Which early device displayed moving pictures by revealing images through slits in a rotating disk?

Which early device displayed moving pictures by revealing images through slits in a rotating disk?

• A. Zootrope
• B. Phonograph
• C. Magic Lantern
• D. Kinetoscope

Answer: (A)

Animation is created by showing a rapid sequence of images. The device described uses a wheel or drum with drawings on its inner surface and evenly spaced slits. As it spins, each slit momentarily reveals the next frame to the viewer, so the sequence appears to move. This is the zoetrope, an early device designed exactly for that slitted, rotating-disk presentation of pictures. The other devices work differently: the phonograph is for sound, the magic lantern projects flat slides with light, and the kinetoscope shows motion through a peephole in a film-strip viewer rather than through slits in a rotating disk.

Animation is created by showing a rapid sequence of images. The device described uses a wheel or drum with drawings on its inner surface and evenly spaced slits. As it spins, each slit momentarily reveals the next frame to the viewer, so the sequence appears to move. This is the zoetrope, an early device designed exactly for that slitted, rotating-disk presentation of pictures.

The other devices work differently: the phonograph is for sound, the magic lantern projects flat slides with light, and the kinetoscope shows motion through a peephole in a film-strip viewer rather than through slits in a rotating disk.