American Optical Company

Scovill Mfg. Co., Prop'rs

Landscape Reversible View Variation 1

 

 

American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1899, p. 60

 

8 x 10"

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Celluloid Label - upper portion of the ground glass frame

 

Manufacturer: American Optical Co. New York, NY factory
Date Introduced: 1895 ; Years Manufactured: c.1895-c.1900
Construction: rear focus via push-pull locked by thumbscrew at the lower middle of the rear standard; vertical swing locked by a thumbscrew at the top of the rear standard, horizontal swing is locked by a thumbscrew just ahead of the focus locking thumbscrew on the rear standard; reversing by removable back; three-piece lens board
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base; black fabric bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: 6½x8½; 8x10; 11x14; 14x17
Notes:  

Landscape Reversible View Camera Model (from American Optical/Scovill Back Focus Tapering Bellows Field View Cameras - Chronology and Design) - Variations:

     The Acme and the Landscape cameras were never advertised at the same time.  In fact there is a gap of at least two years between the apparent abandonment of the Acme and the start of the Landscape.  Neither the Acme nor the Landscape view cameras were advertised in the Scovill & Adams Co. catalogs for January 1889, March 1889, March 1890, June 1890, April 1891, June 1891, and January 1892 (but no examples of catalogs from late 1892 through early 1895 have been observed as yet) or in the almanacs for 1892, 1893, 1894 and 1895.  However, it is also entirely possible that Acme-type cameras were still being manufactured 1892-1894, despite the lack of advertising seen so far.  During this Acme-Landscape gap, the only rear focus, cone bellows view camera advertised was the Flammang's Patent Revolving Back Camera Back Focus (a camera that is, other than its revolving back, identical to the Acme).

     To second-guess the Scovill & Adams executives, the Flammang's Patent Revolving Back Camera would appear to be a very expensive camera to be the only offering of this type.  Remember that a rear-focus camera is the only viable option for very large (usually professional) cameras, while the cone bellows reduces the weight of the very same large cameras.  It is as if Scovill & Adams was abandoning or at least reducing the options for the professional photographer.  Whatever the reason for discontinuing the Acme, it would seem that the executives soon recognized that a camera of lower cost than that of the Flammang's was needed - by the 1896 catalog, the Flammang's Revolving Back cameras have disappeared and the Landscape Reversible Back Camera has appeared.

     One major design difference between the Landscape Reversible View and the Acme Reversible View and the Flammang's Revolving Back View is that it has a simple, two spring, spring back arrangement - a design based on Thomas Blair's Sep. 2, 1884 patent, used on cameras of almost all plate or film view cameras made after 1901 (around the time the patent expired), and still used today.  Ads for the Landscape Camera always show the thinner and modern style (~ ½" thick) removable and reversible back, just as Acme ads always show their thick (more than 1" thick) back.

     A second new feature is a thick, all-wood construction front standard; the rising panel fits into vertical slots in the standard sides.  The rising panel is quite recessed behind the surface of the front standard, whereas the Acme and Flammang's Revolving Back rise panels are even with the supporting sides of the standard.  The rise locking mechanism is a spring-loaded button on the upper right side of the front standard, which, when pushed, disengages a saw-tooth shaped strip of steel..  In the older Acme and Flammang's Revolving Back cameras, the rising panels fit into slots in the standard sides, but panel is held in by full-height brass strips; the rising panel is controlled via a thumbscrew.

     Ads for the Landscape Camera appear c.1896 - c.1899 in the American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac.    Given the 2-4 year hiatus between advertisements of the Acme and advertisements of the Landscape, the Landscape isn't exactly a replacement for the Acme, but more like a revival.  Ads are always for the Landscape Camera Variation 1 - never Variation 2.

 

Landscape Reversible View Camera Variation 1:  This variation has a push-pull focus locked with a thumbscrew in the middle of the base of the rear standard.  Its vertical swing is push-pull, hinged at the bottom of the rear standard and controlled/locked by a slotted plate and thumbscrew on the top middle of the rear standard.  Its horizontal swing is push-pull, locked by a thumbscrew just in front of the focus-locking thumbscrew.  The folding platform is made rigid using the familiar Flammang's patent rod and cylinder device used on so many Scovill products.  The hardware is polished and lacquered brass.

Another camera of interest to Landscape Camera design:
Counterfeit Landscape Reversible View Camera Variation 1:  This camera is a very good reproduction of the design of the American Optical Landscape Reversible View Variation 1.  Having said that, it can be seen that almost every detail of the camera is different than the corresponding part of an AO camera.  Some examples are shown above, under Identifying a Counterfeit.

Landscape Reversible View Camera Variation 2:  This variation, while retaining the same essential design as Variation 1, has quite a number of differences:  1)the focus is rack and pinion rather than push-pull;  2) the vertical swing is hinged at the bottom, but controlled/locked by a slotted plate and thumbscrew on the lower right side of the rear standard (very similar to a number of Scovill products, the most common of which is the Scovill Waterbury View Variation 2 );  3)the example has no horizontal swing,  4) the folding platform is made rigid with a simple thumbscrew and threaded plate rather than the patented rod and cylinder device (amazing),  and 5) the hardware is nickel-plated rather than lacquered brass.

 

References:
1895: not in 1895 literature until late 1895 or early 1896, below
Catalogue of Photographic Goods and All Articles Pertaining to Photography, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), undated c.1895, p.15
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1896, The Scovill & Adams Co., 1895, ads p. 69 ("a new camera)
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1897, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), 1896, ads p. 67 (still "a new camera")
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1898, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), 1897, ads p. 70 (still "a new camera")
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1899, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), 1898, ads p. 60 (still "a new camera")
George Murphy (New York, NY) Catalog, April 1898, p. 20 (as the Eagle Reversible Back View Camera)
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1900, The Scovill & Adams Co. (New York, NY), 1899, ads p. 89

 

 

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