Question

For what would one use a phenakistoscope, that was invented in 1832 simultaneously by Belgian Joseph Plateau and Austrian Simon von Stampfer?

Answer 1

Watching animated pictures
An early animation device, the predecessor of the zoetrope, it is basically a spinning disc which has a series of pictures corresponding to frames of animation, viewed through a series of radial slits around its circumference. The user saw a rapid succession of images with the appearance of a moving picture.