Folmer & Schwing Mfg. Co., New York, NY
Sky Scraper View Improved Variation 1.0
Century
Camera Co. professional catalog, c.1902, p.16
Century Sky Scraper Improved - from
Century Professional Catalog c.1906, p. 16
8 x 10
Label, Upper Front Standard
Date Introduced: - ;
Years Manufactured: c. 1905-1917 The Sky Scraper
was made for photographing tall buildings without tilting the
camera back, the lens board has significantly greater rise than other
cameras due to the tall front standard. The improvements from the
Sky Scraper Camera include gear focus instead of fine focusing
screw, and a different vertical swing arrangement. The Sky Scraper Improved is seen in
four configurations of rear standard vertical swing:
Variation 1.0 has round center pivot
hardware, Variation 1.2 has the
round center pivot but also a round thumbscrew lock,
Variation 1.5 has large rectangular
plate pivot center hardware, and Variation 2.0
retains a center pivot, but has large hardware anchored to the base of
the rear standard instead of the relatively thin sides. Even though a
Folmer & Schwing product, it also appeared in
the c.1906 Century
Professional Catalog referenced below
as the
Century
Sky Scraper Improved. References:
Construction: rear focus
via rack and pinion (two gear tracks on sides of base rails);
reversing by removable back; double swing; three-piece lens board
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base;
black fabric bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: 8x10; 11x14; 14x17 and
larger sizes(!) made to order
Notes:
Andrew Lloyd catalog 1900.
Photographic Apparatus for the Professional,
Century Camera Co. (Rochester, NY),
undated c.1906, p.
16
Milwaukee Photo Materials Co. Catalogue No. 5, Milwaukee Photo
Materials Co. (Milwaukee, WI), undated c.1907, p.52
Illustrated Catalogue of Photographic
Outfits and Supplies, Sweet, Wallach & Co. (Chicago, IL)
Catalog, 1908, p. 56
Catalogue of Professional Photographic Apparatus
and Materials, Eastman Kodak Co.
(Rochester, NY), 1909, pp.38-39
Descriptive Price List of Photographic Materials,
George Murphy, Inc. (New York, NY), 1910-1911, pp.
47-48
Photographic Apparatus and Supplies Catalog No.
35, Sweet, Wallach & Co. (Chicago, IL),
c. 1910, p. 57
Catalogue Photo Supplies,
Milwaukee Photo Materials Co. (Milwaukee, WI), c.1910.
p. 53
Catalogue of Eastman Professional
Photographic Apparatus and Materials,
Eastman Kodak Co. (Rochester, NY), c. 1911,
p. 52-53
Number 30 Illustrated Catalogue of Photographic
Outfits, Lenses and Supplies,
Robey-French Co. (Boston, MA), c. 1915,
p. 52
Illustrated Catalogue of Photographic Outfits and Supplies No. 38,
Sweet, Wallach & Co. (Chicago, IL), c.1915, p.49
Cameras, Photographic Apparatus and Supplies,
11th Ed., Hirsch & Kaiser (San Francisco,
CA), c. 1917,
p. 30
