Blair Camera Co. (Boston, MA) ?
Cincinnati Reversible Back
(RB) View Camera ?
(Formerly Unknown Field Camera 6)
6 ½ x 8 ½"
Another
6 ½ x 8 ½"
The front platform part is not original, and
doesn't quite function.
Top
Top
Label: "Chas. A. Turner.
/ 582 Main St. / Cambridge, Mass."
Neither the name nor address appear to correspond to a provider of
photographic equipment, so they likely identify the owner of the camera.
That the camera was in a suburb of Boston strengthens the possibility
that its maker was also from Boston - namely the Blair Camera Co.
Spring Back (top),
detail: two plates swing to the left, lifting the ground glass frame
away from the back to allow a plate holder to be slid in
This is the style of back used on some Blair Camera Co. models, e.g.,
the Cincinnati Reversible Back Variation 2.
Plate Holder
Date Introduced: - ;
Years Manufactured: c. 1885 Since there are a number of
Cincinnati Reversible Back (RB) Improved model variations,
it only makes sense that there was at one time a non-improved version:
the Cincinnati Reversible Back (RB) View
Camera.
This web page was therefore made to indicate this non-improved model, even though such
a model has not yet been observed either in a catalog or as a definitive camera example. The
non-improved model, then, is assumed to be the precursor of the
Cincinnati Reversible Back (RB) Improved
variations, e.g., the
Cincinnati Reversible Back Improved
(RB) Variation 1.
The Cincinnati RB View Camera
(non-improved) must have only been offered in 1885, since it does not occur in the
1884 catalog,
yet the 1886 catalog
already contains the improved model.
The above camera example was originally not
associated with the Cincinnati RB View
Camera (non-improved) model, and was categorized as simply:
Unknown
No. 6.
To describe the camera: - All joints in the wooden corners are consistent,
machine-cut, box joints, indicating that this was manufactured in a
powered factory - i.e., not manufactured by a craftsman by hand. The features (approximately front to back) that suggest
that this camera was made by the Blair Camera Co.: - The clip on the front standard that rotates to secure
the lens board is rectangular from straight-on, and very thick with a
rounded front side in profile - the same shape as many Blair cameras.
e.g., .Combination,
RB, Variation
2.5. The number of similarities to Blair models in general
strongly suggest that this is a Blair product. The number of similarities to the
Cincinnati RB Improved Variation 1
make it fairly likely that this camera example is the
Cincinnati RB View Camera (non-improved).
References:
Construction: front focus
via rack and pinion (one gear tracks on the middle base rail);
single swing; reverse by removable back; three-piece lens board
Materials: mahogany body; mahogany base;
black fabric bellows; nickeled hardware
Sizes Offered: at least
6½x8½
Notes:
- Likewise, the edges of the brass hardware pieces are smooth and
straight, and bends or corners are abrupt and precisely made, as if
produced using factory-like jigs and aids. Screw holes are
precisely located. Again, the appearance of the hardware indicates
factory manufacturing rather than hand-work.
- The wood finish appears to be a very consistently applied, complete
yet thin lacquer, a fast-drying coating that is difficult to control and
apply be hand.
Every indication is that this is a camera professionally made in a
camera factory.
- The top of the brass hardware at the bottom of the front standard is
round with a large thumbscrew, as in the
Blair Cincinnati RB Improved Variation 1,
Variation 2
and Variation 3,
and the
Reversible Back,
Improved, Variation 4.
- The tracks for the rack and pinon focus are inlet into the wood, like
the vast majority of Blair camera models.
- The thumbscrew that makes the bed rigid is centered instead of being
on one side or the other, as in the
Cincinnati RB Improved Variation 1.
- There is a round plate on top of the brace in the main
section of the platform/base. This is relatively rare in cameras
as the tripod would screw into it from the bottom (other side) of the
base. In order for a top plate to function, one would need a very
long tripod screw. Regardless of how rare it is to see this, it
appears in the
Cincinnati RB Improved Variation 1.
- The rear standard swing has a rod extending from side to side and a
right-hand thumbscrew (that locks the swing) that threads onto the end
of the rod, similar to that in the
Cincinnati RB Improved Variation 1.
- The ground glass is spring loaded in one
example via two wide, just slightly tapering
springs fastened on the left side when facing them. Similar
springs are found on the
Combination, RB, Variation
2 and the
Tremont Outfit.
The back is spring loaded in the other example by four horizontal plates
that swing to the left, as found in other Cincinatti RB models.
