The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stereopticon \Ste`re*op"ti*con\, n. [NL. See Stereo-, and Optic.] An instrument, consisting essentially of a magic lantern in which photographic pictures are used, by which the image of a landscape, or any object, may be thrown upon a screen in such a manner as to seem to stand out in relief, so as to form a striking and accurate representation of the object itself; also, a pair of magic lanterns for producing the effect of dissolving views.
Wiktionary
n. A magic lantern, especially one with two projectors arranged so as to produce dissolving views or combinations of images.
Wikipedia
A stereopticon is a slide projector or " magic lantern", which has two lenses, usually one above the other. These devices date back to the mid 19th century, and were a popular form of entertainment and education before the advent of moving pictures. Americans William and Frederick Langenheim introduced stereopticon slide technology—slide shows of projected photographs on glass—in 1850. For a fee of ten cents, people could view realistic photographs with nature, history, and science themes. At first, the shows used random images, but over time, lanternists began to place the slides in logical order, creating a narrative. This "visual storytelling" directly preceded the development of the first moving pictures. The term stereopticon has been widely misused to name a stereoscope. A stereopticon will not project or display stereoscopic/ three-dimensional images. The two lenses are used to dissolve between images when projected. All stereopticons can be classified as magic lanterns, but not all magic lanterns are stereopticons.
Usage examples of "stereopticon".
When the two photographs were developed and placed side by side in a stereopticon viewer, almost identical with the ones that had enchanted tea parties in the 1890s, features leaped from the flat surface, and one could see Moon rocks looming up ahead and craters and rilles.
The stereopticon of her life was incredibly precise, but she found no help in the frames.
But we had read geographies and seen pictures, and Uncle Bud Nichols had several stereopticon views of the ocean at its worst.
Sofas, couches and reclining-chairs were scattered here and there over the elegant carpet, and statues of gold and marble stood in alcoves and niches and strange stereopticon lanterns, hanging from the ceiling threw ever-changing and life-like pictures on the walls.
They left with me the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.
I assisted at a stereopticon lecture on Alaska for the aid of some youthful Alaskans of both sexes, who were shown first in their savage state, and then as they appeared after a merely rudimental education, in the costumes and profiles of our own civilization.
Dreyfus Parcheesi, and viewing pornographic stereopticon cards, of which Georges had a truly wonderful collection.
Methods of preparation, packing, marking, receiving, handling and delivering, are explained by stereopticon lantern slides.
At one end of the room Craig had placed a large white sheet such as he used in his stereopticon lectures, while at the top of the tier of seats that made a sort of little amphitheater out of his lecture room his stereopticon sputtered.
UPS I found a couple of glass stereopticon negatives mixed in with the reels.
He removed a device that looked somewhat like an old-fashioned stereopticon from a cabinet, set it up on a pedestal base.
SAVAGE tore the illustration from the paper, inserted it into the stereopticon, which was somewhat like the postcard projecting type popular a few years ago.
It all made me want to move to a small town in Indiana and start a little factory where I could make buggy whips, stereopticons, and hoop skirts, and sit in the glider on the porch on the summer evenings and hear the children at play and finally go inside and, by gas light, read that Admiral Dewey had been placed in command of the fleet.
Indiana and start a little factory where I could make buggy whips, stereopticons, and hoop skirts, and sit in the glider on the porch on the summer evenings and hear the children at play and finally go inside and, by gas light, read that Admiral Dewey had been placed in command of the fleet.
Old Pop Belman, for instance, had been a fifth-rate oculist who rented and sold stereopticons as a side line.