IMPROVEMENTS IN THAUMATROPES OR PHENAKISTOSCOPES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Thomas Shaw, of 110, Bunhill Row, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THAUMATROPES
OR PHENAKISTOSCOPES."
Sealed the 20th November 1860, and dated the 22nd May 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Thomas Shaw at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd May 1860.
I, WILLIAM THOMAS SHAW, of 110, Bunhill Row, in the County of Middle-
sex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THAUMATROPES OR PHENAKISTOSCOPES," to be as follows:-
1
My Invention consists in the application of the principle of the stereoscope
to that class of instruments invented by Plateau, Frofessor Faraday, and
others, and variously known as thaumatropes, phenakistoscopes, and by other
names which depend for their results on "persistence of vision." For this
purpose prefer to make use of the reflecting stereoscope of Professor
Wheatstone, but the refracting stereoscope of Sir David Brewster may with
certain modifications be made to answer the same end. Having constructed an
ordinary reflecting stereoscope I fix at either end in the places appropriated
to the pictures a disc so connecting these discs by suitable mechanical means
that they may be made to revolve with absolute synchronism in opposite
directions; these discs 1 term the picture discs. Immediately in front of the
reflectors I fix vertically and in the same plane two other discs called the
Price 8d1

page_text: eye discs which also are made to revolve synchronously with the picture discs
before alluded to. Having obtained stereoscopic photographs of some object
(or set of objects,) in the successive positions it assumes in performing a giver.
evolution, I paste them in the order in which they were taken, the right hand
and left hand pictures respectively, upon circular pieces of cardboard, which
are then fastened upon the picture discs in such a way that the various pictures
of the series shall be visually superposed in the reflectors, I then cut in the
margin of the eye discs in the direction of their radii and at equal distances
as many rectilinear apertures as there are objects (or sets of objects) upon
each of the picture discs, the eye discs being so adjusted that each shall present
an aperture to the respective eyes of the observer at the same instant of time.
Or only one eye disc may be used, its axis being placed in the same plane as
the eyes of the observer, and either to the right or left of them, in which
case any one aperture cut in the direction of the radii, and prolonged to the
requisite extent (some 3 inches) must-necessarily pass before both eyes
simultaneously. The whole of the discs being now caused to revolve the
observer sees the objects perform their evolutions in solid relief as in nature.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Thomas Shaw in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd November 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
THOMAS SHAW, of 110, Bunhill Row, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Thomas Shaw, Her special licence that I, the said William Thomas Shaw, my
executers, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Thomas Shaw, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THAUMATROPES
OR PHENAKISTOSCOPES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
William Thomas Shaw, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly

page_text: describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what mauner
the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Thomas Shaw, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in thaumatropes or phena-
kistoscopes, and consists in the application of the principle of the stereoscope
to such instruments. The thaumatrope and the phenakistoscope, as is
well known, give to objects shown by them an appearance of motion; by
my improvements I cause these objects to appear also in solid relief as when
seen in the ordinary stereoscope. I take from a suitable object a number
of photographic pictures, the pictures being taken in pairs having a stereo-
scopic relation the one to the other as is well understood. Between the
taking of each pair of pictures the object is caused to perform a portion of
the movement which it is desired to represent, the first pair of pictures being
taken at the commencing point of the movement and each successive pair
showing the same somewhat further progressed than the previous pair, until
the last pair shows the object at a point just before it regains its first position.
Having obtained these pictures, I view them by means of a stereoscope, and by
mechanism Icause the pairs of pictures to be changed rapidly, each pair being
submitted to the eyes in succession for a moment of time. When thus seen
an appearance is obtained as of a solid body in motion.
And in order that my said Invention may be most fully understood and
readily carried into effect, I will proceed to described the Drawings hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1, is a plan; and Figure 2, is a front view of an apparatus arranged
according to my Invention on the principle of the reflecting stereoscope. The
Drawing is one half of the size of which I prefer to make the instrument; a, a,
is a board mounted on legs a¹, a¹, this board carries the axis b, which can be
turned by the crank handle 61, and has mounted on it a pulley b²; c is another
axis also having a pulley c¹ mounted on it, and this axis is driven by a band
passing round the two pulleys c², is a bevilled pinion at the end of the axis
c, and d, d, are two other bevilled pinions gearing with the pinion c², and
thus the axisd, d, on which the said pinions are mounted are driven; d², d², are
Figure 1, is a plan; and Figure 2, is a front view of an apparatus arranged
according to my Invention on the principle of the reflecting stereoscope. The
Drawing is one half of the size of which I prefer to make the instrument; a, a,
is a board mounted on legs a¹, a¹, this board carries the axis b, which can be
turned by the crank handle b¹, and has mounted on it a pulley b²; c is another
axis also having a pulley c¹ mounted on it, and this axis is driven by a band
passing round the two pulleys c², is a bevilled. pinion at the end of the axis
c, and d, d, are two other bevilled pinions gearing with the pinion c², and
thus the axisd, d, on which the said pinions are mounted are driven; d², d²,are
:

page_text: discs fixed at the extremities of these axes, they are secured thereon by binding
screws d³, so that they may be removed from the axis, and adjusted in their
positionsthereonas required; onthesediscs the picturesare fixedin regularorder,
the right-hand pictures on one disc and the left-hand pictures on the other, and
so that the pictures of each pair may (as the discs are caused to rotate by the
gearing,) be at the top of their respective discs, at the same time; with this
instrument I usually employ eight pairs of pictures; e, c, are reflectors similar
to the reflectors of an ordinary reflecting stereoscope;ff, are two other discs
with notches f, f¹, cut in them as is shown, these are mounted on axes 12.ƒ³,
having pinions 3, f, fixed on them at their other ends, and these pinions gear
with a spur wheel c³ on the axis c; the discs are thus driven at four times
the number of revolutions of the picture discs. The person using the
instrument looks through one of the notches of each disc when they are in
the position shewn, the eyes being placed opposite these positions, then each
time the notches pass the reflection is seen in the mirrors of the two pictures
which are for the instant at the top of the picture discs, and these pictures
being rapidly changed, as before mentioned, the desired effect is obtained.
If in place of eight pairs of pictures seven or nine are employed the object
will appear to move forward or backwards in space as well as to perform the
evolution to be represented. When it is wished to produce this motion
in space, the arrangement shown is the most convenient for obtaining it, but
when this is not desired a refracting instrument may be employed, which
is somewhat more convenient and compact than that above described. A front
view of a refracting instrument arranged according to my Inventionis shown
full size in Figure 3, and a vertical section at Figure 4. a, a, is the frame of
the instrument; b is an octagonal drum mounted onanaxiscarried by theframe.
On each of the sides of this drum a pair of pictures is placed, these being
first mounted on cardboard or otherwise side by side as for the ordinary
stereoscope, and the pictures are placed in regular order around the drum; c,c,
are mountings fitted with semi-lenses similar to those usually employed in
refracting stereoscopes; d, is a screen drum which serves to limit the time
during which the pictures can be seen to a sufficiently short period of time.
This drum as will be seen has two passages through it, each passage is wide
at one end and narrow at the other, and runs the whole length of the drum;
it is divided in the centre by a partition, which limits the sight of each eye
to the picture of the stereoscopic combination which is intended for it. The
drum d is driven by a band passing round a small puliey on its axis, and
also round a pulley exactly four times the size of the former pulley on the
axis of the drum b. This latter drum is rotated by hand, thus the drum d

page_text: is caused to make four revolutions while the drum b makes one, so that a
passage in the drum d comes into position to allow the pictures to be seen
each time that a pair of pictures passes. It will be seen that the drum is so
arranged that only a small portion of a picture can be seen at a time, which
arrangement is found to produce the best effect; e is a reflector to throw
light down on to the pictures. With reference to the taking of the pictures
for the instruments above described the rules heretofore observed in the pre-
paration of subjects for the thaumatrope or for the phenakistoscope will be
applicable to this instrument. Care must be taken that the difference between
any two pictures following one another be not too great, or the movement
represented will appear spasmodic and unnatural, but the absolute amount
of this difference will vary with almost every subject, and must be determined
by the discretion of the photographer. Subjects suited to this instrument
are far to numerous to be here enumerated; but I may just mention that it is
peculiarly fitted for the representation of all kinds of machinery in motion.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of per-
forming the same, I would remark that it is obvious that the mechanical
details described may be much varied without departing from my Invention,
but what I claim is the improvements in thaumatropes or phenakistoscopes
herein described by which an appearance of solidity is given to the object
exhibited in such instruments.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Thomas Shaw, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
W. THO. SHAW. (L.S.)