American Optical Company

Scovill Mfg. Co., Prop'rs

 

Acme Reversible Back View Camera Variation 2.0


 

 

Example 1:  8 x 10"; Asssembly No. 10. 
Given the short period over which this variation was made, apparently just 1885, these two identical examples of the same size and having assembly numbers 10 and 18, may have actually been made in the same batch.
The camera finish has lightened as it aged.  The upper sides of the rear standard show a shadow in the finish shaped like the brass clip attached there for >130 years.

1419.Amer.Opt.-Acme.Var.2-8x10-a-1500.jpg
1419.Amer.Opt.-Acme.Var.2-8x10-b-750.jpg1419.Amer.Opt.-Acme.Var.2-8x10-c-750.jpg
1419.Amer.Opt.-Acme.Var.2-8x10-d-750.jpg1419.Amer.Opt.-Acme.Var.2-8x10-e-750.jpg
1419.Amer.Opt.-Acme.Var.2-8x10-f.gg.frame.on-1500.jpg
1419.Amer.Opt.-Acme.Var.2-8x10-f.gg.frame.off-1500.jpg

Bottom
1419.Amer.Opt.-Acme.Var.2-8x10-bottom-1500.jpg

Top
1419.Amer.Opt.-Acme.Var.2-8x10-top-1500.jpg

 

Label, silver metal, top of front standard: "American Optical Comp'y  -  New York  -  Scovill Mfg. Co., Propt'rs"
Stamp, top of lens board: "Scovill Manufacturing Co.  /  New York".  This stamp having rather large lettering and the "Manufacturing" spelled out is found on early dry plate Scovill cameras and accessories, such as a
5x8 example of
The 76 Camera and a stained 4x5 Ne Plus Ultra).
1419.Amer.Opt.-Acme.Var.2-8x10-label.upper.front.std&stamp.upper.lens.board-1500.jpg

The same Scovill stamp found on the lens board was also used on the top of the ground glass frame.
1419.Amer.Opt.-Acme.Var.2-8x10-stamp.upper.gg.frame-1500.jpg

A third instance of the Scovill stamp is on top of the folding platform.
1419.Amer.Opt.-Acme.Var.2-8x10-stamp.rear.top.of.platform-1500.jpg

 

 

 

 

Example 2:  8 x 10"; Assembly No. 18
367.american.optical-acme-8x10a-w.6.holders-2000.jpg
367.american.optical-acme-8x10a-cam.only-1500.jpg
367.american.optical-acme-8x10b-750.jpg367.american.optical-acme-8x10c-750.jpg

Note the shadow of the brass clip in the wood finish at the upper side of the rear standard (Below Left Image).  Example 1 shows similar shadows in its ligh finish.
367.american.optical-acme-8x10d-750.jpg367.american.optical-acme-8x10e-750.jpg
367.american.optical-acme-8x10f-gg.in-1500.jpg
367.american.optical-acme-8x10f-gg.out-1500.jpg
367.american.optical-acme-8x10-bottom-1500.jpg

Label, silver metal, top of front standard: "American Optical Comp'y  -  New York  -  Scovill Mfg. Co., Propt'rs"
Stamp, top of lens board: "Scovill Manufacturing Co.  /  New York".  This stamp having rather large lettering and the "Manufacturing" spelled out is found on early dry plate Scovill cameras and accessories, such as a
5x8 example of
The 76 Camera and a stained 4x5 Ne Plus Ultra).
367.american.optical-acme-8x10-label.top.of.front.std,stamp.lens.board-entire.front-1500.jpg

The same Scovill stamp found on the lens board was also used on the top of the ground glass frame.  In addition, the serial or assembly number "18" was stamped over the Scovill stamp, and also right next to it on the top of the removable back.
367.american.optical-acme-8x10-stamp.top.of.gg.frame-1500.jpg

The serial or assembly number "18" was also stamped on the top surface at the rear of the platform/base.  A third instance of the Scovill stamp is also there on the right side.
367.american.optical-acme-8x10-stamps.rear.end.of.platform-1500.jpg

All holders for this camera must fit into the cavity left when the ground glass frame is removed.
This holder (shown from both sides), the only one of its design found with the camera, re-loads via a pull-out system.  It is 1 inch thick.
367.american.optical-acme-8x10-one.black.pull-out-type.plate.holder.sides1&2-2000.jpg

Two holders came with this camera that re-load via a design known as "book-type": the two halves of the holder open like a book.  These are 1⅝ inches thick.
367.american.optical-acme-8x10-two.book-type.plate.holders-2000.jpg

Three brown-stained plate holders, part of the six that came with this camera.  These load right through the front and back sides by pushing a plate edge into a spring-loaded slot at the end of a holder, dropping the other end in, and letting the spring hold the plate in place.  These holders are only slightly over ¾ inch thick.
367.american.optical-acme-8x10-three.push-in-type.plate.holders-2000.jpg

 

 

Manufacturer: American Optical Co. New York, NY factory
Date Introduced:
; Years Manufactured: c.1885
Construction: rear focus via push-pull; single or double swing; reversing by removable back; three-piece lens board
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base; black fabric bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: at least 8x10
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:


182.scovill&adams-acme.var1-6x8f-gg.out-400v.jpg     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 1.0:  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 2.0:  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 Co. Ripley Camera.  It may, therefore, be the first variation of the Acme chronologically.  But why then would the advertising engraving show the Variation 1?    It could be 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 Co. era.

Acme Reversible Back View Camera Variation 3.0:  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 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 1The 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:
1895: not in 1895 literature until late 1895, below
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1896, The Scovill & Adams Co., 1895, ads p. 69 ("a new camera)
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1897, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), 1896, ads p. 67 (still "a new camera")
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1898, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), 1897, ads p. 70 (still "a new camera")
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1899, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), 1898, ads p. 60 (still "a new camera")
George Murphy (New York, NY) Catalog, April 1898, p. 20 (as the Eagle Reversible Back View Camera)
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1900, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), 1899, ads p. 89

 

 

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