The Ward-O-Matic’s Visit to San Francisco
Ward Jenkins, of Ward-O-Matic fame, took his family to San Francisco. He and his wife took the most amazing photos. You can see them here:
He found a cool machine in an arcade:
Amongst the old arcades and puppet shows, I found this wonderful device. Listed as the oldest machine there, it’s a praxinoscope. The faceted nature of the mirrors gives off the same effect as a shutter for film — very important in order to give off the optical illusion of ‘persistence of vision’. The images projected from the drum onto the mirrors allowed you, the viewer to see the girl jumping rope, instead of becoming a big blur. It was so cool to watch one of these for reals.
Click on through to Ward-O-Matic to see the photos of the praxinoscope and the rest of the beauty of San Francisco.