American Optical Star View Camera

American Optical Company

The Scovill & Adams Co., Prop's

Star View Camera

How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, The Scovill and Adams Co., 1892, p. 19

5 x 7, marked "The Scovill & Adams Co. New York"

Label on Top of Front Standard: "The Scovill & Adams Co. New York"

Another 5 x 7, also marked "The Scovill & Adams Co. New York"

Bottom

Top

Label on Top of Front Standard: "American Optical Co. / New York / The Scovill & Adams Co. Proprs"

Label on Top of Front Standard - Contrast Inhanced on Label: "American Optical Company / New York / The Scovill & Adams Co. Proprs."

6½ x 8½", marked "American Optical Co. New York The Scovill & Adams Co., Proprs."

Celluloid Label on top of Front Standard: "American Optical Co. New York The Scovill & Adams Co., Proprs."

Stamps on the Removable Back: "Patd Sept. 16, 1890" and "Amer. Optical Co."

Stamp next to a Device (one of two) to Make the Hinged Bed Rigid: "Flammang's Pat. Oct. 20, 1885"

8x10

Manufacturer: American Optical Co. New York, NY factory
Date Introduced: - ; Years Manufactured: c.1890-1896
Construction: front focus via rack and pinion (single gear track on top of middle base rail); single or double swing; reversing by removable back; three-piece lens board
Materials: mahogany body; mahogany base; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: #110=4x5; #111=4.25x5.5; #112=4.25x6.5; #113=5x7; #114=5x8; #115=6.5x8.5; #116=8x10; 117=11x14
Notes:

Even though the label says American Optical, this camera is not as well finished as the similar Flammang Front Focus, and therefore may actually be a Scovill factory product. Scovill catalogs are not very clear on which cameras are Scovill and which American Optical, thereby trading on the American Optical brand, which had a deservedly high reputation.

This model is essentially a St. Louis, Variation 3, but with metal posts as a front standard. Indeed, it replaced the St. Louis model between the Scovill & Adams March 1889 catalog and the Scovill & Adams March 1890 catalog.

The bed is in three sections, with the front section removable, although you have to know the trick to pull the front section sideways to remove it. The front extension is missing on the above camera. The model was stated to come with a canvas case. By late 1896, the Star was consigned to the "Bargain Page" of the American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1897 (page lxi), which probably indicates an attempt to get rid of discontinued stock.

Even though not marked as such, the Star View Camera is always seen with the patented system on the ground glass frame consisting of four springs, one of which has a detent to keep the frame open or loose for loading the plate (Scovill Mfg. Co. (W.H. Fuller, assignor), #407587, 23 Jul 1889):

The American Optical/Scovill & Adams Co. Four Spring Back
This back 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.

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