Scovill Mfg. Co.
American Optical Company

Ripley Camera

 

Photographic Times 15, 1885, p. 71

 

Date Introduced: Dec. 19, 1884 ; Years Manufactured: c.1885
Construction: front focus via rack and pinion (single gear track on top of middle base rail) and rear focus via push-pull; single swing; reversing by removable back; three-piece lens board
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base; black fabric bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: unknown
Notes: "a combination camera for portraiture viewing and copying, wonderful for its simplicity".  It must have been a marvelously huge camera, with a rack and pinion front focusing section, similar to the Scovill St. Louis, attached to a push-pull focusing section, similar to the Scovill Acme, and a third standard in between to hold the gigantic bellows up.   It does have a nifty lever-action removable ground glass, which can be seen on the model Unknown Rear Focus Cone Bellows View Camera.  Its Anthony counterpart of the same era was the Klauber Camera, which was only offered in 14x17 and 18x22, which may hint at the size of the Ripley.

References:
Photographic Times 15, 1885, p. 71
 

 

 

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