Whilst strictly speaking outside the scope of this
web site, a few words should be said about the many types of
monoscopic devices that pass under the misleading heading of View-Master
viewers. The only thing they share in common with the View-Master
concept is the fact that a view can be seen when looking through the
lens of a purpose built device. It demonstrates how the concept of
viewing photographs using such devices has developed a wider meaning
than just the original stereoscopic format. They are easy to find and
come in many different formats and are often used as an effective advertising
medium.
Pathegrams Cine Vue Viewer from
1939 
The Pathegrams Cine Vue viewer was manufactured from
bakelite in New York, USA in the late 1930's. It takes a small roll of
film, consisting of 23 frames. This is laid out in comic book format and
is wound forward one frame at a time as the story unfolds. At the time
that this particular viewer was made there were 36 films available for
purchase . It has a Patent number of 1999133 moulded into the casing.
Sawyers Mini Story Card Viewer
This small monoscopic viewer was manufactured by
Sawyers in the early 1960's and measures 65mm x 32mm.
The Story Card viewing cards are similar in
construction to
Tru-Vue cards and also consist of seven views each. Also like the
TueVue cards, the film used was not of as high a standard as used for
View-Master reels resulting in the colours dulling as the years
progress, ultimately leading to a monochrome picture with a magenta
tinge.
Some subjects covered by the cards are children's
stories and geographic scenes.
A West German monoscopic viewer
depicting cowboy scenes. This viewer is believed to date back to the late
1960's
A set of viewers given away with
Kellogg's cereal. This format makes a cheap and effective promotional aid.
These particular viewers came from France from the 1990's
Made to look like a movie camera,
this Star Wars item was produced in Japan and came with a bag of small
white boiled sweets. It was sold as a viewer in it's own right and not
specifically to promote the Star Wars films.
McDonald's have often used View-Master type
products to promote their business. Below is an example sharing a very
similar concept to the Mickey Mouse viewer (click
here to see more examples of McDonald's viewers
), although this one just has a set of monoscopic slides which can
be viewed by rotating a thumb-wheel at the base of Ronald's head.
Each part has a function, the head is a viewer, the
body is an air puffer, the trousers are a pull-apart set of binoculars, the
feet are a rubber stamp and finally, the stand .
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