Blair Camera Co.

 

Perfect Reversible Back Camera

 


Photographic Apparatus Manufactured by The Blair Camera Company, Blair Camera Co. (Boston, MA), distributed by C.R. Selee (56 Bromfield St., Boston, MA), dated 1886, p.9
blair.perfect.rb,blair.cam.co.cat.1886.p9.lp1171-1800.jpg

 

6½ x 8½", Serial No. 114
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Label, metal, top of front standard
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Serial number, bottom of front section
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Date Introduced: - ; Years Manufactured: c.1886 - c. 1887
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: 4x5; 4¼x5½; 5x7; 5x8; 6½x8½; 8x10"
Notes:

     An engraving of this model was not seen until the acquisition of an 1886 Blair catalog in 2017.  This camera previously was thought to be a 1887 version of the Cincinnati Reversible Back.  Now it is known to be The Perfect Reversible Back Camera.  The example camera matches the engravings exactly, which is mentioned because it is not that rare for example cameras not to match their corresponding Blair engravings precisely. 

     The camera is different than other Blair models in that it features a slide-in front base extension, held in only by the minimal friction of two brass springs.  This arrangement may have worked when the springs were new, but the springs should have been made of steel, as the brass ones have fatigued to the point that turning the focus knob tends to cause the entire extension to walk out of its position rather than to progress the nested front part of the extension, as was planned.  The long aspect of the period case (probably not a Blair case) serves to hold the extension during storage, although Blair shows how the extension would have been stored in a Blair case.

References:
Photographic Apparatus Manufactured by The Blair Camera Company, Blair Camera Co. (Boston, MA), distributed by C.R. Selee (56 Bromfield St., Boston, MA), dated 1886, pp. 8-9
Photographic Lenses and How to Select Them, James W. Queen & Co. (Philadelphia, PA), 1887, back cover

 

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