The Kinora was a means of viewing moving images by using a flip-book technique on a series of black and white still photographs on card. They were used in a viewer machine that was designed for home use by one person at a time, and a lens enlarged the image for viewing.
Invented by the Lumière brothers in France in 1895, it wasn’t until the idea was passed to Gaumont in France in 1900 that it was commercially developed. Gaumont released around 100 reels in 1900, and then in 1902 it was launched in Britain by The British Mutoscope & Biograph Co. Ltd.
The system became popular with the middle classes, and around 600 Kinora reels were available, along with 12 different models of viewer. In 1907, a new company, Kinora Co. Ltd. was created by The British Mutoscope & Biograph Co. Ltd. to market the system, and in 1908, an amateur Kinora camera was introduced, The camera allowed people to create their own set of photographs to be processed by Kinora to create a reel. It was also possible to visit a Kinora studio to create an ‘animated family portrait’.
In 1914 the Kinora factory in Letchworth was destroyed in a fire, and since cinema was at that time becoming increasingly popular, the factory was not re-opened.