Category Archives: Pre-cinema optical devices

The Vectograph

In 1944, the Polaroid Corporation in Cambridge, Massachusetts, published an operation and training manual for their new Vectograph process to create 3D images. The volume was probably not for the general public but only for the few industrial readers interested in using coded pictures, such as the Army or Navy. A vectograph is composed of two superposed stereoscopic images polarized at right angles to each other, giving a three-dimensional effect when viewed through appropriate polarizing spectacles.

“Credit for the concept of the vectographs is due to Joseph Mahler, cousin of famed composer and conductor Gustav Mahler. He emigragrated to the U.S. from Czechoslovakia in 1938 and was hired by the Polaroid Corporation, where he worked with its founder, inventor Edwin Land, to develop his idea into a practical process.”

The manual guarantees that “the process is practicable under any conditions permitting the making of ordinary paper prints. Equipment and supplies packed in self-contained lockers. Processing time 30 minutes for first print, three minutes each for succeeding prints. May be made as prints for direct viewing or slides for projection in standard projectors.”

“Polarized Light Aids the Army,” Popular Science Monthly 142, no. 3 (March 1943).

Dimensional Vectographs in Operations and Training (Cambridge, Mass.: Polaroid Corporation, [1944]). 12 leaves with 18 mounted vectographs and 10 viewers in ring binder. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2014- in process

Toover-Schijf

A trade card for the Amsterdam microscope salesman Abraham van Emden (1794-1860) described him as a physical, mathematical, and optical instrument maker. He also handled thermometers, barometers, lenses, compasses, and other scientific devices.

In the 1830s, van Emden manufactured Toover-schijf [magic or enchanted disks], an early hand-held variation of the phenakistoscope. The Graphic Arts Collection recently acquired one of his marbled boxes of toover-schijf, which includes 9 lithographic disks with sequential images, one guide disc with viewing slots, and a wood handle. Standing in front of a mirror, the user spins the disk while looking through the moving slots and sees a moving image.

According to van Emden, “one will be surprised by the floating enchantment, bringing to the eye of the beholders, the alternating movement of the figures.” On most, there are figurative images on one side and geometric on the other, with a separate sequence around the center hole.

The invention of the fantascope or phenakistoscope is usually credited to Joseph Plateau (1801-1883), taking the name from the Greek word phenakizein, meaning to deceive or cheat. The eye of the viewer is deceived into thinking it sees a moving image. The Costen Children’s Library has one of Plateau’s devices: Joseph Antoine Ferdinand Plateau (1801-1883), Fantascope invented by Prof. Plateau (London: Ackermann, [1833]). CTSN Opticals 2282.

See also: Peter de Clercq in A History of Science in the Netherlands (Leiden; Boston: Brill, 1999). Firestone Library (F) Q127.N2 H58 1999

Le Praxinopose

Georges Brunel (1856-1900), Le Praxinopose (Bordeaux?, ca. 1890). (2) pp. folder with the text page mounted to the verso of the cover. Graphic Arts Collection GAX 2013- in process.

The praxinopose is a metering apparatus for photographers, designed by the French mathematician Georges Brunel (1856-1900). It was used to determine the shutter speed for obtaining a clear image of moving objects, such as a bicycle or a train. Our praxinopose includes a series of four concentric moveable disks mounted inside a leather binding, along with instructions for use in French.

Early practitioners of high-speed photography include Eadweard Muybridge’s 1878 images of horses in motion; Peter Salcher’s 1886 photography of a bullet; and Ernst Mach’s capture of the shadows of supersonic shockwaves. The praxinopose was meant simplify the guesswork.

NeoLucida

The Graphic Arts Collection is fortunate to hold a nineteenth-century English Camera Lucida, which is simply a tiny prism attached to a brass pole. These optical devices were used by many professional artists for sketching, however, ours is fragile and difficult to focus. Happily, we just acquired a twenty-first century variation called the NeoLucida.

Now we can allow students and visitors try their hand at sketching with the curious instrument. The trick is to look down at the blank paper, where you will magically see the image of what is in front of you.

The modern device includes a silvered prism, optimized for optical clarity, carefully encased in a custom anodized aluminum mount. The prism is supported by a highly adjustable gooseneck arm and a sturdy metal clamp. Below is a short video describing the design and manufacturing of it.

Congratulations to the inventors Golan Levin & Pablo Garcia, Princeton Class of 2003!!!

Magic Mirror Movies

Red Raven Magic Mirror Movies. Westport, CT: Morgan Development Laboratories, 1956. Original cardboard box with 5 vinyl picture discs, aluminum carousel with mirrors. Graphic Arts Collection

Based on the Praxinoscope, this optical toy merges sound and image. Each 33 1/3 record includes images on the paper label along with a short song. While the record plays, the images are reflected into the carousel turning on the spindle and a single moving picture is created.

The Morgan Company produced these records only from 1956 to 1961. Here is one example.

Praxinoscope

A slight improvement on the Zoetrope, the Praxinoscope employs the same elements: a moving drum loaded with a strip of paper holding a sequence of images. To these, the French scientist Charles‐Émile Reynaud added an inner circle of mirrors, one for each image. The reflected images proved brighter and clearer than ones viewed directly through slots in the drum.

The Praxinoscope in the Graphic Arts Collection is French, dating from around 1877. We also have a portable Praxinoscope Theatre.

Here is one example of a juggling sequence

Megalethoscope

In the 1860s, Swiss-born Carlo Ponti, optician to King Victor Emanuel II of Italy, created a device called an Alethoscope for the viewing of both prints and photographs. Large or deluxe versions were called Megalethoscopes. Princeton University is very fortunate to have one of the few megalethoscopes still in existence along with a set of photographic slides.

There are holes in each print, barely visible from the front, and various sections have been trimmed so that the paper is thinner. When the top is open and the light hits the front of the image, we see a daytime scene. When the top is closed and the light comes from the back, we see the scene at night.

Below is a sequence of shots as the light moves from the front to the back of the photographic slide. The slide is slightly concave to fit inside the device and has become somewhat warped as the wood frame has dried over the years.

Thaumatrope

Trompe-l’oeil ou les plaisirs de Jocko, French, ca. 1837. Discs: 2 1/2″ diam.; set contains 24 discs. Graphic Arts Collection, optical devices

A thaumatrope is a small paper disc with two strings on either side. Half of a picture is on the front and the other half on the back. When you spin it between your fingers, the pictures appear to merge and form a complete scene. The Graphic Arts collection has a French set from the early 1800s. Here are a few examples.

For a set of smoother animations, see the wonderful Richard Balzer tumbler or website:
http://dickbalzer.blogspot.com/

Phenakistoscope

One of the optical toys not represented in the Graphic Arts Collection is an original Phenakistoscope. We do, however, have a modern facsimile with a nice variety of circular image sequences.

Here is one example of a slack rope dancer or acrobat.