This is the Pathé Cinema Pathéorama from the 1920s, a 35mm film strip viewer. More than 350 film strips were manufactured by Pathé and numerous others from other sources. Based on 35mm stock, the strips had one set of perforations cut off.
In addition to allowing film strips to roll up as they are viewed, the hollows to either side of the viewing plane allow for storage of extra strips. The rubber wheel that advances the strips is operated by a bakelite knob on top of the viewer.
This particular viewer was a pick-up from a store on Kensington’s Antique Row. The bakelite has faired quite well, but there are a couple of issues with my viewer. The top of the hinged door has some missing pieces and the diffusion screen in the back of the door is missing.
With any relatively bright light source behind it, images from film strips are bright and clear.
A few brittle and tightly wound film strips were inside the viewer when I got it. I was able to scan some frames from a couple of them.
