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 at the end of the 19th century. In the 21st century this narrow teleological vision was questioned and the individual qualities of these media gained renewed attention of researchers in the fields of the history of film, science, technology and art. The new digital media raised questions about our knowledge of media history. The tactile qualities of optical toys that allow viewers to study and play with the moving image in their own hands, seem more attractive in a time when digitalisation makes the moving image less tangible.
Several philosophical toys were developed through scientific experimentation, then turned into scientific amusements that demonstrated new ideas and theories in the fields of optics, physics, electricity, mechanics, etc. and ended up as toys for children.

List of optical toys

datenameinventortype/functionnote
n/aCamera obscuran/aprojectiona natural phenomenon, applied with lens since around 1550, portable box since early 17th century
730 BCE Lensn/amagnifying glass?, burning glass?the function of the oldest known lens, the Nimrud lens, is unclear
0 Prismn/adispersionSeneca noted that a prism could form the same colors as the rainbow
150 Newton disc / color-top Ptolemyadditive optical color mixingfirst known description by Ptolemy, later falsely attributed to Isaac Newton
1437?Peep box / raree showLeon Battista Alberti?especially popular from the 17th to the 19th century
1485 ?Perspective anamorphosisLeonardo da Vinci?anamorphosis
1500sTabula scalatan/aextant copies from late 16th century, also referred to in literature of the time
1600sMirror anamorphosisn/aanamorphosisreached Europe around 1620, possibly from China via Constantinople
1608TelescopeHans Lippershey? Zacharias Janssen? Jacob Metius?
1620s?Compound microscopeCornelis Drebbel?
1620s?Pleasurable spectacles described in Jean Leurechon's Récréations Mathématiques
>1630sMirrored roommultiplicationa room lined with 200 mirrors in the palace of the king of Armenia was described in 1647 by Adam Olearius
1638Perspective glassJean François Niceron?hidden imagea viewing tube with a faceted lens that brings together selective parts of a picture into one composite image
1650sPerspective boxviewing box with a lens, false perspective painted on multiple planes in the interior of the box
1659Magic lanternChristiaan Huygensprojection
1730?Zograscope perspective viewsn/a3Dknown in France since 1730 as "optique", it became known as the "zograscope" in England since 1745
1736Solar microscopeDaniel Gabriel Fahrenheitprojection
1770s?Chinese fireworks or Feux pyriquesn/aanimated light effects
1817KaleidoscopeDavid Brewster
1822Polyorama PanoptiquePierre Seguin?
1825ThaumatropeWilliam Henry Fitton?introduced by John Ayrton Paris
1827KaleidophoneCharles Wheatstone
1829AnorthoscopeJoseph Plateauanamorphosismarketed shortly since 1836
1833-01PhénakisticopeJoseph Plateau, Simon Stampferanimation
1833StereoscopeSir Charles Wheatstone3Dmirror version developed by Wheatstone around 1832, presented/published in 1838, prismatic version probably developed simultaneously by Wheatstone, prismatic/lenticular version introduced in 1849 by David Brewster and popularized with production by Jules Duboscq since 1850
1852Anaglyph 3DWilhelm Rollmann3D
1858-04Kaleidoscopic colour-topJohn Gorham-
1860AlethoscopeCarlo Ponti3Dfurther developed into the Megalethoscope
1864SpectropiaJ. H. Brownafterimage
1866-12ZoetropeWilliam Ensign Lincolnanimationsimilar devices suggested and exhibited since 1833, now with exchangeable strips
1868 The Optic Wonder or Creator of FormJohn Gorham3Da small metal strip or crystal shape forming the half of a contour image is spun around fast to appear as a full solid 3D object, marketed by Stereoscopic Company
1868Flip bookJohn Barnes Linnettanimation
1877PraxinoscopeCharles-Émile Reynaudanimation
1894MutoscopeWilliam Kennedy Dickson, Herman Caslermoving pictures
1896KinoraAuguste and Louis Lumièremoving pictures
1906ScanimationAlexander S. Spiegelanimationoriginally marketed as magical moving pictures, adapted as scanimation since 2006
1921Ombro-CinémaSaussineanimation-
1939View-MasterWilliam Gruber3D
1952Lenticular picturesVictor Andersonanimationoriginally invented in 1898 as autostereogram, now popularized as changing/moving pictures
1980Mandelbrot set visualizationsBenoit Mandelbrot
1991Magic EyeTom Baccei, Cheri Smith3D / hidden imageChristopher Tyler developed a black and white version in 1979