The phenakistoscope (also known by the spellings phénakisticope or phenakistiscope) was the first widespread animation device that created a fluid illusion of motion. Dubbed and ('stroboscopic discs') by its inventors, it has been known under many other names until the French product name became common (along with alternative spellings). The phenakistiscope is regarded as one of the first forms of moving media entertainment that paved the way for the future motion picture and film industry. Similar to a GIF animation, it displays a short continuous loop.
Etymology and spelling When the product name 'phénakisticope' was introduced in the French newspaper on 27 June 1833, it was explained to be from the Greek words phenakisticos for 'to deceive' and ops for 'eye' (, or rather φενακίζειν phenakizein, and ὄψ or ὤψ ),, so it was presumably intended to mean 'optical deception' or 'optical illusion'.
The term phénakisticope was first used by the French company Alphonse Giroux et Compagnie in their application for an import license (29 May 1833) and this name was used on their box sets. Fellow Parisian publisher Junin also used the term 'phenakisticope' (both with and without the accent).
Inventor Joseph Plateau did not give a name for the device when he first published about it in January 1833. Later in 1833, he used 'phénakisticope' in an article to refer to the published versions that he was not involved with. By then, he had an authorized set published as Phantasmascope (by Ackermann in London), some months later changed into Fantascope for a new edition and sets by other animators. In many writings and presentations Plateau used both the terms phénakisticope and fantascope, seemingly accepting phénakisticope as the better-known name and holding on to fantascope as the name he preferred.
The spelling 'phenakistiscope' was possibly introduced by lithographers Forrester & Nichol in collaboration with optician John Dunn; they used the title "The Phenakistiscope, or, Magic Disc" for their box sets, as advertised in September 1833. The corrupted part 'scope' was understood to be derived from Greek 'skopos', meaning "aim", "target", "object of attention" or "watcher", "one who watches" (or rather from skopein) and was quite common in the naming of optical devices (e.g. Telescope, Microscope, Kaleidoscope, Fantascope, Bioscope)., .
The misspelling 'phenakistoscope' appeared as early as 1835, in 'The American Journal of Science and Arts'. It became a standard spelling in encyclopedic publications, for instance found in A Dictionary of Science, Literature, & Art (London, 1842) and Iconographic Encyclopaedia of Science, Literature, and Art (New York, 1852).
Technology
The phenakistoscope is typically a cardboard disc with an array of sequential pictures around its center and evenly spaced rectangular apertures around the rim. To view the pictures in motion, the disc is placed on a handle and spun in front of a mirror while the user looks through the slits from the back of the disc. If the disc spins quickly enough, the visual system fuses the alternating views of the reflected image and the intervening cardboard (a phenomenon known as flicker fusion). During the unnoticed gaps, each image is replaced by the next in the sequence, perceived as the same figure going through the depicted phases of motion.
The stroboscopic view through the slits prevents motion blur in the perception of the spinning pictures – the slimmer the slits, the sharper but darker the image.
If there are as many slits as pictures, the figures appear to move in a fixed position and will not drift across the disc. Fewer images than slots and the images will drift in the opposite direction to that of the spinning disc. More images than slots and the images will drift in the same direction as the spinning disc.
Unlike the zoetrope and other successors, common versions of the phénakisticope could only practically be viewed by one person at a time.
The velocity of the disc causes a slight distortion in the perception of the pictures; they appear a bit slimmer and slightly curved. Animators can counter the effect to some extent by increasing the width of the figures and bend them into the other way as the distorted curves, but the amount of distortion to be compensated varies because it depends on the speed. Most phenakisticope animations are not intended to give a realistic representation and the distortion isn't very obvious in cartoonish pictures.
The distortion and the flicker caused by the rotating slits are not seen in most phénakisticope animations now found online (including the GIF animation on this page), as these are usually animations created with software and do not replicate the actual viewing experience of a phénakisticope. However, they can present the work of the animators in an optimized fashion. Some miscalculated modern re-animations also have the slits rotating (which would appear motionless when viewed through an actual phénakisticope) and the figures moving across the discs where they were supposed to stand still (or standing still when they were supposed to move around).
Most commercially produced discs are lithographic prints that were colored by hand, but also multi-color lithography and other printing techniques have been used by some manufacturers.
Invention
The phenakisticope was invented almost simultaneously around December 1832 by the Belgian physicist Joseph Plateau and the Austrian professor of practical geometry Simon Stampfer.
As a university student Plateau noticed in some early experiments that when looking from a small distance at two concentric cogwheels that turned fast in opposite directions, it produced the optical illusion of a motionless wheel. He later read Peter Mark Roget's 1824 article Explanation of an optical deception in the appearance of the spokes of a wheel when seen through vertical apertures which addressed the same illusion. Plateau decided to investigate the phenomenon further and later published his findings in Correspondance Mathématique et Physique in 1828. In a letter to the same scientific periodical dated December 5, 1829 he presented his (still nameless) Anorthoscope, a disc that turns an anamorphic picture into a normal picture when it is spun fast and seen through the four radial slits of a counter-rotating black disc. This invention was later marketed, for instance by Newton & Co in London.
On 10 December 1830 Michael Faraday presented a paper at the Royal Institution of Great Britain called On a Peculiar Class of Optical Deceptions about the optical illusions that could be found in rotating wheels. He referred to Roget's paper and described his associated new findings. Faraday had not been aware that Plateau had already published many similar explanations for similar phenomena. After this became clear, he wrote Plateau to honour his earlier work. Some of Faraday's experiments were new to Plateau and especially the one with a fixed image produced by a turning wheel in front of the mirror inspired Plateau with the idea for new illusions. In July 1832 Plateau sent a letter to Faraday and added an experimental disc with some "anamorphoses" that produced a "completely immobile image of a little perfectly regular horse" when rotated in front of a mirror. After several attempts and many difficulties he constructed a working model of the phénakisticope in November or December 1832. Plateau published his invention in a 20 January 1833 letter to Correspondance Mathématique et Physique. He believed that if the manner of producing the illusions could be somehow modified, they could be put to other uses, "for example, in phantasmagoria".
Stampfer read about Faraday's findings in December 1832 and was inspired to do similar experiments, which soon led to his invention of what he called Stroboscopischen Scheiben oder optischen Zauberscheiben (stroboscope discs or optical magic discs). Stampfer had thought of placing the sequence of images on either a disc, a cylinder (like the later zoetrope) or, for a greater number of images, on a long, looped strip of paper or canvas stretched around two parallel rollers (much like film reels). He also suggests covering up most of the disc or the mirror with a cut-out sheet of cardboard so that one sees only one of the moving figures and painting theatrical coulisses and backdrops around the cut-out part (somewhat similar to the later Praxinoscope-Theatre). Stampfer also mentioned a version which has a disc with pictures on one end and a slotted disc on the other side of an axis, but he found spinning the disc in front of a mirror more simple. By February 1833 he had prepared six double-sided discs, which were later published by Trentsensky & Vieweg. Matthias Trentsensky and Stampfer were granted an Austrian patent (Kaiserlichen königlichen Privilegium) for the discs on 7 May 1833.
Publisher and Plateau's doctoral adviser Adolphe Quetelet claimed to have received a working model to present to Faraday as early as November 1832. Plateau mentioned in 1836 that he thought it difficult to state the exact time when he got the idea, but he believed he was first able to successfully assemble his invention in December. He stated to trust the assertion of Stampfer to have invented his version at the same time.
Peter Mark Roget claimed in 1834 to have constructed several phénakisticopes and showed them to many friends as early as in the spring of 1831, but as a consequence of more serious occupations he did not get around to publishing any account of his invention.
Commercial production
According to Mathias Trentsensky, of art dealer and publishing company Trentsensky & Vieweg, Stampfer had prepared six double-sided discs as early as February 1833 and had repeatedly demonstrated these to many friends. In April 1833 Trentsensky applied for an Austrian patent (k.k. Privilegium) together with Stampfer, which was granted on 7 May 1833. A first edition of four double-sided discs was soon published, but it sold out within four weeks and left them unable to ship orders. These discs probably had round holes as illustrated in an 1868 article and a 1922 reconstruction by William Day, but no original copies are known to still exist. Trentsensky & Vieweg published an improved and expanded set of eight double-sided discs with vertical slits in July 1833. English editions were published not much later with James Black and Joseph Myers & Co. A total of 28 different disc designs have been credited to Professor Stampfer.
Joseph Plateau never patented his invention, but he did design his own set of six discs for Ackermann & Co in London. The series was published in July 1833 as Phantasmascope. In October 1833, Ackermann & Co changed the name of the series to Fantascope and released two more sets of six discs each, one designed by Thomas Talbot Bury and one by Thomas Mann Baynes.
In the meantime some other publishers had apparently been inspired by the first edition of Professor Stampfer's Stroboscopische Scheiben: Alphonse Giroux et Compagnie applied for a French import license on 28 May 1833 for 'Le Phénakisticope' and were granted one on 5 August 1833. They had a first set of 12 single sided discs available before the end of June 1833. Before the end of December 1833 they released two more sets.
By 16 June 1833, Joh. Val. Albert published Die belebte Wunderscheibe in Frankfurt and soon marketed internationally. This version had uncut discs with pictures and a separate larger disc with round holes. The set of Die Belebte Wunderscheibe in Dick Balzer's collection shows several discs with designs that are very similar to those of Stampfer and about half of them are also very similar to those of Giroux's first set.