The Zoetrope was invented in 1834 by William Horner, who actually originally called it the Daedalum, or ‘Wheel of the Devil’. It was also based on Plateau’s Phenakistoscope, but it was more convenient as it did not require a viewing mirror and more than one person could view the images inside at any given time. Despite this, the invention was actually forgotten for 30 years until M. Bradley and William F. Lincoln patented it in the UK and America respectively, with Lincoln renaming the Daedalum the Zoetrope, or the ‘Wheel of Life’.
The Zoetrope was the third major optical toy, after the Phenakistoscope and the Thaumatrope, to use the persistence of motion principle to create an illusion of movement. It consists of a simple drum with an open top, supported on a central axis.
Sequences of hand-drawn pictures on strips of paper are placed around the inner bottom of the drum. Then, slots are cut at equal distances around the outer surface of the drum, just above where the picture strips were to be positioned.
To create an illusion of motion, the drum is spun; the faster the rate of spin, the smoother the progression of images. A viewer can look through the wall of the zoetrope from any point around it, and see a rapid progression of images. Because of its design, more than one person could use the zoetrope at the same time.