Zoetrope Optical Illusion Toy

I like how the layout of the site is simple and has only the optical illusion toys as part of it besides the title and description of the site. This way it is easier to find what I am looking for. It's also nice how there are no advertisements, links, etc. at the side of the page to distract me from what I am looking for. My only suggestions would be to include the title of the device and maybe a brief description next to the picture, and to update the links the author posted because they are no longer working.

The Zoetrope is an old illusionary toy invented in 1834 by William Horner. He originally named it the Daedalum, which meant "wheel of the devil," until the name was changed to Zoetrope by William F. Lincoln who patented it in 1867, meaning "wheel of life."
      The Zoetrope uses the persistence of motion principle to create the illusion of motion. It is a drum with an open top that sits on a central axel, which is what makes it spin around. Hand-drawn images on strips of paper are placed on the inside of the drum walls sequentially so when it spins a simple animation is created. Slits are cut in equal distance apart around the drum so the image can be viewed from anywhere around the device, meaning multiple people can observe it simultaneously. To make the device work you would need to spin a wheel with a handle attached to the Zoetrope, making the drum spin around. The faster it spun, the clearer the image appeared. (At the bottom of the post there is a link leading to a video demonstrating how the device is used)

      I find this toy interesting because unlike the phenakistoscope, multiple people could view the animation at once instead of only one. I also find it interesting how the toy became forgotten for nearly thirty years until it was re-discovered and patented by British M. Bradley and American William F. Lincoln. I understand that it probably was forgotten because it became obsolete, but the fact that it became popular again nearly three decades later I didn't expect. The thing I find most intriguing is how Horner was able to come up with the idea of creating this. Obviously it must have taken quite a bit of time to think up the idea and develop it.

      This device is significant because it was one of the final steps towards modern cinema, the praxinoscope coming after along with flexible photographic film, and finally modern cinema in 1895. Although cinema is different from the Zoetrope they both run off the same concept of a wheel with multiple static images spinning rapidly to to create the illusion of movement. This was a small but important invention in the history of animation because of its technological advance after its predecessors.