P3D Re: RE: Stereopticon vs. stereoscope

[abram klooswyk <abram.klooswyk@xxxxxx>]

(I tried to post this a week ago, it got lost...)

Stephen Puckett wrote (PHOTO-3D Digest 3150, 7 Jan 1999):
>I have a reprint before me of the 1902 catalog (...)
> All descriptions are of single-lensed projectors.   
>There seems to be no reference to the 'stereo-' part of the 
>'stereopticon'.  There was no discussion of fading or 
>dissolving capabilities.  (...)

In a discussion on terminology and abbreviations
John W Roberts wrote (PHOTO-3D Digest 2516, 13 Jan 1998):
"(...) stereopticon refers to a specific technical
 device in a closely-allied field, a number of which 
still exist, and which are still cherished by various 
organizations (...)", and he gave the address of the 
Magic Lantern Castle Museum, San Antonio, Texas:
http://www.magiclanterns.org/ 

On this site is said (Copyright © 1994 Jack Judson):
>Until movies came along, in the mid-to-late 1890's, 
>the magic lantern was the sole projection device available. 

>Though glass slides would indicate a still image, many 
>innovations in magic lantern design and construction, 
>as well as slide design (moving layers of glass images), 
>allowed dissolving images, movement, and special effects. 

The pages show images of two Stereopticons, one obviously
consisting of two projectors, the other composed of THREE
projectors on top of each other.
So obviously dissolve projection was a feature of at least
these machines.
The Museum welcomes inquiries, I have asked them some more
information.

[As a search technical note, both images of the museum show
the word "Stereopticon(s)", but _only_ within the jpg image.
So this site will never show up in web search engines using
"stereopticon" as the search term.
But the reference by John Roberts is in the Photo-3D archives:
http://calcite.rocky.edu/photo-3d 
(A cheer to Bob Wier)
Also, I have it on the 3D-CD by Dan Shelley. 
There I use the Freeware text search program Wanyword,
http://home4.inet.tele.dk/jensguld/   (Denmark)]
 
Abram Klooswyk


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