Basically a miniature version of the mutoscope for home use, the Kinora worked very much like a flip book in the shape of a Rolodex. It used conventional monochrome photographic prints fixed to strong, flexible cards attached to a circular core. A reel was revolved handle by turning a handle, making the pictures flip over against a static peg one by one. The moving pictures could be viewed through an eyepiece.[2][3]
The Cinematograph proved very successful so the Lumières did not bother with the Kinora but passed the idea on to Gaumont, who marketed the device and about a hundred different reels around 1900.[1]
The British rights to the Kinora were bought by The British Mutoscope & Biograph Co. in 1898, but the machine was not marketed in the UK until 1902.[2] It became popular in the UK and over 12 different viewer models and over 600 reels were produced.[1] Biograph had constructed a studio in London in 1900 to film moving portraits of families and individuals. Flip books of 60 pictures in standard Mutoscope size were produced there as Bio-Gems, before a Kinora reel portrait service became available in 1903.[4]
In May 1907 Biograph chairman W.T. Smedley set up Kinora Limited in London. The company introduced the first amateur Kinora camera in 1908,[4] using rolls of photographic paper or celluloid one inch (2.5cm) wide that could be sent to the company for processing.[3] A Kinora Grand for reels of 1,000 pictures of 2 1/2" by 3" also featured in their advertising booklet.[4] By 1914, when the company's London factory burned down, public interest in the Kinora had declined, as the cinema screen now held greater attractions. The company did not rebuild the factory.[3]
