This is a very rare camera that was marketed only in England during 1894-1895 (or 1896). Just 400 were made.
It is a folding camera for darkroom loaded rollfilm, with a capacity of 48 pictures of 4 x 5 inch (10 x 12,5 cm) on one spool. The Flat Folding Kodak cost £ 7.
The video shows two slightly different models, the difference being the position of the shutter speed lever. On one model it is on the lower right corner of the lens board, on the other it is situated in the center below the lens barrel.
The Flat Folding Kodak has a built-in rollholder that is attached to the back panel. A brass exposure counter and winding key are placed on the underside.
Its settings are very simple:
There is no provision for shift of the lensboard or tilt of the back. Lacking all the more complex settings means that this camera was meant for amateur photographers who just liked to take a few snapshots. In ads it was called "The Cyclist and Tourist's Comrade".
When the Flat Folding Kodak appeared, its most appealing feature was its small size. Other 4 x 5 inch Kodaks were about twice as big. The new element in its design was the place of the spools to the left and right of the bellows instead of behind the plane of focus, making it less bulky than the contemporary No. 4 Folding Kodak.
The flat Folding Kodak was already obsolete before the end of 1895, when daylight loading film and daylight loading cameras began to replace the darkroom loading spools and instruments. A new and daylight loading 4 x 5 inch folding camera was introduced in 1897: the No. 4 Cartridge Kodak.