Though the original Kodak vest pocket folding camera, introduced in 1912 was a huge succsess, it's original price tag of $12 prevented it being a camera for the masses. Two years later in 1914 kodak brought 127 to a realistic price of $1.25 with the No. 0 Brownie box camera featuring the basic rotary shutter and meniscus lens found on all budget kodaks of the time. Like the KVP the No0 takes 8 pictures in 6x4 format.
Where as Kodak produced many different box brownies, in different formats (particularly 620 ), the number 0 was the only true Box Brownie produced in 127. There may have been some sub-models, as most are designated No0a, but the No0 remained in production, essentially unchanged until 1935.
This particular No0 was made in the UK, which conveniently dates quite precisely to the brief UK production run from 1929-30. Unfortunatly this example is missing the bezel around the lens, but otherwise works perfectly. Like many box camera's the lens is
Kodak did go on to produce four other 127 box camera's under the Hawkeye label. Though it's hard to beleive, these are even more primitive, lacking the viewfinders of that No0. They're are remarkably even smaller as seen in this comparason.