American Optical Company
Scovill Mfg. Co.
Construction Details of Straight-Bellows Amateur Cameras, Side Views
A large number of amateur cameras produced 1870-1900 were models smaller than 8x10" format (most commonly 4x5" and 5x8") that had straight bellows (rather than tapered bellows. Straight bellow cameras were less time consuming to make, and therefore could be sold for less. That several straight bellow models were advertised and sold contemporaneously, and that not all such cameras are pictured in catalog or advertising engravings makes it difficult to determine what some of these models looked like. Generally, contemporaneous models were sold at differing price-points. However, it is not always obvious which of extant models should be at which price-point.
Therefore, this study of construction details has been made to determine which models were constructed in the same manner and which differ from each other. It may be that a certain construction type can be identified as the least expensive type, another can be identified as a middle expensive type, and another can be identified as the most expensive type. This information, along with the prices of models having no engravings may allow the match of a model name with an extant example camera.
The cameras below are grouped into categories having the same manner of construction. Each category is named for the most common or most identifiable of the models within its group.
The categories are:
1. Ne Plus Ultra Category
(Scovill, New Haven, CT):
2. Favorite Category (Scovill, New Haven, CT):
3. Putnam Marvel Category (Scovill, New Haven, CT):
4. Waterbury Category (Scovill, New Haven, CT):
5. American Optical Waterbury-type Category (American Optical, New York):
6. New York Camera Category (Scovill, New Haven, CT):
7. Scovill Unknown Type Category (Scovill, New Haven, CT):
8. Blair-type Unknown Category (Scovill, New Haven, CT):
9. American Optical Dry Plate Outfit Category (American Optical, New York, NY):
10. American Optical "76" Category (American Optical, New York, NY):
11. Samuel Peck & Co. View Camera Category (Samuel Peck, New Haven, CT):
Comparison of
assembly number stamps of the camera above having a "Scovill Mfg. Co.
NY" stamp (LP1071) and a camera having a "Samuel Peck & Co."
stamp (Samuel
Peck Field View Camera Folding Platform LP684).
They have not been adjusted for size, and therefore appear to be exactly
the same height and width. Both stampings also appear to have the
same finial on the tops of their 2 and 6. The conclusion is that
these cameras were stamped with the same type stamps, and were therefore
manufactured in the same factory, i.e., the New Haven factory formerly
used by Peck and sold to Scovill in the 1860's.
Manufacturer:
American Optical Co. New York, NY factory
Date Introduced: 1870 ; Years Manufactured:
c.1871 -
c.1882
Construction: rear
focus via push-pull with fine focusing screw;
0/1/2 swing; non-reversing; three-piece lens
board
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base;
black fabric bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: #40=3¼x4¼;
#41=4¼x5½; #42=6½x8½;
#43=8x10;#54=10x12; #44=8x10
w/ focusing rack and pinion; #45=10x12
reversible w/ focusing rack and pinion; #46=11x14reversible
w/ focusing rack and pinion; #47=14x17reversible
w/ focusing rack and pinion; #48=17x20
reversible w/ focusing rack and pinion; #49=4¼x6½
setup for two cartes de visite on one plate; #50=8x10 setup for
four cartes de visite on two plates; # 130= stereo camera for
4x7, 4x8 or 5x8.
Notes:
In their 1871 catalog, the American Optical Co. offered three very closely related models, all having non-tapering bellows (from least expensive to most expensive):
-1. Number 2 View Camera Boxes, Model No.'s 40-50 & No. 130: These are described as "good, well made, true and reliable, not so highly finished as the No. 1 goods, and without the patent brass guides. These had a folding platform, no swing, and no vertical sliding front; no mention of wood types - as simple a camera as would take a photograph. Because of the number of examples to be illustrated, these are divided into Number 2 View Camera Boxes (Model No.'s 40-50 & No. 130) Non-Folding Platform and Number 2 View Camera Boxes (Model No.'s 40-50 & No. 130) Folding Platform.
-2. View Camera Boxes, Model No.'s 21-28: These had a folding platform, single or double swing, vertical sliding front, but not the patent brass guides and no mention of wood types.
-3. Number 1 View Camera Boxes, Model No.'s 1-7 (their best model): had solid or folding platform, patent (John Stock's patent Aug. 4, 1863) brass guides along the rails of the platform, a fine focusing screw, and made in mahogany or walnut finely finished using the French Polish method.
Later, American Optical introduced the Improved View Camera Boxes, which had tapering bellows, which allow the camera to be much more compactly folded.
References:
A Descriptive Catalogue of the American
Optical Co.'s Photographic Apparatus (abridged), Scovill Mfg. Co.
(New York, NY), 1871, p.2
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