Praxinoscope

In 1888, Frenchman Charles Emil Reynaud patented his apparatus called projection praxinoscope. Since 1892, he used this apparatus in his "optical theatre" in the Paris museum of wax figures. He used it for screening films made by himself. Hand-painted and coloured pictures on celluloid plates were stuck in between two paper bands reinforced by steel sheet strips and bordered with a textile edging. In the middle of the band there were perforation holes ensuring its precise transport through the apparatus. Length of one band was about 50 metres. A performance comprising three such bands lasted about 40 minutes and there were 4000 such performances until 1895. With introduction of the cinematograph of brothers Lumiere the public interest decreased and in 1900 E.Reynaud was forced to close his theatre. He did not manage to cope with this fact and he destroyed all his instruments and threw the films into Seine. A fragment of one accidentally saved film of the length of 17 frames was presented by the inventor's son Paul Reynaud to our Museum where it is kept as a document of man's ingenuity and perseverance.