William Horner (Zoetrope)

Who is William Horner?

William Horner 

William Horner was a british mathematician; he was a schoolmaster, headmaster and school keeper, proficient in classics as well as mathematics, who wrote extensively on functional equations, number theory and approximation theory, but also on optics. He was born 1786, Bristol and died September 22, Bath, Somerset 1837.

The zoetrope was invented in 1834 by William Horner, who originally called it a Daedalum ("wheel of the Devil").  It was based on Plateau's phenakistoscope, but was more convenient since it did not require a viewing mirror and allowed more than one person to use it at the same time.  Horner's invention strangely became forgotten for nearly thirty years until 1867, when it became patented in England by M. Bradley, and in America by William F. Lincoln.  Lincoln renamed the Daedalum, giving it the name of "zoetrope," or "wheel of life." 

The ZoeTrope 

 The zoetrope is the third major optical toy, after the thaumatrope and phenakistoscope, that uses the persistence of motion principle to create an illusion of motion.  It consists of a simple drum with an open top, supported on a central axis.  A sequence of hand-drawn pictures on strips of paper are placed around the inner bottom of the drum.  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.