Antique & 19th Century Cameras
Antique & 19th Century Cameras
The Universal Camera, c.1892
Rochester Optical Company, NY.
The last noteworthy item is the Thornton Pickard focal plane shutter. How much more interesting can an American camera get than having an English focal plane shutter mounted on it?
Visit the ROC Universal Reference page
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Thornton Pickard, known for their finely crafted cameras is probably better known for their rollerblind shutters. Most were mounted either behind or in front of a lens. Thornton Pickard also built the Focal Plane Imperial Two-Shutter Camera, a view camera with a rollerblind shutter built into the rear standard.
Thornton Pickard furnished focal-plane shutters as catalogued, accessory items, much as they did their better-known rollerblind units. This particular shutter is an early 1890s model with a non-adjustable slit design; a pair of chains connects the upper and lower blinds. Shutter speeds are 1/100 to 1/1000 of a second. Later models offered an adjustable slit design controlled by an external knob.
Is this apparatus for a 19th century James Bond, or a view camera on steroids?
Take a close look. Lurking under all the gizmos is a Rochester Optical Company Universal field camera.
The Universal was one of many Rochester Optical Company cameras that were made in the English compact folding style. Offered from 1892 - 1904, it is constructed of finely polished Honduras mahogany in formats ranging from 3¼ x 4¼" to 11 x 14 inches. In 1895, formats up to 17 x 20" were advertised.
This particular Universal is a 4 x 5 inch, single-swing model advertised for $28 in 1892, or about $1,031 in year 2026 dollars.
The Universal is not a rare camera, but this example is intriguing with its unusual accessories -- the most noticeable being the rare W.H. Walmsley brass viewfinder.
Perched atop the lens board, is a straight-line viewfinder that is eerily reminiscent of a sniper's spotting-scope. The brass lever rotates a miniature ground glass inside the viewfinder for landscape and portrait orientations. The purpose of this small device is to aid in taking instantaneous pictures of moving objects by observing the scene on the miniature ground glass.
A Mathein pneumatic release shutter graces the front of the camera. It is marked "Wale & Mathein, Marksboro, N.J." and incorporates a less exotic (simple) rapid rectilinear lens. The knob protruding from the left of the lens controls the shutter speed. Mathein shutters are rare items and examples built for 4 x 5" and smaller formats are very hard to find.
