Scovill Mfg. Co.
 The Scovill & Adams Co.

 

Acme Reversible Back View Camera Variation 1
New Reversible Back Acme View Box
Reversible Back View Camera
Back Focus Cone View Camera
 

Acme View Camera (W. D. Gatchel Catalog, 1888, p. 32)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scovill Mfg. Co. 8 x 10", single swing, No Label, Serial No. 50.
This camera is labeled "Scovill Mfg. Co. N.Y.", and therefore had to have been made prior to the Scovill & Adams Co. in 1889.  It was probably made in Scovill factory in New Haven, CT, despite having all the hallmarks of an American Optical product - fine French polish finish for the wood, draw file finish for the hardware, and screw slots aligned.
While the lens board appears to be original and the one purchased with the camera, the round attachment bearing the lens is not - it is a patch, filling a hole (probably for a different lens) that was too large for this Waterbury lens.
Additionally, the case that fits this camera so well is an E. & H.T. Anthony & Co. product.

The bottom of the camera shows a fabric cover on the rear extension, installed by the nineteenth century owner to create something like the wooden covers found on some early back-focus cameras, for example, the 11x14 Acme Variation 1 shown below.

Stamp, rear of platform: "Scovill Mfg. Co., N.Y."  This stamp (on Camera No. 50) is the exact same stamp used on the 11x14" Camera No. 218, shown below.

Two stamps of the serial number "50": on the front surface of the rising piece on the front standard, and on the top surface of the platform under the front standard.
Note that the screws in the brass guides/wear guards are aligned vertically.

Two more stamps of the serial number "50": one on the bottom of the vertically swinging part of the rear standard (top), and one on the horizontally swing part of the rear standard (bottom).  The lever between the serial numbers locks the focus of the camera.  The round ball just below the serial numbers is attached to a lever that locks the horizontal swing.

Stamp on the top of the lens board: "Scovill Mfg. Co., N.Y.  While lens boards on view cameras are not always original equipment, this on bears the exact same stamp as the rear of the platform (photo above), and so undoubtedly is the lens board that was purchased along with the camera.
As usual for American Optical products, the screw slots of the horizontal brass bar under which the lens board sits are aligned horizontally, and the screw slots of the vertical brass guides/wear guards are aligned vertically.

 

 

 

 

 

Scovill Mfg. Co. 8 x 10", Scovill Label instead of American Optical Serial No. 185
Incredibly, this camera, like the one above, has also had a huge hole made in its lens board.  This time, I had to make the patch.
This one was also missing its back as well as the shelf on which the back rests.  The original back would be identical to all the others on this web page.

This camera was missing its normal ~2" thick spring back as well as the shelf on which the back rests.
  Impossible to recreate something like the original, I have constructed a simple ground glass frame and shelf, just to make the camera look more like a camera, and to see the view through the nice Somerville wide angle rapid rectilinear lens.

Bottom

Top

Label, probably nickel-plated brass: "Scovill Manufacturing Co., / New York".  These are fairly rare on Acme cameras.
This label is identical to one found on a Scovill Albion Camera Variation 1.

Stamp, rear of folding part of platform: "Scovill Mfg. Co., N.Y."

Stamp, upper part of lens board: "Scovill Mfg. Co., N.Y."
This is the same message, but a different (smaller and squatter font style) stamp than the one used on the rear of the platform, above.
Because the lens board was apparently original to the camera, but had a huge (~5" diameter) hole in it, the hole was patched so that an appropriate lens could be installed without using a replacement lens board.

Stamp, Serial No. 185, rear deck of movable platform.  As usual, the numbers are punched separately.

Two more stamps of Serial No. 185, on the lower rising part of the front standard, and on the top surface of the front nose of the fixed platform.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Scovill Mfg. Co. 11 x 14", single swing, No Label, Serial No. 218. 

Two stamps on rear base: "Scovill Mfg. Co., N.Y." (one stamp)  and the serial number "218" (three stamps - the numbers stamped separately).  The "218" is stamped in three additional places on the camera: 1) the front surface of the bottom of the rising piece of the front standard, 2) the top surface of the main platform right at the front of the camera, and 3) the top surface of the moving platform of the rear standard.
This stamp (on Camera No. 218) is the exact same stamp used on the 8x10" Camera No. 50, shown above.

 

 

 

 

 

Scovill & Adams Co. 6½ x 8½", double swing version, Serial (or Assembly) No. 3.
 a camera made 1889-1900, since it is labeled "The Scovill & Adams Co. - New York".
Note that it is not labeled as American Optical, even though the camera bears all the hallmarks of an American Optical product - fine French polish finish for the wood, draw file finish for the hardware, and screw slots aligned.

Label, silver-colored metal (probably German silver): "The Scovill & Adams Co. - New York".  Note the vertical alignment of the screw slots in the lens board retaining strip, and the vertical alignment of screw slots in the two edge brass guides/edge protectors.  The alignment is the result of the camera maker randomly choosing screws for each instance until the slots align.  Also, the screws are initially left slightly above the level of their brass substrate, then are filed down even with the surface during the draw file process, resulting in the edge of the screw head being almost invisible, blending in so well with the brass surface.

Stamp, probably the camera's assembly number "3" hidden under the removable camera back, on the top surface of the movable rear standard platform/base.  An assembly number assists the camera maker to produce more than one camera at a time without mixing up parts that, while very close in size to similar parts, do not precisely fit any other camera than the one for which it was made.

 

 

 

 

 

Manufacturer: Scovill Mfg. Co., , probably produced in the New Haven Factory, former Samuel Peck & Co. factory
Date Introduced: - ; Years Manufactured: c.1884 - c.1895
Construction: back focus via push-pull; single or double swing; reversing by removable back; French polish finish
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base; black rubber bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: 4¼x5½; 6½x8½; 8x10; 10x12; 11x14; 14x17; 17x20; 20x24
Notes: 

    

     Scovill / American Optical made a number of of cone or tapered bellows cameras.  The following is an excerpt from American Optical/Scovill Back Focus Tapering Bellows Field View Cameras - Chronology and Design detailing the history of Scovill/American Optical camera models of this basic type.

Acme Reversible Back View Box / Back Focus Cone View Camera Model
(from American Optical/Scovill Back Focus Tapering Bellows Field View Cameras - Chronology and Design)
Variations:      The Acme View Camera can be found in catalogs and advertising approximately from 1884 through 1888, although there was a similar Scovill tapered bellows view camera during the wet plate era (see American Optical New Camera Box).   It was referred to as one of a number of names: Back Focus Cone View Camera, Acme View Camera, Reversible Back View Camera.  Despite its workmanlike design, it was highly finished in the American Optical way, showing French polish on the wood, draw file finish on the hardware, and screw slots that were laboriously aligned along the length of each brass part then filed down perfectly even with the part.

      During the Scovill Mfg. Co. era (<1889), sometimes, this model's labels read: "American Optical Co., - Scovill Mfg. Co., N.Y. Prop't'rs" but sometimes they read simply "Scovill Mfg. Co., N.Y.".  During the Scovill & Adams Co. era (1889-1901), the labels merely read: "The Scovill & Adams Co. - New York".  Since the high quality construction and appearance of the camera is constant, regardless of era, it is likely that the camera was always manufactured in the New York City factory of American Optical. 

 

 

 

 

 

     There are three variations and one variation that has a different name (all are variations in the way plate holders are inserted into the back):

Acme Reversible Back View Camera Variation 1:  This is the camera as shown in the advertising, including a ~2" thick removable, reversible back.  To take a photograph, the back's ground glass frame is slid out and replaced by the plate holder.  All examples are marked Scovill or Scovill & Adams, and therefore thought to have been made in Scovill's New Haven, CT factory, formerly the Samuel Peck & Co. factory.

Acme Reversible Back View Camera Variation 2:  This variation also has a removable, reversible back, but it also has an interior ground glass frame that is released via a lever.  The plate holder would then be inserted into the hole vacated by the ground glass frame.  This variation is assumed to be c.1885, since this same back is pictured in 1885 advertising for the American Optical Ripley. Camera.  It may, therefore, be the first variation of the Acme chronologically.  But why then would the advertising engraving show the Variation 1, above.  I believe that Variation 2 was a very short lived, expensive to produce version of the Acme, the Variation 1 being the original version made before Variation 2, but also made after Variation 2 well into the Scovill & Adams era.

Acme Reversible Back View Camera Variation 3:  This variation has yet a third variation of removable, reversible back, which, in this case, has spring back that, unlike Variation 1 and Variation 2, does not have to be removed to insert a plate holder - a very handy improvement.  It has a complex set of four springs that can be set open, allowing the plate holder to be easily slid under it, then released to tightly hold the plate holder in place.  This type of back is also seen in other high end American Optical cameras of the Scovill & Adams Co. era:

     There is a fourth camera, which could be considered a variation in the Acme spring back, except that it was advertised after a gap in production, and was given the name:

Landscape View Camera:  This model has a simple, two spring, spring back arrangement - a design based on Thomas Blair's Sep. 2, 1884 patent, used on cameras of almost all plate or film view cameras made after 1901 (around the time the patent expired), and still used today.

     The Acme and the Landscape were never advertised at the same time.  In fact there is a gap of at least two years between the apparent abandonment of the Acme and the start of the Landscape.  Neither the Acme nor the Landscape view cameras were advertised in the Scovill & Adams catalogs for January 1889, March 1889, March 1890, June 1890, April 1891, June 1891, and January 1892 (but no examples of catalogs from late 1892 through early 1895 have been observed as yet) or in the almanacs for 1892, 1893, 1894 and 1895.  However, it is also entirely possible that Acme-type cameras were still being manufactured 1892-1894, despite the lack of advertising seen so far.  During this Acme-Landscape gap, the only rear focus, cone bellows view camera advertised was the Flammang's Patent Revolving Back Camera Back Focus (a camera that is, other than its revolving back, identical to the Acme).  To second-guess the Scovill & Adams executives, the Flammang's would appear to be a very expensive camera to be the only offering of this type.  Remember that a rear-focus camera is the only viable option for very large (usually professional) cameras, while the cone bellows reduces the weight of the very same large cameras.  It is as if Scovill & Adams was abandoning or at least reducing the options for the professional photographer.  Whatever the reason for discontinuing the Acme, it would seem that the executives soon recognized that a camera of lower cost than that of the Flammang's was needed - by the 1896 catalog, the Flammang's has disappeared and the Landscape has appeared.

     Oddly, the Acme and the Landscape cameras were never advertised in the same type of publication.  Acme View Camera ads appear c.1878 - c.1888 in Scovill and Scovill & Adams catalogs.  They universally use the engraving showing the thick profile (~2" thick) replaceable back that is the Acme Variation 1.  The Landscape Camera ads  appear c.1896 - c.1899 in the American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac.  They always show the thinner and modern style (~ ½" thick) replaceable back. 

The American Optical/Scovill & Adams Co. Four Spring Back
     This back, unique to American Optical and Scovill & Adams Co. cameras, consists of a ground glass frame connected to the back of the rear standard using four springs, one in each corner, and each about 2-3 inches long.  As One end of each spring is tightly screwed to the rear standard, while the other end applies pressure onto the middle of a hinge made of sheet brass about 2 inches long, which is attached, one end to the ground glass and the other to the rear standard, via round-head wood screws long enough to act as axles.  Three of the corners appear as in the left hand photo below.  The fourth corner contains the spring, but also an extra bit of hardware attached to the sheet brass that catches in an open position on a post.  This is shown in the right hand photo below.

     This type back found on a number of cameras in this collection, including:   A similar back is found on the 1) Scovill & Adams labeled Acme Reversible Back View Camera Variation 3, 2) unlabeled Albion Variation 3, 3) American Optical, Scovill & Adams Co., Prop'rs labeled Compact View Variation 2 or Irving View Variation 2, 4) American Optical, Scovill & Adams Co., Prop'rs labeled Irving View Variation 1.(known to have been introduced in March, 1892), 5) Scovill & Adams labeled St. Louis View Camera Variation 3, and 6) Star View Camera (introduced 1890) - one example labeled The Scovill & Adams Co., the other example labeled American Optical Co., Scovill & Adams Co., Prop'rs).
     From the example cameras from six models that have four spring backs, we find that all but one camera (and that one is unlabeled and so indeterminate) are labeled and thus can be dated from when The Scovill & Adams Co. were proprietors of the American Optical Co., that is, 1889-c.1899.  It would therefore appear that the four spring back was introduced approximately when Scovill Mfg. Co. changed to The Scovill & Adams Co. in 1889.  The four spring design was patented in 1889 (granted to Scovill Mfg. Co. (W.H. Fuller, assignor), #407587, 23 Jul 1889), but, unlike most of their patents, the patent information is not stamped into the wood or otherwise appear on cameras using the patent.

 

 

References:
Descriptive Catalogue and Price List of the Photographic Apparatus Manufactured by the American Optical Co., Scovill Mfg. Co., proprietors and managers (New York, NY), Sept. 1884, p.52 (as the Scovill Reversible Back Camera)
Catalog P, Photographic Material, J. W. Queen & Co. (Philadelphia, PA), 1886, p. 72 (as the Reversible Back Cone View Camera)
Scovill Manf'g Co. Catalogue Photographic Goods, June, 1887, David Tucker & Co. (Buffalo, NY), June, 1887, p.18 (as the American Optical Suberb Reversible Back Cone View Camera)
Scovill Manf'g Co. Catalogue Photographic Goods, June, 1887, David Tucker & Co. (Buffalo, NY), June, 1887, p.44 (as the Scovill Acme Reversible Back View Camera)
Catalogue Illustrated, W.D. Gatchel (Louisville, KY), 1888, p. 32 (as New Reversible Back Acme View Box)
Catalogue of Photographic Goods and All Articles Pertaining to Photography, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), undated c.1895, p.14 (as the Scovill Acme Reversible Back Camera)

 

 

Back to American Optical Co. / Scovill Mfg. Co. (alphabetical)