What is a Zoetrope?

A zoetrope is an optical toy that produces an illusion of action from a rapid succession of static pictures.
It consists of a cylinder with slits cut vertically in the sides. Beneath the slits, on the inner surface of the cylinder, is a band which has either individual frames from a video/film or images from a set of sequenced drawings or photographs. As the cylinder spins, the user looks through the slits at the pictures on the opposite side of the cylinder's interior. The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together, so that the user sees a rapid succession of images producing the illusion of motion, the equivalent of a motion picture. Cylindrical zoetropes have the property of causing the images to appear thinner than their actual sizes when viewed in motion through the slits. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope)
The Zoetrope was invented in 1834 in England by William Horner who called it 'Daedalum' (the wheel of the devil). It was later renamed by an American, William F. Lincoln, who called it 'Zoetrope' (the wheel of life).
It works by placing a strip of images on the bottom of a drum which can be seen through vertical slits. These images appear to move as the drum is spun creating a moving image. The faster the drum is spun the smoother the image appears.
