The 'Operating Track' ., 1881

Eadweard Muybridge (1830 - 1904)

RA Collection: Art

Plate E. 'Operating track, covered with rubber flooring, and crossed with lines 12 inches apart, over which the animals are caused to move. On one side of the track a white background is arranged at a suitable angle. The cross lines on the track are distinguished by the upper line of figures. The particular Camera in which any negative of a series is made, is designated by the parallel direction of the vertical stake, with the horizontal line extending to the corresponding number of the Camera immediately opposite. The discriminating number of each series of exposures is recorded on each negative by the large figures [229 for example] which is changed for each movement illustrated'

The fifth of six introductory illustrations from Eadweard Muybridge, The Attitudes of Animals in Motion (London, 1881).