Blair Tourograph & Dry Plate Co.

Combination Camera, Variation 1

Blair untitled catalog, 1882, p. 8

4x5

Date Introduced: - ; Years Manufactured: c.1882-1883
Construction: rear focus via push-pull; single swing or double swing (5x8 only); reverse by two tripod mounts; three-piece lensboard
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base; black fabric bellows; nickeled hardware
Sizes Offered: 1530=4x5 w/ 5x8 extension; 1531=5x8A w/ 6½x8½ or 8x10 extension; 1532=5x8B w/ 6½x8½ or 8x10 extension
Notes: The combination part of the name referred to the ability to have two plate sizes in a small package due to the Blair Patent Extension pieces.  The plateholders are designed like wooden puzzles, with little interlocking blocks of wood.   The Blair Tourograph & Dry Plate Co. Catalog, 1884, p. 8 states: "The 5x8(A) is the camera well known as our 'Triumph'".  The A model had a 13" focus capacity; there was a B model having a 14.5" focus capacity.  The same 1884 catalog stated that all Combination Cameras had rack and pinion focusing, even though the above engraving was still used to illustrate the extension.  The rack and pinion focus version is referred to here as Combination Camera Variation 2.
References:
Untitled Catalog, The Blair Tourograph & Dry Plate Company, Boston, MA, 1882, p. 8-11
Photographic Times 13, March, 1883, p. V
Catalog P, Photographic Material, J. W. Queen & Co. (Philadelphia, PA), 1886, p. 57
 

Back to The Blair Companies