Hand drawn animations were one of the first ways that film was seen by people. This type of animation involves drawing each frame individually. It is a long, time-consuming process that takes patience and skill. Each slide has to be drawn perfectly to make the sequence of images look smooth and perfected as a whole; you don't want the animation to look like it jumps and jitters on the screen. So now we know a bit about the process that one has to undergo to produce an animated film or cartoon, but what made it come to life? Well, the first device that let people see moving pictures in the U.S. was called the "Zoopraxiscope" (pictured above), which was patented by William Lincoln in 1867. It was a device with which an individual could view the sequence of images through a small hole, or viewing spot in the mechanism. In 1895, a man by the name of Woodville Latham and his two sons showcased the "Panopticon", the first film projector that was developed in the U.S. The first machine that projected film was the Vitascope, which was made by the Edison company and was the first projector to be commercially successful.

Sources:

http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/blmotionpictures.htm

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-movie-projector-demonstrated-in-united-states