The Scovill & Adams Co., Waterbury, CT & New Haven, CT
Waterbury View Camera Variation 3
5 x 8"
Bottom
Unusual "The Scovill & Adams Co.
/ of New York" engraving on Waterbury lens
A second 5 x 8"
example
Bottom
Top
Very light stamp on top
rear of platform: "The Scovill & Adams Co., N.Y."
Manufacturer:
Scovill Mfg. Co., New Haven, CT factory
Date Introduced:
1885 ; Years
Manufactured: Variation
1A:
c.
1885
Construction:
back focus via push-pull;
single swing via side thumbscrew; reversing by two tripod mounts
Materials:
straight-grained sycamore body; cherry base; black fabric & rubber bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered:
5x8.
Notes:
The
Waterbury View Camera,
named for the Waterbury, CT location of one of Scovill's factories, is
one of the most common Scovill
view
cameras.
There are also Waterbury Detective
Cameras and Waterbury lenses.
The Waterbury View
Camera in any of its five variations is basically a Scovill
or American Optical model view camera that has push-pull rear focus,
non-tapering bellows and made from a wood that usually is mahogany.
Specific characteristics of the model and of variations are given below . A table of
characteristics for each example of a Waterbury variation examined is given below.
(the letters above reference camera parts in
the image to the right)
1) It is back focus only , and has
non-tapering bellows, which results in the front standard being
approximately the same size as the rear standard.
2) The front standard: is a box-jointed square (A), mounted on a ~1/4 bottom
plate (B), the whole screwed to the front of the main platform (C); a
~1/4" thick facing (D) holds the rise mechanism and the lens board.
On the bottom of the front standard, there is
a quarter-round trim linking the vertical standard to the horizontal
platform. The front standard adjusts up or down, held in
place by a male knurled thumbscrew.
3) The rear standard: is a box-jointed square (E), which is not as tall as
the front standard square, mounted to one or sometimes two brass side plates
(F) (the shape of which distinguish
Variation 1 or
Variation 2),
which connect the rear standard to a ~3/8-1/2" sliding platform (G).
The sliding platform runs along the grooved middle of the main
platform, and is secured by a female knurled thumbscrew.
4) The folding platform or bed is hinged, and made rigid by either
a T-shaped thumbscrew (pre-1886) or a rod and pocket device (patented by
Mathias Flammang Oct. 20, 1885). Patent information is usually
stamped either on the platform next to the device or on the device
itself.
5) The bellows are fabric coated with a black rubberized paint.
6) The ground glass frame hinges down, and is latched up using a
spring-loaded clip which has the same shape and design for all
variations.
7) The Scovill lens board is three piece. The standard lens
was a Waterbury single achromat
(no doubt manufactured in the Waterbury, CT factory)-. Early
lenses would be the insertable
stop
Waterbury Lens Variation 1,
while later lenses would be the rotating stop
Waterbury Lens Variation 2.
It must be remembered, however, that the lens boards and lenses of
view cameras such as the Waterbury were hardly permanent, and it is
common to find a camera with a replacement lens board and/or a different
lens, even one made by a competitor, or a lens board having multiple
sets of screw holes, each set belonging to an installation of a
different lens.
The above physical characteristics are shared by all
Waterbury View Cameras and also
what I call Waterbury-type View Cameras,
which makes them look
pretty much alike. I have defined Variations according to minor
differences, such as the species of wood used, the type
of wood finish (varnish or French-polished shellac), the appearance of the brass finish
(unfinished, partially finished, and/or draw-filed), differences in
ground glass frame hinging, and, rarely, larger or smaller dimensions or size.
The variations are first divided into two broad groups that
appear to have been made in one or the other of the two Scovill
factories. Some Waterbury View
Cameras are hypothesized to have been made in the former
Samuel Peck & Co. factory in New Haven, CT; these examples have less
expensive wood (sycamore), and a varnish finish that requires less time
to finish both the wood and metal. These are called
Scovill-Type Waterbury Variations.
Other cameras appear to be quite similar, but differ in details of
construction, their wood (mahogany) and French polished shellac wood
finish, and draw-filed metal parts - a camera that would have been more
expensive in time and materials than the
Scovill-Type Waterbury Variations. These cameras are
hypothesized to have been made in the American Optical factory in New
York City, NY, and are called American
Optical-Type Waterbury Variations. These variations
are hypothetical, given that the Scovill and Scovill & Adams companies
did not ever indicate that more than one type of
Waterbury View Camera was made;
ads for The Waterbury
consistently name it is The Scovill
Waterbury, never The American
Optical Waterbury, and expensive details such as mahogany
wood, French polish wood finish, and draw-finished metal finish (which
surely would have been mentioned in advertising as they were in ads for
other American Optical products), are never present in
Waterbury View Camera
advertising. Be that as it may, I have bought and examined no
fewer than eight such Waterbury View
Cameras that appear to have been made by American Optical
rather than Scovill. Such cameras were therefore quite common,
despite their apparent lack of advertising. Given this
justification, a careful listing of differences is warranted. The
distinguishing characteristics are summarized in the tables below.
Scovill-Type Waterbury
Variations:
The vast majority of Waterbury Cameras have
the following features in common:
1) The wood is naturally light in color, but nevertheless appears to be
a type of mahogany, although it also bears a resemblance to
straight-sawn
sycamore.
2) The wood is finished without filling the wood pores, using one coat
of clear shellac. The shellac appears to have been applied to the
folding platform while assembled - over-brushed shellac has protected
the edges of the patent rod and piston device from oxidation.
Starting with the 1887 catalog, Scovill advertised "mahogany well
polished" instead of just "mahogany". It is unknown exactly why
this distinction was made - marketing? or was there a change to
French polish instead of brushed finish? It is possible that that some of the
cameras that I call American Optical Waterbury Type cameras were
actually made in the Scovill factory
(obviously these would have to be the ones not marked "American
Optical") using the same kind of wood and finishing process used by the American Optical factory?
3) The hardware is brass, generally unworked and unfinished except where
shellac has been over-brushed, as above.
4) No effort was made in lining up screw slots during assembly.
5) They bear a stamp reading "Scovill Mfg. Co., N.Y." or "The Scovill &
Adams Co., N.Y."
6) All except
Waterbury View Camera Variation 3 have a stamped serial number, many of which are in the
hundreds range. Usually, stamped numbers on cameras of this era
are single digits, rarely two digits, and, thus represent assembly
numbers - numbers used to distinguish the parts for a small number of
cameras that are being manufactured in a batch process where parts are
almost, but not quite interchangeable, and therefore have to be kept
track of. In the case of
Waterburys, the
stamped numbers in the hundreds
probably represent actual consecutive serial numbers, as it is unlikely
that batches of hundreds of cameras, requiring assembly numbers in the
hundreds, were ever made.
Since the
Waterbury
model was always advertised as the "Scovill Waterbury", it is assumed
that these
Waterburys
were manufactured in the Scovill camera factory in New Haven, CT, the
former Samuel Peck camera factory, and are categorized here as
Scovill Waterbury Variation 1,
Scovill Waterbury Variation 1A,
Scovill Waterbury Variation 2,
and
Scovill and Adams Waterbury Variation 3
according to relatively minor variations in construction.
Scovill Waterbury View Camera Variation 1A:
The Waterbury
View Camera Variation 1A has
construction and hardware that are identical to
Variation 1 -
it is thought to be merely the earliest version of Variation 1, due to
the three following features:
1) The wood forming the box-jointed sections of the front and rear
standards is quarter-sawn sycamore, as Scovill also used in two other
early models:
Unknown View Camera
and the
New York View Camera.
The face of the front standard appears to be the same as used in
Variation 1 Waterburys, said in Scovill's catalogs 1887 and after to be mahogany
(albeit a very light-colored mahogany).
2)
The wood near Scovill's piston-type device to make the bed rigid is
stamped with the single word: "Patented", suggesting that the patent had
been applied for but yet to be granted.
Waterbury View Camera
Variation 1 and Waterbury View
Camera Variation 2 have the exact patent date stamped into the
metal of the device itself. Variation 1A would therefore appear to
have been manufactured sometime after the patent, but before the metal
stamps were received.
3)
The wooden case in which the camera came is typical Scovill
spline-joint construction, so has probably been with the camera since
its manufacture. The clasp that fastens the top is an bulky early
style that can also be found on a plate-holding box marked "Sam'l Peck &
Co." from the 1850's or 1860's. This fancy-wood version of the
Waterbury may be an example of
a 1885-1886 Waterbury, made
before the change was made to mahogany.
Scovill Waterbury
View Camera Variation 1
The
Waterbury View Camera Variation 1 (as well as
Variation 1A) has a scalloped-edged
metal flanges on either side of the rear standard that allow it to tilt
front-to-back.
This distinguishes
it from the Waterbury View Camera Variation 2.
The wood, other than the cherry platform wood, is said by Scovill
catalogs to be mahogany starting in 1887. It is a strange, very light-colored, mahogany
that others have called sycamore (which it resembles) and even oak.
Its pores have been left unfilled, then given what appears to be a single coat of
clear shellac, leaving the pores slightly sunken.
Scovill Waterbury View Camera Variation 2:
This is the most common variant of
The
Waterbury View Camera. It has a somewhat
square-shaped metal flange for tilting the rear standard, which
distinguishes it from the Waterbury Variation 1.
This tilting control flange is only on the right side, and only fastens the tilted rear
standard - the tilting itself is performed by hinges and a small wooden
wedge visible on the left side. This arrangement was undoubtedly
an improvement over
Variation 1,
which tends to become difficult to tighten reliably as the screws that
hold the flanges loosen. Even though there are quite a few extant
Variation 1 cameras, all the engravings in Scovill catalogs appear to be
of Variation 2, even back to
the first catalog to advertise it in 1885. This begs the question of just
when, exactly, were the Variation 1 and
Variation 2 made?
Like the Waterbury View Camera Variation 1,
the Waterbury View Camera Variation 2 is made from a
very light-colored mahogany (except for the cherry platform), finished with a
thin coat of clear shellac.
Scovill & Adams Waterbury View Camera Variation
3:
This is a rare variant of the
The Waterbury View Camera -
surprisingly so since the Scovill Mfg. Co. changed to The Scovill &
Adams Co. in 1889, early enough that The
Waterbury View Camera should have still been being made in
the thousands. Unlike other variations, it is unmarked except for
the lens and does not bear a serial number or even an assembly number,
but it has the normal wood, straight sawn sycamore, used in most
Scovill Waterbury View Cameras,
the same rod and pocket patent device to make the platform rigid
(although not stamped with the patent information seen in the other
Scovill Waterbury View Camera
variations), and the same rear standard tilt hardware as does the
Scovill Waterbury View Camera Variation 1.
In fact, it is identical to the Scovill
Waterbury View Camera Variation 1, with the sole exception
of a single piece of wood: the piece that acts as a combination front
standard base and front molding. In this variation, this piece of
wood is thicker than those observed in other
Waterbury View Camera examples,
although this thickness is hardly standard in those other examples (see
Construction Details of Straight-Bellows Amateur Cameras, Side Views
for comparison of this and other details of construction). The
other difference and the most obvious difference is that whereas the
shape of the front of this piece of wood is convex (bowed outwards) in
the other Waterbury View Camera
variations, the shape of the front of this piece in the
Scovill & Adams Waterbury View Variation 3
is concave (bowed inwards).
American Optical-Type
Waterbury Variations:
There exist
Waterbury-design cameras that do
not have the Scovill characteristics listed above. These cameras
may differ from the above
Waterbury cameras in two ways:
1)
The first, most obvious, reason is that some (but not all)
Waterbury
design cameras are marked with an "American Optical, Scovill Mfg. Co.,
Props." stamp in their wood.
I assume, as in the "Scovill"-stamped cameras above, that the stamp is
indicative of the factory in which it was made, in this case, the
American Optical factory in New York City. It is problematical
that some of the cameras having all appearances of having been made in
the American Optical factory are not marked as such, instead being
marked "Scovill Mfg. Co., N.Y." It is possible that some of the
cameras that look like typical American Optical cameras were made in the
New Haven Scovill factory, assuming that the Scovill factory received
the same wood as used in the American Optical factory, and the workers
also received the same training in French polish and draw-file finishing
as their New York City counterparts. However, it is unlikely that
cameras produced in two different factories would be indistinguishable
other than their stamped identification. It is more likely that
Scovill was not vary concerned whether cameras were identified and
stamped as American Optical or Scovill. Their catalogs certainly
are not very clear as to which cameras are American Optical and which
are Scovill. For some models, catalogs identify the maker
(factory), in the June 1891 Scovill catalog, for example: "The
American Optical Star View Camera"
on p.19 or "The
Scovill Manifold Camera" on
p.23. Other models, known to be American Optical due to their
labels, occur adjacent to other identified American Optical models, as
if in an American Optical section of the catalog, in the same June 1891
catalog, for example,
The (Flammang)
Revolving Back Cameras
on pp.20-21 are American Optical products
placed immediately after the
American Optical Star View Camera.
Unfortunately, catalogs appear to shift back and forth from Scovill to
American Optical products. Most unfortunately, neither the catalog
notation nor the catalog position are clear about where the
Waterbury
was made.
2) The second reason, more subtle but nonetheless convincing, is the
physical properties/appearance of the camera. Scovill advertised
certain models as having been specifically manufactured by American
Optical, such as Flammang Revolving Back Cameras (both
Rear Focus and
Front Focus),
The Irving Camera,
The Reversible Landscape Camera,
The "76" or Centennial Camera (and No.s
202-204), Reversible Back Camera (Front
Focus (St. Louis) and Back Focus (Acme)),
The Tourist Pocket Outfit, and
Walmsey's Photomicrographic
Camera. The examination of these models shows the following
characteristics in common:
- The wood is naturally dark mahogany or dark stained mahogany and dark
stained cherry. At a glance, this wood is distinguished from the
light-colored mahogany of the Scovill Waterburys.
- The wood is finished by the process of French polishing: continuing
layers of shellac to fill pores followed by a final buffing to produce a
mirror smooth surface.
- The hardware is nickel-plated or brass finished in what is called a
draw-file finish, producing fine, parallel lines.
- Usually, the screws are lined-up on a side or surface so that their slots are
parallel; subsequent draw filing makes the screws in the same plane as
the hardware that they secure, and makes them almost
invisible.
Since some Waterbury cameras share their physical characteristics with
cameras advertised to have been manufactured in the American Optical
factory in New York City, NY, these Waterburys are presumed to have also
been manufactured in the American Optical factory, and are referred to
here as the
American Optical Waterbury Variation 1
and the
American Optical Waterbury Variation 2.
American Optical Waterbury-Type View Camera
Variation 1:
The hinges on the ground
glass frame are on the bottom of the frame in
Variation 1 and on the sides in
Variation 2.
Variation
2 seems to be very rare, relative to
Variation 1.
Waterbury-Type View Camera Variation 1
has a ground glass frame over 1" wide, whereas all other
Waterbury variations have
frames about ⅝" wide. This makes
Waterbury-Type View Camera Variation 1 significantly larger
than the other variations. The two examples seen so far have an
identical mixture of stamps: Scovill Mfg. Co., N.Y. on the lens board
and on the ground glass frame, and American Optical Co., Scovill Mfg.
Co., N.Y. on the rear of the platform. A comparison of the sizes is shown
just below the table. A Waterbury
having side hinges is never shown in Scovill catalogs or other ads.
This discrepancy in size
between those cameras thought to have been made in the American Optical
factory and those cameras thought to have been made in the Scovill New
Haven factory is similar to the discrepancy found for the variations of
The 76 Camera
(see The
76 Camera Variation 1 for
comparison photos). The difference in construction may be due to
Scovill not precisely duplicating the tools and jigs used to make the
camera in one factory vs. the other. The company may have
merely left the details of construction to the tool- or camera-makers
from each location. It is not that Scovill cameras are always
larger than American Optical cameras; in
The 76 Camera
example just mentioned, The 76
Camera Variations 1 and 2
(American Optical versions) are smaller than
The 76 Camera Variation 3 (Scovill Version).
American Optical Waterbury-Type View Camera
Variation 2:
Scovill Waterbury & American Optical Waterbury-type Camera
Characteristics
Number
Format
Marked
Type
Serial No.
GG Frame width1
GG Hinge
Swing Hardware
No. of Rod & Piston
Frame/Solid Rear Deck LP1075 5x8 Scovill Mfg. Wat Var 1A 323 0.61 Qtr.-Sawn Sycamore Bottom 2/scalloped
1 Frame LP0006 4x5 Scovill Mfg. Wat Var 1 393 0.60 Straight Sycamore Bottom 2/scalloped
1 Solid LP0071 5x8 Scovill Mfg. Wat Var 1 688 0.62 Straight Sycamore Bottom 2/scalloped
1 Solid LP0940 4x5 Scovill & Adams Wat Var 1 769 0.58 Straight Sycamore Bottom 2/scalloped
1 Solid LP0349 6½ x8½ Scovill & Adams Wat Var 2 495 0.84 Straight Sycamore Bottom 1/square
1 Frame LP1246 6½ x8½ Scovill Mfg. Wat Var 2 459 0.82 Straight Sycamore Bottom 2/square
1 Frame LP626 8x10 Scovill Mfg. Wat Var 2 21 0.82 Straight Sycamore Bottom 2/square
2 Frame LP0521 5x8 Scovill Mfg. Wat-Type Var 1 None 1.06 Dark Mahogany Side 1/square
2 Frame LP1086 5x8
Am. Opt. and
Scovill / Both 2 Wat-Type Var 1 None 1.06 Dark Mahogany Side
1/square
1 Frame LP748 4x5 Scovill Mfg. Wat-Type Var 2 245 0.59 Dark Mahogany Bottom 1/square
1 Frame LP861 4x5 Scovill Mfg. Wat-Type Var 2 228 .058 Dark Mahogany Bottom 1/square
1 Frame LP894 4x5 Am. Opt., Scovill Wat-Type Var 2 None 0.61 Dark Mahogany Bottom 1/square
1 Frame LP971 4x5 Am. Opt., Scovill Wat-Type Var 2 None 0.62 Dark Mahogany Bottom 1/square
1 Frame LP0572 5x7 Am. Opt., Scovill Wat-Type Var 2 None 0.58 Dark Mahogany Bottom 1/square
1 Frame LP1061 5x8 Am. Opt., Scovill Wat-Type Var 2 None 0.58 Dark Mahogany Bottom 1/square
1 Frame LP1080 5x7 Scovill Mfg. Wat-Type Var 2 22 0.57 Dark Mahogany Bottom 1/square
1 Frame
1
calculated as a ratio of the left frame width to the horizontal
width of the ground glass
2
on both examples, there are two Scovill Mfg. Co., N.Y.
stamps (lens board and ground glass frame) and one American
Optical Co., Scovill Mfg. Co., N.Y. stamps.
The hinges on the ground
glass frame are on the bottom of the frame in
Variation 1 and on the sides in
Variation 2.
Variation 2 seems to be very
rare, relative to Variation 1
Comparison of Construction Features Used
to Determine Scovill Waterbury
and American Optical Waterbury-Type
Variations
Wood
Finish
Hardware Finish
No./Style
Shellac
Plain
Shellac
Plain
Shellac
Plain
Shellac
Plain
Shellac
Plain
Shellac
Plain
Shellac
Plain
French polish
Draw-File
French polish
Draw-File
French polish
Draw-File
French polish
Draw-File
French polish
Draw-File
French polish
Draw-File
French polish
Draw-File
French polish
Draw-File
French polish
Draw-File
Comparison of the
size of Waterbury-Type View Camera
Variation 1 to Other Variations (This Example is
Waterbury View Camera Variation 1)
References (all Scovill Waterbury references
- all appear to be Variation 2):
Scovill's Photo. Series No. 1,
The Photographic Amateur, 2nd Edition,
J. Traill Taylor, Scovill Mfg. Co. pub. (New York, NY),
1883,
2nd Ed. about 1885, p.
a10
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive
Price List,
Scovill Mfg. Co. (New York, NY),
distributed by Andrew J. Smith (Providence,
RI),
1886,
p. 34
Scovill's
Photo. Series No. 12,
Photographic Chemistry,
Scovill Mfg. Co. (New York, NY),
1886, p.
a19
Scovill's
Photo. Series No. 20,
Dry Plate Making for Amateurs,
Scovill Mfg. Co. (New
York, NY), 1886, p.
a10
Catalog P, Photographic
Material,
J. W. Queen & Co. (Philadelphia, PA), 1886, p.
51
How to Make Pictures, 4th edition,
Henry Clay Price, Scovill Mfg. Co., publishers (New York, NY), dated
1887, copyright 1886, p.a8
Photographic Lenses and How to Select Them,
James W. Queen & Co. (Philadelphia, PA), 1887, p. 27
Scovill's
Photographic Series No. 26, The
Photographic Instructor,
Prof. Charles Ehrmann,
Scovill Mfg. Co., 1888,
ads
p.
xiv
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive
Price List,
Scovill Mfg. Co. (New York, NY),
distributed by C.H. Codman & Co.
(Boston, MA), April 1887, p.
32
How to Make Photographs and
Descriptive Price List,
Scovill Mfg. Co.
(New York, NY),
undated but about January 1888,
p. 31
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive
Price List,
Scovill Mfg. Co. (New York, NY),
distributed by C.H. Codman & Co. (Boston, MA),
September
1888,
p. 20
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive
Price List,
The
Scovill & Adams Co.
(New York, NY),
January 1889, p. 19
American Annual of Photography and
Photographic Times Almanac for 1890,
The Scovill & Adams Co.
(New York, NY), ads p. 69
How to Make Photographs and
Descriptive Price List, The
Scovill
&
Adams Co. (New York, NY),
distributed by Oscar Foss (San Francisco, CA), June 1890,
p. 20
Photographic Material,
Catalogue O & P, James W.
Queen & Co. (Philadelphia, PA),
1891, p. 39
How to Make Photographs and
Descriptive Price List, The
Scovill
&
Adams Co. (New York, NY),
distributed by Sargent & Co. (Cleveland, OH), April 1891,
p. 8
How to Make Photographs and
Descriptive Price List, The
Scovill
&
Adams Co. (New York, NY),
distributed by Horgan, Robey & Co. (Boston, MA), June 1891,
p. 10
American Annual of Photography and
Photographic Times Almanac for 1892,
The Scovill & Adams Co.
(New York, NY), 1891, ads p. 106
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List,
The Scovill & Adams Co.
(New York, NY), January 1892, p.
9
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List,
The Scovill & Adams
Co. (New York, NY), abt. June 1892, p. 9
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for
1893, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY),
1892, ads p. 144
The American Annual of
Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1894,
The
Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), 1893, p. 96
How to Make Photographs and
a
Descriptive
Catalogue of Photographic
Materials Illustrated,
The
Scovill & Adams Co.
(New York, NY),
1896,
p. 28
Back to American Optical Co. / Scovill Mfg. Co. (alphabetical)
