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.
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).
Metal label
on the front standard: "American Optical Comp'y New York
Scovill M'fg. Co. Prop'trs."
Stamps on the
back ground glass frame: "Am. Optical Co.", and the assembly number: "1"
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.
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:
Back to American Optical
Co. / Scovill Mfg. Co. (alphabetical)
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:
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
