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Choreutoscope

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The choreutoscope is the first pre-cinema device which employed a system similar to early film projectors.[1] It was the first projection device to use an intermittent movement, which became the basis of many cine cameras and projectors. It was formed by a sheet of glass on which different drawings were made, and the sheet was mounted on a type off Maltese cross mechanism, which made the image move suddenly.[2] The most common drawing was the 'dancing skeleton' in which six sequential images of a skeleton were animated in the viewing pane.

History

The choreutoscope was invented by Lionel Smith Beale in 1866.[1] Beale used it for demonstrations at the Royal Polytechnic. However, Beale was not the only one to create a choreutoscope, a few years later William C. Hughes created his own choreutoscope in 1884, and B. Brown created a similar machine in 1896.

References

  1. ^ "Choreutoscope". Museum of the History of Science. Retrieved 2019-11-20.
  2. ^ "Pre-cinema resources". www.museudelcinema.cat. Retrieved 2019-11-20.