The Blair Companies

Field View Cameras

Blair Tourograph Co., CT (1879-1881)
Blair Tourograph & Dry Plate Co., Boston, MA (1881-1886)
Blair Camera Co., Boston, MA (1885-1899)
Boston Camera Co. (1888-1890, bought by Blair Camera Co. in 1890)
1890: Blair bought Anthony factories - cameras for both companies made in the same building but different rooms
Blair Div., Eastman Kodak Co., Boston, MA & Rochester, NY (1899-c.1910)

Blair Patents:
#159,536; Feb 9, 1875: endless belt instead of rack & pinion focus
#243,136; Jun 21, 1881: reversible adapter plateholder
#277,787; May 15, 1883 (also used by Scovill): blackboard (to write on) slide for plateholder
#304,406; Sep 2, 1884: spring activated camera back and plateholder with flap and recess
#860,249; Mar 29, 1887: camera contained in a case, like hand & stands (but the Lucidograph was produced earlier)

Scans of number of catalogs can be found here. Scans of Blair catalogs are here.

Boston Touring Camera (c. 1884)
Central Swing Back, Improved (c. 1891-1893)
tnblairchamp6x8302b.jpg (7948 bytes) Champion (c. 1884-1893)
Champion, RB, Improved (c. 1889-1894)
Cincinnati RB (c. 1888)
Cincinnati RB, Improved, Variation 1 (c. 1890-1895)
Cincinnati RB, Improved, Variation 2 (c. 1895-1900)
Cincinnati RB, Improved, Variation 3 (c. 1895-1900)
tnblaircomb4x5283b.jpg (7261 bytes) Combination, Variation 1 (c. 1882-1883)
Combination, Variation 2 (c. 1883-1894)
Combination, RB, Variation 1 (c. 1884)
Combination, RB, Variation 2 (c. 1884)
Combination, RB, Variation 2.5 (c. 1884)
Combination, RB, Variation 3 (c. 1884-1886)
English Compact RB (c. 1888-1898)
Knockdown Camera (c. 1883)
Lucidograph (c. 1884-1894)
Patent Extension (c. 1884-1898)
Perfect Reversible Back Camera (c. 1887)
Reversible Back Camera (c. 1889)
Reversible Back, Improved, Variation 1 (c. 1895)
Reversible Back, Improved, Variation 2 (c. 1887-1894)
tnblrbimp8x10c.jpg (7604 bytes) Reversible Back, Improved, Variation 3 (c. 1894)
Roller-Blind Shutter (c. 1890)
Standard Camera (c. 1884)
tnbltourcat.jpg (4451 bytes) Tourograph (1878-c. 1883)
Tremont Outfit (c. 1893)
Triumph Camera (c. 1883-1884)
Unknown View #3 (Rear Focus) (c. 1885)
Utility Camera (c. 1884)
Utility Camera Variation (c. 1890)