The Phenakistiscope is seen as a greater improvement to the thaumatrope, which was rather prestigious for its time. It was invented by Joseph Plateau in 1841, and is considered one of animations most early devices. Even today, Phenakistriscopes are being used, more often than not in museums to carry on the historic legacy.
Phenakistiscopes work in a rather complex way, to me anyway. They use a spinning disc, which is vertically attached to a handle. Along the outer edge of the disk are a series of images/sequential drawings that show phases of the animation to be seen. Cut through the sequential images, are a perfectly spaced slits which their purpose is for the user to look through after spinning the disc in order to view the animation.
The reason why the Phenakistiscope is a step up from the thaumatrope, is because unlike the thaumatrope, the phenakistiscope uses several images to create the illustion of movement. Though this is a short movement and its scale can range from inches to feet, it is still illustrating an action as opposed to a still image like that of the thaumatrope.
I have personally seen a phenakistiscope, and I am always perplexed at them. I really enjoy them but I found it really difficult to get my head around how they work until recently. The concept is extraordinary and the prospect of ever having the chance to have a go at making one of them sounds like a challenge I would like to take.
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