"The name derives from the Greek word "to cheat." The essential component of this device is a glass disk (34 cm in diameter) upon which are arranged figures radially, representing a moving object in successive positions On turning the disk, and projecting a light beam through the lens and opening, the persistence of vision of the viewer produces the impression of actual motion. The projection lens has an aperture of 11.5 cm. Five glass discs remain, representing an acrobat balancing a ball on his feet, a spinning top, a tumbler doing a hand spring, a ball moving through a hoop, and a cat gamboling with two mice. In the case of the top, 13 separate hand-painted figures compose the sequence. Marked "J. Duboscq à Paris" (in script)." From Robert T. Lagemann, The Garland Collection of Classical Physics Apparatus at Vanderbilt University (Folio Publishers, Nashville, Tenn., 1983) pg 191.
The phenakistoscope at the right is the one described above
at Vanderbilt. At the left is one at Williston Northampton School in Easthampton,
Massachusetts. The later photograph is by Daniel Hayden. Note that the
disk with the images and the disk containing the four lenses rotate at
different rates.
|
|
|
| The Phenakistoscope at the right is in the collection
of historical physics apparatus at Yale University. It was made by Duboscq
and has a rotating disk showing various aspects of a clown eating a cow.
|
 |