Animation before film

There were many different types of animation that was used before film. With the spread of the Industrial Revolution in Europe and North America in the 18th and 19th centuries came experimentation with machines that would make images appear to move.

1603,

The magic lantern first appeared and the magic lantern is an image projector using pictures on sheets of glass. Since some sheets contain moving parts, it is considered the first example of projected animation.

1824,

The Thaumatrope was introduced and it is a rotating mechanism that has different pictures on each side and when rotated you would combine both pictures (known as persistence of vision).

1831,

The phenakitoscope featured spinning disks reflected in mirrors that
made it seem like the pictures were moving.

1834,

After the phenakitoscope came the Zoetrope. The zoetrope was a hollow drum that housed images on long interchangeable strips that would spin and…