page_title: Zoetrope
section_title: William Ensign Lincoln & Milton Bradley's Zoetrope (1865–1867)
hierarchical_section_title: Zoetrope / Invention / William Ensign Lincoln & Milton Bradley's Zoetrope (1865–1867)
caption_attribution_description: English: W.E. Lincoln's U.S. Patent No. 6,4117 of Apr. 23, 1867
context_page_description: A zoetrope is one of several pre-film animation devices that produce the illusion of motion by displaying a sequence of drawings or photographs showing progressive phases of that motion. It was basically a cylindrical variation of the phénakisticope, suggested almost immediately after the stroboscopic discs were introduced in 1833. The definitive version, with easily replaceable picture strips, was introduced as a toy by Milton Bradley in 1866 and became very successful.
context_section_description: William Ensign Lincoln invented the definitive zoetrope in 1865 when he was about 18 years old and a sophomore at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island. Lincoln's patented version had the viewing slits on a level above the pictures, which allowed the use of easily replaceable strips of images. It also had an illustrated paper disc on the base, which was not always exploited on the commercially produced versions. On advice of a local bookstore owner, Lincoln sent a model to color lithographers and board game manufacturers Milton Bradley and Co. Some shop owners advertised the zoetrope in American newspapers in December 1866. The instrument was first patented in the U.K. on 6 March 1867 under no. 629 by Henry Watson Hallett (as a communication to him by Milton Bradley). In the United States it was patented as the Zoëtrope on April 23, 1867 by William E. Lincoln – as an assignor to Milton Bradley. Over the years Milton Bradley released at least seven numbered series with twelve zoetrope strips each, as well as a set of twelve strips by Professor Robert Hallowell Richards showing the gradual transformations from one isometric form to another, and one separately available strip showing the progress of the Grecian bend (a woman morphing into a camel). The London Stereoscopic & Photographic Company was licensed as the British publisher and repeated most of the Milton Bradley animations, while adding a set of twelve animations by famous British illustrator George Cruikshank in 1870.
caption: W.E. Lincoln's U.S. Patent No. 64,117 of Apr. 23, 1867
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