The Kinora was an early
motion picture
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...
device. It was developed by the French inventors
Auguste and Louis Lumière
The Lumière brothers (, ; ), Auguste Marie Louis Nicolas Lumière (19 October 1862 – 10 April 1954) and Louis Jean Lumière (5 October 1864 – 6 June 1948), were French manufacturers of photography equipment, best known for their ''Ciném ...
in 1895, while simultaneously working on the
Cinematograph
Cinematograph or kinematograph is an early term for several types of motion picture film mechanisms. The name was used for movie cameras as well as film projectors, or for complete systems that also provided means to print films (such as the Cin ...
. It was patented in February 1896.
[
Basically a miniature version of the mutoscope for home use, the Kinora worked very much like a ]flip book
A flip book, flipbook, flicker book, or kineograph is a booklet with a series of images that very gradually change from one page to the next, so that when the pages are viewed in quick succession, the images appear to animate by simulating moti ...
in the shape of a Rolodex
A Rolodex is a rotating card file device used to store business contact information. Its name, a portmanteau of the words ''rolling'' and ''index'', has become somewhat genericized (usually as ''rolodex'') for any personal organizer performing thi ...
. 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.[Kinora]
at dlt.ncssm.edu, accessed 28 October 2011
Or reels contained printed versions of films by the Lumières, later also films by other companies.
The Cinematograph proved very successful so the Lumières didn't bother about the Kinora, but passed the idea on to Gaumont who marketed the device and circa 100 different reels around 1900.[
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.]Flip books
A flip book, flipbook, flicker book, or kineograph is a booklet with a series of images that very gradually change from one page to the next, so that when the pages are viewed in quick succession, the images appear to animate by simulating moti ...
of 60 pictures in standard Mutoscope size were produced there as ''Bio-Gems'', before a Kinora reel portrait service became available in 1903.[
In May 1907 Biograph chairman W.T. Smedley set up Kinora Limited in London. The company introduced the first amateur Kinora camera in 1908,]inch
Measuring tape with inches
The inch (symbol: in or ″) is a unit of length in the British imperial and the United States customary systems of measurement. It is equal to yard or of a foot. Derived from the Roman uncia ("twelfth") ...
wide that could be sent to the company for processing.[ A Kinora Grand for reels of 1,000 pictures of 2 1/2" by 3" also featured in their advertising booklet.][ By 1914, when the company's London factory burned down, public interest in the Kinora had declined, at a time when the cinema screen held greater attractions. The company did not rebuild the lost factory.][
]
Notes
External links
Illustration and demonstration of the Kinora
Auguste and Louis Lumière
Film and video technology
History of film
{{film-tech-stub