physiognotrace

plural physiognotraces

1. historicalA device to facilitate the production of faithful profiles of human faces.First known use late 18th century

   The history of the physiognotrace is addressed in several French articles and books.

   1994, Ellen Gross Miles with Dru Dowdy, Saint-Mémin and the neoclassical profile portrait in America

   2 more examples

   Public enthusiasm for the physiognotrace turned in part upon the machine's ease, speed, and low expense.

   2004, Lisa Gitelman with Geoffrey B. Pingree, New Media, 1740-1915, page 36

   At the end of the “Long Room” of the old State House, operating the physiognotrace soon after it had been installed and cutting out the profiles that the machine etched with its steel point, was Moses Williams, an African American

   2010, Samuel Otter, Philadelphia stories: America's literature of race and freedom, page 91