Descriptive Zoopraxography; or, the science of animal locomotion made popularMuybridge, Eadweard
Science
Descriptive Zoopraxography; or, the science of animal locomotion made popular
Muybridge, Eadweard
Animal locomotion
When twenty-four consecutive phases of an act of motion are to be
photographed from one point of view, all of the insulated segments in the
ring are put in circuit. When twelve consecutive phases are to be
photographed synchronously from each of three points of view, each
alternate segment is placed in circuit with the electric battery.
The manner in which the series of synchronous exposures is effected will be
readily understood by reference to the diagram, 8.
[Illustration: Fig. 8.]
All being in readiness, and the weights and fan wheel adjusted to cause the
contact brush to sweep over the periphery of the ring at the required rate
of speed, the drum, and with it the shaft is set in motion.
At the proper time, pressure on a button completes an independent circuit
through the magnet seen below the segmented ring, figure 7, and in the side
diagram of figure 8.
The action of the armature releases the lower end of the rod on the loose
collar, which, by means of a coiled spring, is immediately thrown into
gearing with the already revolving shaft; the contact brush sweeps around
the segmented ring and effects the consecutive series of exposures at the
pre-arranged intervals of time.
At the University the intervals varied from the one-sixtieth part of a
second to several seconds.
A record of these time intervals was kept by a chronograph, a well known
instrument; it comprises a revolving drum carrying a cylinder of
smoke-blackened paper, on which, by means of successive electric contacts,
a pencil is caused to record the vibrations of a tuning fork, while a
second pencil marks the commencement of each photographic exposure. The
number of vibrations occurring between any two successive exposures marks
the time. The tuning fork used made one hundred single vibrations in a
second of time. To ensure greater minuteness and accuracy in the record,
the vibrations were divided into tenths, and the intervals calculated in
thousandths of a second.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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