|
Chinese Fireworks
Chinese fireworks or paper fireworks, also known by the French terms or , is a type of optical toy box that displays pictures with twinkling light effects. The pictures are partly printed or painted and partly perforated into plates that are made of paper, parchment or cardboard. Different plates can be placed in the front of the box, one by one. A wheel with a spiraling pattern on coloured transparent paper is made to rotate between a light source and the picture plates, causing the light to flicker and move in different colours through the perforations in the plates. The box is usually a wooden cabinet with a drawer to store the plates and a theatre window above, with a slit to hold a picture. Some versions have two slits so the pictures can be changed without much interruption. Dutch Chinese fireworks picture plates are square and found in two sizes: 32 cm and 40 cm. The wheel is usually set in motion through a clockwork mechanism. Some versions had a cylinder instead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Optical Toys
Optical toys form a group of devices with some entertainment value combined with a scientific, optical nature. Many of these were also known as "philosophical toys" when they were developed in the 19th century. People must have experimented with optical phenomena since prehistoric times and played with objects that influenced the experience of light, color and shadow. In the 16th century some experimental optical entertainment - for instance camera obscura demonstrations - were part of the cabinets of curiosities that emerged at royal courts. Since the 17th century optical tabletop instruments such as the compound microscope and telescope were used for parlour entertainment in richer households . Other, larger devices - such as peep shows - were usually exhibited by travelling showmen at fairs. The phenakistiscope, zoetrope, praxinoscope and flip book a.o. are often seen as precursors of film, leading to the invention of cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peep Shows
A peep show or peepshow is a presentation of a live sex show or pornographic film which is viewed through a viewing slot. Several historical media provided voyeuristic entertainment through hidden erotic imagery. Before the development of the cinema in 1895, motion pictures were presented in peep boxes, such as the kinetoscope and the mutoscope. These remained relatively popular for erotic and pornographic films, such as '' What the Butler Saw''. In contemporary use, a peep show is a piecewise presentation of pornographic films or a live sex show which is viewed through a viewing slot, which shuts after the time paid for has expired. The viewing slots can be operated by a money box device, or paid for at a counter. Pornographic peep shows became popular in the 1970s as part of the developing pornography industry. Until home video became widespread, peep shows made up a major part of the way in which video pornography was accessed. In 1986 a US Presidential report into pornogr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Encyclopædia Britannica
The (Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various times through the centuries. The encyclopaedia is maintained by about 100 full-time editors and more than 4,000 contributors. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, which spans 32 volumes and 32,640 pages, was the last printed edition. Since 2016, it has been published exclusively as an online encyclopaedia. Printed for 244 years, the ''Britannica'' was the longest running in-print encyclopaedia in the English language. It was first published between 1768 and 1771 in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, as three volumes. The encyclopaedia grew in size: the second edition was 10 volumes, and by its fourth edition (1801–1810) it had expanded to 20 volumes. Its rising stature as a scholarly work helped recruit eminent con ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Magic Lantern
The magic lantern, also known by its Latin name , is an early type of image projector that used pictures—paintings, prints, or photographs—on transparent plates (usually made of glass), one or more lenses, and a light source. Because a single lens inverts an image projected through it (as in the phenomenon which inverts the image of a camera obscura), slides were inserted upside down in the magic lantern, rendering the projected image correctly oriented. It was mostly developed in the 17th century and commonly used for entertainment purposes. It was increasingly used for education during the 19th century. Since the late 19th century, smaller versions were also mass-produced as toys. The magic lantern was in wide use from the 18th century until the mid-20th century when it was superseded by a compact version that could hold many 35 mm photographic slides: the slide projector. Technology Apparatus The magic lantern used a concave mirror behind a light source to direct ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chromatrope
A chromatrope is a type of magic lantern slide that produces dazzling, colorful geometrical patterns set in motion by rotating two painted glass discs in opposite directions, originally with a double pulley mechanism but later usually with a rackwork mechanism. The chromatrope was probably invented in the year 1841 (or slightly earlier) by English glass painter and showman Henry Langdon Childe, by which year it was listed in the Royal Polytechnic Institution catalogue. It was added as a novelty to the program of the Royal Polytechnic Institution, which had previously included many other types of magic lantern shows with moving images, such as phantasmagoria and dissolving views. The principle and the effect of the chromatrope is similar to that of the feux pyriques that had gained some popularity in rich North European households at the end of the 18th century. The resulting abstract and everchanging image is also very similar to that of the kaleidoscope A kaleidoscope () is an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Optical Toys
Optical toys form a group of devices with some entertainment value combined with a scientific, optical nature. Many of these were also known as "philosophical toys" when they were developed in the 19th century. People must have experimented with optical phenomena since prehistoric times and played with objects that influenced the experience of light, color and shadow. In the 16th century some experimental optical entertainment - for instance camera obscura demonstrations - were part of the cabinets of curiosities that emerged at royal courts. Since the 17th century optical tabletop instruments such as the compound microscope and telescope were used for parlour entertainment in richer households . Other, larger devices - such as peep shows - were usually exhibited by travelling showmen at fairs. The phenakistiscope, zoetrope, praxinoscope and flip book a.o. are often seen as precursors of film, leading to the invention of cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
