Scovill Manufacturing Company
Waterbury, CT & New Haven, CT

 

New Haven Reversible Back View Camera
New Haven Acme (Portrait?) Camera

 



Photographic Material, Catalogue O & P 22nd ed., James W. Queen & Co. (Philadelphia, PA), 1891, p. 59

This camera is found in a section of the Queen catalog devoted to field view cameras.  It is therefore rather odd that it appears from the raised wooden rails on its base or platform to look like a studio camera.  However, the description for the camera refers to brass guide rails and a folding platform, neither of which seem to be present in the engraving.  The description, then, agrees with the title (including the phase "view camera" in its name, which, in the 1800's, refers to a field view camera, usually lightly built and having a folding platform).  The example camera below does have what looks like the top of this engraving on a platform that has brass guides and folds, and therefore the example has been identified as a New Haven Reversible Back View Camera.

 

 

 

 

Descriptive Catalogue and Price List of the Photographic Apparatus Manufactured by the American Optical Co., Scovill Mfg. Co. Proprietors and Managers, Scovill Mfg. Co. (New York, NY), dated September 1884, p.74

In a catalog containing both American Optical and Scovill cameras, this camera is found in a section headed several pages earlier as cameras made by Scovill.  This should mean that it was manufactured in the Scovill camera factory, formerly the Samuel Peck & Co. factory, in New Haven CT, rather than the American Optical factory in New York City, NY.  This makes sense since the camera is named The New Haven Camera.  Note that this engraving is the exact engraving used later in the above Queen & Co. catalog.  Apparently, the only thing that Queen & Co. and Scovill Mfg. Co. can agree upon in the name of the camera is "New Haven".  The size and price table is included to show that these cameras were made in sizes as small as 3¼x4¼", including the size of the example camera below: 4¼x5½".  Obviously, regardless of the name of this camera or what the engraving of its base looks like, this model is a field view camera, as nobody ever manufactured a studio camera in such small sizes.
1884.sep.scovill.mfg-74-detail.new.haven.acme.portrait.jpg

 

 

 

 

 


4¼x5½" size. 
This camera is of the same general design as the one above, except that 1) it has Scovill's patent brass guides on a flat platform rather than wooden rails like a studio camera, 2) it is only single swing rather than double, and 3) it also has a ground glass frame that hinges down rather than one that has to be removed to install a plate holder (which could be considered an upgrade to the above engraving).


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Metal label on the front standard: "American Optical Comp'y  New York  Scovill M'fg. Co. Prop'trs."
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Stamps on the back ground glass frame: "Am. Optical Co.", and the assembly number: "1"
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Stamps on the brass frame rails: "John Stock's Patented Aug. 4, 1863" and "Assigned to Am. Optical Co."

Bubble level inlet into the top of the front standard.  It may have been installed at the factory, considering its aligned screw slots and filed finish.
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Manufacturer:
Scovill Mfg. Co., New Haven, CT factory
Date Introduced:
- ; Years Manufactured: c.1885 - c.1891
Construction: back focus via push-pull with focusing screw; double swing; reversing by removable back
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base; black rubber bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: 6½x8½; 8x10; 10x12; 11x14; 14x17; 17x20
Notes: 

Is it a Field Camera or a Portrait Camera and What is its Name?

     A model name of New Haven Acme Portrait Camera was advertised in the 1884 Scovill Mfg. reference below and a model name of New Haven Reversible Back View Camera was advertised in the 1891 Queen & Co. references below.  All the references use the same engraving as an illustration, which shows a studio camera base.  But the prose descriptions of the model in the references include a folding base and brass guide rails, neither of which are shown in the engravings.  Furthermore, the sizes offerred are so small as to have been only from a field view camera mode.  It would therefore seem that the engraving is in error, and that these catalog entries refer to a field view camera - an example of which is shown in the photos.

Where Was it Made and By What Company?

     Queen & Co. obviously was buying the camera model from Scovill Mfg. Co., but does not refer to the  cameras being made by either of the camera manufacturing factories owned by Scovill:  the American Optical Co.factory in New York City, NY, or the Scovill factory in New Haven, CT (formerly the Samuel Peck & Co. factory).  In the 1884 catalog of Scovill Mfg. Co., which contains cameras made by both American Optical (NY factory) and by Scovill (New Haven factory), this model was included in a section called "Scovill New Haven Factory".  In addition, "New Haven" is in the model name regardless of catalog source.  Therefore, it should follow that  camera box factory was manufacture by the Scovill factory in New Haven.  It all makes so much sense - so why does the example camera bear an American Optical metal label?  Was a camera of a similar design made at both the Scovill and American Optical factories?  A similar quandry exists for the New Haven Compact View, a similar design but having a tapered bellows, which appears in the 1884 catalog on a facing page.

What Was it Like to Use?

This model appears to be no less than a studio camera with a folding bed.  In sizes near the example above, it would be stout and useful.  In larger sizes, it no doubt weighed a ton, although still to be contained in a canvas case according to the written description.

References:
Descriptive Catalogue and Price List of the Photographic Apparatus Manufactured by the American Optical Co., Scovill Mfg. Co. Proprietors and Managers, Scovill Mfg. Co. (New York, NY), dated September 1884, p.74 (as the New Haven Acme Portrait Camera)
Catalog P, Photographic Material
,
J. W. Queen & Co. (Philadelphia, PA), 1886, p. 71
Photographic Material Catalogue P 1889, James W. Queen & Co. (Philadelphia, PA), 1889, p. 71
Photographic Material, Catalogue O & P 22nd ed., James W. Queen & Co. (Philadelphia, PA), 1891, p. 59
 

 

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