of the phases of The Horse in Motion, the result of an assignment by railroad tycoon
Leland Stanford who wanted to see proof of the real positions of the horse's gait. The pictures had a huge impact, because the recorded positions were very different (and often less gracious) than most people imagined; many drawings and paintings turned out to be incorrect.
1877 – French inventor
Charles-Émile Reynaud improved on the
Zoetrope idea by placing mirrors at the center of the drum. He called his invention the
Praxinoscope. Reynaud developed other versions of the Praxinoscope, too, including a Praxinoscope Theatre (where the device was enclosed in a viewing box) and the Projecting Praxinoscope. Eventually he created the "
Théâtre Optique", a large machine based on the Praxinoscope, able to project longer animated strips. In the United States, the
McLoughlin Bros. from New York released in 1879 a simplified (and unauthorized) copy of Reynaud's invention under the name "Whirligig of Life".
1877–1878 –
Thomas Edison's announcement of his
phonograph invention inspired Scientific American to suggest combinations with
stereoscopic photographs and projection.
Wordsworth Donisthorpe replied that his Kinesigraph (patented in 1876) would soon produce moving life-size photographs with the motion of lips and gestures corresponding to the words from the phonograph.
1878 –
Eadweard Muybridge records his famous
chronophotographic series of pictures of the phases of The Horse in Motion, the result of an assignment by railroad tycoon
Leland Stanford who wanted to see proof of the real positions of the horse's gait. The pictures had a huge impact, because the recorded positions were very different (and often less gracious) than most people imagined; many drawings and paintings turned out to be incorrect.