American Camera Mfg. Co.
Rochester Optical & Camera Co.
-
made for American Camera Mfg. Co.
Poco View Camera (Rochester View, Poco View Variation)
5 x 7, marked
Poco View Camera
made for American Camera Mfg. Co.
8 x 10
Label, lower front standard
References:
Date Introduced: - ;
Years Manufactured: c. 1903 - 1904
Construction: front and
rear focus via rack and pinion (two gear
tracks on top of base rails); single swing; three-piece lens
board; reversing by removable back
Materials: mahogany body; cherry bed; black
fabric bellows; brass hardware;
Sizes Offered: 5x7; 6 ½x8 ½;
8x10; 11x14; 14x17
Notes: Appears to be the
very similar to
Rochester View,
Variation 3, in that it has the short extension in the rear, and
also differs by bearing the rather practical corner reinforcements used
by the Empire State models of the era, e.g.,
Empire State,
Variation 3. If it had full-size front and rear
extensions, it would be identical to the Empire State, Variation 3,
but it does not - the rear is so short as to be almost "what were they
thinking" length. The label reads "Poco View Camera Made for
American Camera Mfg. Co." Note that the label specifically
states that the camera was made for the American Camera Mfg. Co.,
rather than made by the firm, oddly stated, as if it was
manufactured by a different company and the American Camera Mfg. Co.
merely sold it. The Poco name was first used by the
Rochester Camera Mfg. Co. and then by their successor Rochester Optical
& Camera Co., but in the Poco Cameras catalog of 1902 (Rochester
Optical & Camera Co.) and the Poco Cameras catalog of 1903
(Rochester Camera & Supply Co. succeeded by the Rochester Optical Co.),
this very model is referred to as the Rochester View, despite the
fact that the remainder of the catalogs are filled with one Poco
named camera after another. Only in the 1904 catalog of the
American Camera Mfg. Co. (already owned by EKC by this time) is the
model named as the Poco View Camera. Are you confused yet?
The 5x7 above camera is identical to the 8x10 below (even the Poco
View label), except that the rise for the front is now behind the
standard instead of inside, apparently done at the last minute, since
the hole for the thumbscrew was already drilled, and has had to have
been covered with a plain brass plate. Both cameras have a
leatherette-covered hard case rather than the canvas-covered case used
earlier.
Poco and Buckeye Cameras 1904, American Camera
Mfg. Co. (Rochester, NY), unknown page no.
