In 1832, with the help of his sons, Joseph Plateau invented the ‘spindle viewer’, or as it’s more commonly known – the Phenakistoscope. It was also independently invented in the same year by a man called Simon Von Stamper of Vienna, Austria. Plateau had originally been inspired by Michael Faraday, who had invented a similar device called ‘Michael Faraday’s Wheel’, and Peter Mark Roget, the compiler of ‘Roget’s Thesaurus’. Faraday’s device consisted of two discs that spun in opposite directions of each other. Plateau took this another step, adapting Faraday’s device into a toy, the Phenakistoscope.
The Phenakistoscope uses the persistence of motion to create an illusion that it is actually moving. This idea had already been recognised by the Greek mathematician Euclid and in later experiments by Isaac Newton; it was not until 1829 that the idea was finally published by Joseph Plateau.
The Phenakistoscope consisted of two discs mounted on the same axis. The first disc had slots around the edge, and the second contained drawings of successive action, drawn around the disc in circles. Unlike Faraday's Wheel, whose pair of discs spun in opposite directions, a Phenakistoscope's discs spin together in the same direction. When viewed in a mirror through the first disc's slots, the pictures on the second disc will appear to move.
After going into the market, it received a few other names including Phantasmascope and Fantoscope. It was very successful for about two years; however it was pushed out by William George Horner, who invented the Zoetrope. The Zoetrope offered the public two large improvements – it did not require a viewing mirror and most importantly more than one person could view the pictures at any time.