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A History of The Rochester, NY Camera and Lens Companies
by Rudolf Kingslake
Source: Kingslake, Rudolf, 1974, "The Rochester Camera and
Lens Companies", Rochester NY, Photographic Historical
Society.
* Bausch and Lomb * Vogt Optical Company
* Gundlach * Century
* Wollensak * Graflex
* Ilex * Sunart and Seneca
* Elgeet * The Crown Optical
* The Rochester Optical Company
Company * Projection Optics
* The Ray Camera Company * Gassner and Marx
* The Monroe Camera Company * Movette
* Eastman Kodak Company * Photostat and Rectigraph
* The Photo Materials Company
* Present
* Reichanbach, Morey and Will
-------------------------------------------------------------
This is a most complicated story spanning almost 100 years,
and I find that it is often difficult to discover what
actually did happen, and to sort out the numerous changes of
name, and acquisitions, and combinations of companies that
went on in Rochester, especially during the period from 1890
to 1905. Small companies would be formed, often by employees
from another company, and as often they would fail and their
assets would be absorbed by the same or by another company.
Companies, too, would be frequently reorganized with larger
capital and a new set of officers, with often a different
name, and it is hard to decide whether they are the same or a
different company. Eastman was particularly good at acquiring
a company and then letting it operate for years under its old
name, often marking on its products "Eastman Kodak Company,
successor to ..." Even locating the address of a company is
no real clue to ownership because often three or more
companies would occupy the same building.
I must at this point acknowledge the great assistance I have
received from Don Lyon in sorting out the various companies
and personalities and changes of ownership, and particularly
for giving me access to his voluminous records and files. He
really should be giving this talk instead of me. I have
gained most of my information from the city directories, and
also some from the catalog files at the George Eastman House.
Although I have found out a lot about the numerous optical
and camera companies of Rochester, my records are far from
complete, and shall no doubt continue to find out interesting
facts for many years to come. If anyone detects an error in
my story, I hope they will point it out so that I can get
everything correct as far as it goes.
I am very conscious that I should have started this research
before the center of Rochester was torn to shreds to make
room for the inner loop and the Urban Renewal project. Some
streets have completely disappeared, many have changed their
names, old buildings have been torn down to make room for
parking lots, and it is often hopeless to find out where a
company actually was located. This problem has been rendered
even more difficult by the renumbering of streets that
occurred in 1899 and 1911.
I have deliberately omitted companies devoted primarily to
the manufacture of film, printing paper, plate holders, and
the like, and more especially to optical companies making
only spectacles, which has been a very active business in
Rochester over the years. Thus I have omitted reference to
companies such as Haloid, Defender, and even Xerox! The two
large companies, Bausch and Lomb and Kodak have kept
remarkably clear of each other's activities, and it is
possible for tine historian to consider them separately, as I
have done. The various camera companies were mainly related
in some way to Kodak, while the lens and shutter companies
were mostly connected with Bausch and Lomb. There have been
exceptions, of course, as we shall see. There have also been
several companies that have had no connection with either of
these giants.
Bausch and Lomb
The photo-optical industry in Rochester was born in 1880. In
that year Bausch and Lomb began to make photographic lenses;
the Rochester Optical Company began to make cameras; and
George Eastman began to make plates. However, my story
actually begins back in 1853 when J. J. Bausch founded his
tiny spectacle business and sat around vainly waiting for
customers.
John Jacob Bausch was born in Gross Suessen, Germany, of a
poor family, and was apprenticed to a spectacle maker. At the
age of 20, in 1850, he decided to emigrate to America, and
after a harrowing 49-day journey in a sailing vessel, landed
in New York. He proceeded to Buffalo, where there was a
cholera epidemic, and after trying unsuccessfully to find
work, he moved to Rochester, where again he had the greatest
difficulty in finding any sort of employment. He finally, at
age 23, decided to set up an optician's shop in the Reynolds
Arcade under the name of "J. J. Bausch, Optician". At that
time scarcely anybody in this country used eyeglasses, and
many people had never even seen a pair, so his sales were
almost nil. In 1856, as his trade card shows, his shop was
called the "J. J. Bausch Optical Institute."
In his endless struggle to find work, and even to survive,
Bausch was greatly helped by a Mr. Henry Lomb, a cabinet
maker, whom he probably met at the Turn Verein club. Lomb was
born in 1828 and had also emigrated from Germany in 1849. He
was a bachelor, and in 1853 decided to join Bausch, where he
proceeded to learn the optician's trade, and lodged with the
Bausch family, turning over his earnings to them. At the
outbreak of the Civil War, Lomb immediately enlisted, and
finally rose to the rank of captain. He returned to Rochester
in 1863, and in the following year the firm became "Bausch
and Lomb, Optician." By then business had improved to the
point where they could open a factory at the corner of
Andrews and Water Streets. Henry Lomb married in 1865, and in
the following year moved to New York to act as the firm's
sales agent there. He died in 190S, and because of his many
civic activities and particularly his great interest in the
Rochester Institute of Technology, a handsome memorial shaft
was erected in his memory in 1932 in Rochester. Incidentally,
the name of the company was changed to the "Vulcanite Optical
Instrument Company" from 1866 to 1876, as this material was
being extensively used to make spectacle frames. The name was
changed back to the "Bausch and Lomb Optical Company" in
1876. After World War II it became "Bausch and Lomb Inc."
After the Civil War, interest in spectacles rose rapidly, and
the company constructed an enlarged factory in 1868 at River
and Water Streets, followed six years later by an even larger
building at the present location in St. Paul Street, the date
1874 being carved over the door. During the first World War
they added a large building in front of the old one. We are
now told that the company plans to abandon the entire
establishment and move into the old Bond Clothing building on
North Goodman Street.
Returning to 1875; at the urging of Bausch's eldest son
Edward, the firm decided to branch out into optical
instruments, beginning with the microscope for which there
was a growing demand. To get started, they hired a
temperamental character named Ernst Gundlach, who had
previously made microscopes in Berlin and was then living in
Hackensack, New Jersey. Gundlach was employed by Bausch and
Lomb from 1876 to 1878, but they quarreled frequently and
finally separated. The microscope work, however, proceeded
successfully under Edward Bausch's direction, and by 1903
they had sold about 44,000 instruments.
Bausch and Lomb added photographic lenses to their line in
1883, and began the manufacture of shutters in 1888. In 1892
they became the only company in America licensed to make
Zeiss Anastigmats and other lenses. They also made Compound
and Compur shutters by agreement with Deckel. These
arrangements were finally terminated in World War I.
Some 1903 statistics are impressive. At that time Bausch and
Lomb was making some 20 million spectacle lenses a year, and
had manufactured 500,000 photographic lenses and 550,000
shutters. As you know, the company is still in existence with
branches in several other cities and abroad, making a wide
range of optical and electronic products of the highest
quality.
Gundlach
I have mentioned that difficult individual, Ernst Gundlach,
who left Bausch and Lomb somewhat unwillingly in 1878. His
address at that time was 171 St. Paul Street while Bausch and
Lomb were at No. 179, so he lived practically next door to
the plant. In 1879 Gundlach was joined by a Lewis R. Sexton,
and together they set up and operated an optical goods
establishment in their home, while Sexton doubled as a
teacher in No. 7 school, later becoming principal of School
17 and then of School 9. Being certain that the optical
business was in good hands, Gundlach moved to Hartford,
Conn., in 1880, where he lived for the next four years,
giving his occupation as "Optician." The following year
Sexton moved the optical establishment to 29 Stone Street,
where he was joined by two other opticians, J. C. Reich and
J. Zellweger. In the 1883 Rochester directory he was listed
as "Dealer in Ernst Gundlach's Microscopes and Objectives."
Lewis R. Sexton died in August 1884 after having dropped out
of optics, and Gundlach immediately returned to Rochester. He
reorganized the business at 29 Stone Street as the "Gundlach
Optical Company", with himself, Reich, Zellweger, and H. H.
Turner, a machinist, as officers. They claimed in their
advertising to be "Sole Manufacturers of E. Gundlach's
Microscopes and Objectives." During the next eight years the
company occupied several different locations, finally ending
up in 1892 at 761 South Clinton Avenue where they stayed
until well into the 1930's. In 1889 Gundlach was joined by
his son Karl, who lived with him for many years.
Early in 1895, for some reason, Ernst Gundlach left the firm
and established a rival company called the "Gundlach
Photo-optical Company" at 5 South Water Street, as that
building was then being vacated by the Rochester Optical
Company. In an advertisement published in the American
Journal of Photography, Vol. XV, for August 1895, he stated
that "Ernst Gundlach has severed all connections with the old
'Gundlach Optical Company', and we are now the sole owners of
his patent of December 9, 1890, under which his celebrated
'Rapid Rectigraphic', 'Perigraphic', and other lenses were so
long made." Thus from 1895 there were two Gundlach companies
existing independently in Rochester.
Late in 1895, the name of the second company was changed to
"Ernst Gundlach, Lens Manufacturers" and in 1896 it was
changed again to "Ernst Gundlach, Son, and Co." then at 202
Court Street, the officers being B. W. Fenn, Z. P. Taylor, G.
B. Gilbert, and A. S. Gilbert. However, the business cannot
have been very successful, for two years later the Gundlachs
left the city and moved to Chicago. After they left, the
plant was re-named "The Rochester Lens Company," and operated
by Fenn and Gilbert. It was finally acquired by Wollensak in
1905.
To return to the original Gundlach Optical Company: In 1895
H. H. Turner was manager, J. Zellweger and J. C. Reich were
opticians, and in 1896 they acquired the Milburn Korona
Company, which had been founded two years before by Gustave
G. Milburn, and so added Korona cameras to their previous
line of lenses. In 1896 they began also to advertise
shutters, and added the Turner-Reich Anastigmat (U.S. Pat.
539,370) to their lens list. In 1898 Turner was president and
manager, Zellweger was vice-president, and Reich secretary
and treasurer. In August 1902 the company acquired the
Manhattan Optical Company Of Cresskill, New Jersey, and
changed the name of the company to the "Gundlach-Manhattan
Optical Company." Their building at 761 South Clinton Avenue
at various times acted as the home of other companies,
including the Rochester Panoramic Camera Company (1905), the
Seneca Camera Company (1903-1910), and the Ilex Optical
Company (1912-1916).
Around 1926 the name was changed to the Gundlach
Manufacturing Company, and in 1928 it was taken over by John
E. Seebold, president, and Walter H. Ashby as vice-president,
under the strange name of the "Seebold Invisible Camera
Company." Seebold left the following year and Ashby became
president. They suffered badly in the depression and finally
moved to Fairport in October 1935, their old building on
Clinton Avenue becoming the Kane Furniture Store. Early in
1954 their remaining assets were acquired by Albert Drucker,
of Burke and James in Chicago, and finally re-organized as
"Dynamic Optics Inc." with David Goldstein as president. The
firm ceased operations in 1972. In 1946 Mr. Turner's son,
Donald, founded the Turner Bellows Company which is still in
existence at 165 North Water Street, making thousands of
bellows a day for Polaroid.
Wollensak
The second company to branch off from Bausch and Lomb was
Wollensak. Andrew Wollensak was first employed as a machinist
by Bausch and Lomb in 1882, and became a foreman the
following year. He helped Edward Bausch with the design of
the Iris Diaphragm shutter in 1890, and probably worked on
other shutters as well. In 1899 he and his brother John
decided to establish a new company for the purpose of
manufacturing a line of high quality shutters which could be
sold at a reasonable price. The brothers managed to obtain
financial help from Stephen Rauber, former president of the
Union Brewing Company in North Clinton Avenue, and the new
company, Rauber and Wollensak, was established in a building
at 280 Central Avenue. Mr. Rauber died in 1901, and the name
of the firm was then changed to the Wollensak Optical
Company. The following year Wollensak commenced the
production of lenses as well as shutters. The famous 'Optimo'
shutter was designed by Andrew Wollensak in 1909, and was
sold extensively until 1930. The company purchased the
Rochester Lens Company in 1905, thereby obtaining the right
to manufacture the 'Royal' anastigmat line developed by that
company.
Andrew Wollensak senior, president of the company since its
foundation, died in January 1936, his brother John having
died three years earlier. John left five children, of whom
Andrew A. and Frank J. remained active in the business for
many years, and I knew them both. In 1913 the company moved
to 1415 Clinton Avenue North at Norton Street, and in 1924 to
872 Hudson Avenue. In 1938 a larger and more desirable
building a few yards to the south, at 850 Hudson Avenue, fell
vacant (it had been a clothing factory), and Wollensak moved
into it. Unfortunately, during the past 15 years, after
several changes of ownership, including Revere and 3M, the
company gradually went downhill and in 1972 finally closed
its doors.
Wollensak was one of Rochester's finest companies, and at
their height in 1958 they had over 1200 employees. Their
lenses, shutters, and other products were considered to be
excellent, and during the war they made a wide variety of
optical equipment for the armed forces. It is too bad that
they could not manage to survive.
Ilex
The next offshoot from Bausch and Lomb was Ilex. In 1910 two
Bausch and Lomb shutter designers named Rudolph Klein and
Theodor Brueck (the latter had designed the "Volute" shutter
in 1902) invented the revolutionary and extremely important
shutter delay mechanism involving a rotating gear and a
rocking pallet (U.S. Pat. 1,092,110). This device for the
first time enabled a shutter to be made which would be
accurate independently of temperature and other atmospheric
conditions.
Klein and Brueck decided to leave Bausch and Lomb and set up
their own business, which was called the "XL Manufacturing
Company", to manufacture the new shutter. They were aided
financially by a wholesale jeweler named Morris Rosenbloom,
and they set up their first factory on his premises at 156
Main Street East. However, they soon discovered that C. P.
Goerz was also making a line of so-called "X excel L"
shutters, so to avoid confusion they twisted the letters
around and renamed their shutter the "Ilex," and in 1911 the
firm was called the Ilex Manufacturing Company. Very soon
after, Friedrich Deckel of Munich sought permission to use
their delay mechanism on a royalty basis in the famous line
of "Compur" shutters, which proved to be a considerable
financial help to Ilex.
From 1912 to 1916 the company, now called the Ilex Optical
Company, occupied space in the Gundlach building at 761 South
Clinton Avenue; in 1917 they moved to 724 Portland Avenue,
and eventually in 1930 to 690 Portland, where they are today.
In 1921 they tried the experiment of setting up a separate
lens factory at 814 St. Paul Street called the "Acme Optical
Company," but it lasted only a couple of years.
One of the major contributions of the Ilex company was the
invention of a self-contained internal flash synchronization
mechanism during World War II. This was designed by Alfred
Schwartz, and the idea has, of course, been incorporated in
all shutters by all manufacturers since that time.
Ilex has suffered many ups and downs in prosperity over the
years. The first president, Morris Rosenbloom, died in 1935
and was succeeded by his son Rufus as president and E. C.
Roland as vice-president. Roland died in 1942, and after the
war the company's fortunes sank to a low ebb. Finally, in
1963, their remaining assets were acquired by two young
Elgeet employees, Eugene Miller and Manuel Kiner, and today
the company is thriving with over 200 employees, and having
to increase its factory space to keep up with the demand for
its products.
Elgeet
Talking of Ilex reminds me of Elgeet. The Elgeet Optical
Company was founded by three young men who had been boyhood
friends: Mortimer A. London, then a lens inspector at Kodak,
with David L. Goldstein and Peter Terbuska of Ilex. (The
firm's name is an acronym of L, G. and T). In 1946 they began
by leasing some machine tools to make lens-polishing
machinery, and with this they set up shop in an Atlantic
Avenue loft, where they did all their own lens manufacture,
packaging, and selling.
By 1952 the firm had grown sufficiently to enable them to
purchase a former clothing plant at 838 Smith Street. At that
time Goldstein was president, Terbuska was secretary, and
London treasurer. The company prospered and with nearly 300
employees they manufactured thousands of lenses for small
movie cameras and many other applications.
London left in 1960, and in 1962 the firm acquired ownership
of the ancient establishment of Steinheil in Munich, but they
soon sold this, I believe to Lear Siegler. In 1964 there were
difficulties at stock-holder's meetings, and the firm was
reorganized with Alfred Watson as president. Two years later
the assets of the company were acquired by MATI (Management
and Technology Inc.), who acquired Turner Bellows at the same
time. MATI survived only until 1969, when they disappeared.
Goldstein purchased the remaining assets of the former
Gundlach Manufacturing Company in Fairport and reorganized it
under the name "Dynamic Optics Incorporated," but this also
ceased operations in 1972.
The Rochester Optical Company
So much for Bausch and Lomb and their daughter companies. We
will now turn our attention to the camera business initiated
by William H. Walker, who came to Rochester in 1880 and set
up as "Wm. H. Walker and Company", at 79 Exchange Street. (He
must not be confused with James T. Walker Of Palmyra, who
made the Takiv camera ten years later). In 1882 Walker joined
with W. H. Reid and J. Inglis to make dry plates, a business
continued by Inglis for several years. In 1883 Walker gave up
making cameras, and the "Rochester Optical Company" was
established by W. F. Carlton to take over his assets.
Meanwhile, in January 1884 Walker joined Eastman to make the
Eastman-Walker Roll Holder, and the following year he became
secretary to the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company. Shortly
after this he was sent to England as Eastman's representative
in that country.
The new Rochester Optical Company was located at 9 and then
11 Aqueduct Street, near the four corners in Rochester, and
at first they continued to make some of Walker's cameras.
They soon added new models of their own, their most
successful innovation being the "Premo" line, introduced in
1893 and continued for almost 30 years. In 1890 the plant was
moved to 5 South Water Street, and early in 1895 to its final
home at 45 South Street, the building being still in
existence.
In 1891, H. B. Carlton, brother of W. F., decided to set up a
rival company in the old building at 13 Aqueduct Street,
which he called the "Rochester Camera Manufacturing Company,"
making Poco cameras. This became the Rochester Camera Company
in 1895, at that time located at 29 Elizabeth Street, and
finally in 1897 the Rochester Camera and Supply Company.
In 1899 five camera companies decided to join forces to form
the "Rochester Optical and Camera Company." They were: the
Rochester Optical Company, the Rochester Camera and Supply
Company, the Ray Camera Company, the Monroe Camera Company,
and the Western Camera Manufacturing Company of Chicago. The
new combined company occupied the R.O.C. building at 45 South
Street. In spite of this union, their products retained their
old names of Poco, Premo, Ray, and Cyclone, The officers of
the new company were W. F. Carlton, manager, with H. B.
Carlton, B. E. Chase, and F. P. Allen. Unfortunately the new
combined company was not a success and lost as much as
$100,000 a year, so in 1903 their entire assets were acquired
by George Eastman for $330,000, and their name was changed
back to the Rochester Optical Company. In 1907 it became the
Rochester Optical Division of the Eastman Kodak Company, and
in 1918 the Rochester Optical Department. The factory at 45
South Street became Kodak's Premo Works from 1912 to 1921,
after which the name was finally abandoned and the building
sold.
The Ray Camera Company
In describing the formation of the Rochester Optical and
Camera Company, I mentioned two small companies that were
included, namely, the Ray and the Monroe. The Ray company was
founded by two men named Mutschler and Robertson. In 1893
Albert Mutschler was a toolmaker and John A. Robertson a
foreman at the Photo Materials Company on St. Paul Street.
The following year they decided to organize a machinist and
model-making establishment at 177 West Main, and in 1895 they
commenced the manufacture of "Ray" cameras at that address.
This was apparently successful, and in 1898 they moved to 204
Commercial Street and renamed the company the "Ray Camera
Company." With the amalgamation of the five companies in
1899, the two partners became superintendents, but Mutschler
left in 1903 to become once more a machinist. Robertson
stayed on with the new Rochester Optical Company and in 1904
was elected vice-president in charge of manufacturing
operations.
The Monroe Camera Company
The Monroe Camera Company, named after Monroe County, was
incorporated in 1897 with a capital of $25,000, the president
being Fred A. Sherwood, the vice-president Albert Beir, and
the secretary-treasurer Charles V. Case. Sherwood was a
leather dealer at 108 Mill Street; Beir had been a camera
manufacturer at 21 North Water Street for about a year
previously; and Charles Case was a bookkeeper. His son
Charles Z. Case became an Eastman employee and was
responsible for the "Bantam" film development in the 1930's.
The Monroe Camera Company occupied a building at 48 Stone
Street, but it lasted only three years before being absorbed
in the Rochester Optical and Camera amalgamation.
Eastman Kodak Company
The third part of my story is that dealing with George
Eastman and the Kodak Company. This story has been so well
documented that it is probably known to you all, but
nevertheless it may be worth summarizing the principal facts
briefly In 1878 George Eastman was a young 24-year-old
assistant bookkeeper at the Rochester Savings Bank at Main
and Fitzhugh Streets. He lived with his widowed mother at 49
Jones Avenue. Having been urged by a friend to take up
photography, he purchased a wet-plate outfit and took lessons
from a photographer named George H. Monroe living in Main
Street. However, gelatin dry plates were just coming into use
at that time in England, and Eastman determined to use them
even though it meant that he had to make his own. In 1879 he
took a trip to London, where he obtained some further recipes
and incidentally patented a plate-coating machine of his own
invention. His plates were so satisfactory that in 1880 he
rented a loft on the third floor of a building at 101 State
Street, where he began to make dry plates for sale. His
principal outlet was E. and H. T. Anthony in New York, who
agreed to take all the plates he could make. During this time
he continued his employment at the bank, doing all his
photographic work in the evenings. Incidentally, Eastman's
former teacher George H. Monroe, in an 1880 advertisement,
claimed that he used dry plates in all his photographic work.
In 1882 Monroe also started to make dry plates for sale, at
282 State Street, and continued this business until he left
the city in 1888 and moved to Jamestown. The building was
then occupied by Frank Brownell until 1892.
To return to George Eastman, he soon found that he needed
money for expansion, so on January 1, 1881, he formed a
partnership with Henry A. Strong, a buggy-whip manufacturer
and a family friend. This was known as the Eastman Dry Plate
Company, with Strong as president and Eastman treasurer. They
soon had six employees, and were so actively engaged in the
plate-making business that Eastman at last decided to leave
the bank and devote all his time to photography. The plant
was moved to its present location at 343 State Street in
1883. The toll building on that site was erected in 1914, and
the top three floors added in 1930.
In 1884 Eastman began making a flexible film on a translucent
oiled paper base for use in the Eastman-Walker Roll Holder,
and the company was incorporated as the "Eastman Dry Plate
and Film Company", with a capitalization of $200,000. There
were 14 shareholders. In the following year, a stripping film
on a paper base was introduced. After processing, this was
soaked off and transferred to a temporary glass support, and
a sheet of clear gelatin was then soaked and squeegeed
against the delicate negative, and after drying it was peeled
off the glass for printing. Finally, in 1889, a transparent
film on a cellulose nitrate base was produced and patented by
Eastman and his chemist Henry H. Reichenbach. This completely
supplanted the earlier stripping film, and was adopted by
Edison for his early motion picture experiments. I have not
time to go into the fantastic Goodwin patent suit on the
invention of transparent film, which is fully described in
Taft's book "Photography and the American Scene." The suit
ran for 27 years in the courts and in the Patent Office, and
it was finally settled in favor of Goodwin. In 1889 a new
corporation was organized, capitalized at one million
dollars, called simply "The Eastman Company."
Of major interest to this group, the first "Kodak" camera was
announced in June 1888. The wooden body was made here by a
Rochester cabinet maker named Frank Brownell, and the metal
parts by Yawman and Erbe. The lens was probably made by
Bausch and Lomb. Based on the success of this camera, the
name of the company was changed once more, in 1892, to "The
Eastman Kodak Company" of New York, with a capital of 5
million dollars; and in 1901 it was reorganized for the last
time as "The Eastman Kodak Company of New Jersey," with a
capital of 25,000,000 dollars. Eastman set up the Camera
Works under Brownell's direction at 333 State Street in 1892.
It was moved out to Elmgrove Road in 1968.
Eastman's success over his many competitors was mainly due to
massive advertising and an excellent sales organization with
world-wide affiliations, to which must be added his uncanny
knack of hiring the right people, and anticipating what would
best please the public.
Eastman acquired a few other camera companies, including in
1898 the Blair Camera Company of Boston, the American Camera
Manufacturing Company of Northboro, Massachusetts, and the
Photo Materials Company of Rochester. He moved all three
companies, with some other smaller outfits, into the PMC
building in St. Paul Street, near Driving Park Bridge. In
1911 the building was named "Hawk-Eye Works" after a line of
cameras made there by Blair. The Kodak lens department was
moved there from Camera Works in 1913 which has since filled
the whole building plus several additions. The building is
still in use at 1447 St. Paul Street; it was vastly expanded
during World War II.
In 1903 Eastman purchased the Rochester Optical and Camera
Company, renaming it the "Rochester Optical Company", where
Premo cameras continued to be made until 1922 when that name
was abandoned. In 1905 he acquired Folmer and Schwing, as we
shall see. Eastman died in 1932 at the age of 78. Soon after
we came to Rochester, in 1929, we were fortunate enough to be
invited to one of Mr. Eastman's Sunday afternoon musicales,
probably because of our connection with the new Institute of
Applied Optics at the University. He appeared only briefly at
the end of the evening. I saw him again shortly before his
death while he was on a visit to the University.
The Photo Materials Company
Of the various companies taken over by Eastman I should like
to discuss three, namely, the Photo Materials Company (PMC);
Folmer and Schwing; and the Century Camera Company. The Photo
Materials Company was incorporated in 1892 by Henry M.
Reichenbach, a chemist who had been working with Eastman for
several years on the development of cellulose nitrate film;
Gustave D. Milburn, a camera maker; and S. Carl Passavant,
another chemist.
Milburn had opened his camera factory at 11 Aqueduct Street
when the Rochester Optical Company moved out, and in 1891 the
rival Rochester Camera Company also found space in the same
building. Milburn gave up his business in 1892 to help found
PMC, and he served as salesman there for a couple of years.
However, in 1894 when PMC gave up making their Trokon and
Trokonet cameras, Milburn left and started his second camera
company at the foot of Platt Street. Here he developed the
line Of "Korona" cameras, and in 1895 changed the name of his
firm to the Milburn Korona Company. This company was acquired
by Gundlach in 1896 and Milburn either died or left the city.
Photo Materials Company manufactured a variety of sensitized
photographic materials including "PMC Bromide Paper" and
"Azo" paper, both of which were retained by Eastman after he
acquired PMC in 1898. The company was finally merged with
Eastman in 1902.
Reichanbach, Morey and Will
Although Henry Reichenbach was a chemist, he evidently had a
great interest in cameras, for in 1896 he left PMC and joined
with John E. Morey, of the Rochester Cut Sole company, and
Albert Will, manufacturer of stoves and ranges, to found a
company to make "Alta" cameras; this was located in a
building at 323 University Avenue. Reichenbach was president,
Morey treasurer, and Will secretary of the new enterprise. I
must explain that at that time University Avenue went along
what is now Atlantic Avenue, the eastern end of the present
University Avenue being a cul-de-sac with trees down the
middle, called Culver Park. In 1897 Culver Park was cut
through to join Culver Road, and the whole street was then
called University Avenue, as it is today. The old road was
renamed Atlantic Avenue but it was not renumbered, so that
323 University Avenue became 323 Atlantic Avenue. Two years
later, in 1899, much of the city was renumbered, and Atlantic
Avenue was numbered from the junction, so the Reichenbach
Morey and Will building became 59 Atlantic. It was all one
building with numbers 61 and 65, and indeed the three numbers
seem to have been used somewhat interchangeably.
Vogt Optical Company
In 1891 a man named Louis J. Vogt, who had operated the Vogt
and Klippert machine shop and model-making establishment at
151 State Street, left to become an optician at Bausch and
Lomb. He later joined Reichenbach, Morey and Will as a
foreman. Apparently there was dissension within the company,
because in 1899 he and Mr. Morey decided to start a separate
company called the Vogt Optical Company at 146 North Water
Street. The following year (1900), Reichenbach, Morey and
Will was disbanded and the Vogt Company moved into their
building, along with the Rochester Lens Company and the
Century Camera Company. The Vogt Company survived only one
more year, but the Rochester Lens Company lasted until 1905
when it was acquired by Wollensak, and Century in 1903 moved
to 12 Caledonia Avenue (now 154 Clarissa Street). The
building at 65 Atlantic Avenue was apparently occupied by
other firms until 1909 when the Crown Optical Company moved
in and occupied it until 1912. The building is still standing
but terribly run down.
Century
The Century Camera Company was founded in 1900 by three
former employees of the Rochester Optical Company, namely, J.
M. Walmsley, president, G. E. Mosher, and G. J. MacLaughlin.
They first occupied space at 65 Atlantic Avenue along with
Vogt and the Rochester Lens Company. In 1903 their stock was
acquired by George Eastman and the company was moved to 12
Caledonia Avenue. In 1905 the Century Company took over the
Rochester Panoramic Camera Company, maker of the Cirkut
camera, which had been patented in 1904 by Johnston, Reavill,
and Brehm. In 1907 they became the Century Division of
Eastman Kodak. They were merged into Folmer Graflex, but the
name "Century" continued to exist until 1920.
Graflex
In 1887 William F. Folmer and William E. Schwing entered into
partnership to establish a bicycle company in New York City.
The company was incorporated in April 1890 as the "Folmer and
Schwing Manufacturing Company." Because of the general
association of bicycles and cameras at that time, the company
gradually added cameras to their line, probably made first by
Scovill and Adams. Their 1896 catalog shows a "4 x 5 Cycle
Graphic camera" on the back page; this sold for $25 with a
Victor shutter and Rapid Rectilinear lens. They also listed
regular "Graphic" cameras in three sizes up to 6 1/2 x 8 1/2
inches, costing $50.
Mr. Folmer was an inventor, and in 1898 he built the first
Graflex camera. This had a complicated focal-plane shutter
with a variable aperture, but it gave so much trouble that in
1904 he changed it to a simple cloth curtain with a series of
apertures of different widths, leaving the user to select the
one required for any given exposure. This arrangement proved
to be highly reliable, and it was manufactured for over 60
years.
In April 1905 the Folder and Schwing Manufacturing Company
was purchased by George Eastman and brought to Rochester,
where it was installed in the building at 12-14 Caledonia
Avenue. This building had been previously occupied by the
Rochester Camera Company, in 1898, and by the Century Camera
Company since 1903. In 1907 the company became the Folmer and
Schwing Division of Eastman Kodak Company, and in 1917 the
Folmer-Century Division. Mr. W. F. Folmer continued as
general manager until 1926.
In 1926, as a result of a court order, the Folmer-Century
Division of Eastman Kodak Company was offered for sale, but
no buyers appeared. So finally the Folmer Graflex Corporation
was organized to take over the assets of the Division. Mr.
Nelson Whitaker became president and general manager in 1928,
and his son Gaylord C. Whitaker succeeded him in 1949. The
company became known as "Graflex Inc." in 1945.
Business was bad during the depression of the 1930's, and the
payroll dropped to less than 100 employees. However, things
gradually improved and we learn that by 1957 there were 760
employees. The best known product of the company was for a
long time the "Speed Graphic", a solid reliable camera that
was the work-horse of the press photographer; indeed, it
almost became his badge of office. Numerous other models
have, of course, been made over the years.
In August 1956 Graflex became a division of General Precision
Equipment Corporation, and in July 1957 the plant was moved
out to 3750 Monroe Avenue, near Pittsford. The company became
the Graflex Division of the Singer Corporation in 1966, and
it is now known as "Singer Education Systems", engaged in
making audio-visual equipment.
Sunart and Seneca
Besides the three main divisions of photo history that have
been discussed, there have been a number of other companies,
not all small, that have had no connection with the larger
companies. Chief among these is the Sunart Photo Company that
became Seneca.
The Sunart Photo Company was founded in 1893 at 1 Aqueduct
Street, and it continued in that location until 1899. They
made a novel magazine camera, but it was not particularly
successful, and in 1899 its assets were acquired by a
vigorous group of men who were establishing the Seneca Camera
Company at 248 Mill Street. The new company was incorporated
in 1900 with a capital of $25,000. The first officers were
Frank T. Day, a superintendent at Kodak Camera Works,
president; William C. Whitlock, vice-president; and Lorin E.
Mason, a hardware merchant at 348 State Street, secretary and
treasurer. The new company quickly became established as one
of the most successful camera manufacturers in the country.
In 1900 Seneca moved to 160 Court Street, and in 1903 to the
Gundlach building at 761 South Clinton. In 1910 they moved
again to the Woodworth building at 299 State Street, and in
1917 to Central Avenue where they occupied several locations.
In 1924 the company was sold to Conley, then a wholly owned
subsidiary of Sears Roebuck, and Seneca disappeared from the
city in 1926.
In late 1901 or early 1902, Seneca absorbed the Bullard
Camera Company of Springfield, Massachusetts, when Edgar R.
Bullard, the founder, returned to his original home at
Wheeling, West Virginia. The 1902 Seneca catalog carries
these words: "Successor to Sunart Photo Co. and Bullard
Camera Co."
As a personal note, my father in London used a 4 x 5 Bullard
magazine camera for many years. It was equipped with a Koilos
shutter and a Voigtlander Collinear lens, which must have
been added later as that particular shutter was first made
about 1906. My own first camera was a 4 x 5 folding Seneca
with a Wollensak "Uno" shutter. I acquired it in exchange for
a set of box tops of the cereal called "Force" about 1912,
and I used it regularly until one day I could not resist
taking the shutter to pieces, and in the process a wire
spring flew out and I never found it again. The shutter was
useless without it, and so also was the camera. I still have
a number of glass negatives made with that early Seneca.
The Crown Optical Company
This company was founded in 1906 by A. H. Hatmaker,
president, and A. E. May secretary-treasurer, to manufacture
lenses. They first occupied a building at 484 Clinton Avenue
South, and moved to 65 Atlantic Avenue in 1909, to 299 State
Street in 1912, and finally to 203 State Street in 1917. They
disappeared in 1919 at the close of World War I.
Projection Optics
One of the few Rochester companies that has apparently
existed by itself and free from any alliances or encumbrances
is the Projection Optics Company. It was founded in 1918 by
William H. Repp, at 203 State Street, and in 1930 it was
moved to its present address at 330 Lyell Avenue. Its
principal product is a line of projection lenses for
professional motion picture projectors. The company was
acquired in the 1960's by Beseler of New York, but it remains
a largely autonomous organization to this day, after being in
existence for 56 years.
Gassner and Marx
Probably the least known of the Rochester camera companies
was Gassner and Marx. The founders were Benjamin Marx,
president; James Rothschild, vice-president; and Henry
Gassner, secretary-treasurer. The company occupied rooms in
the Cox building at 36 St. Paul Street in 1898, and it was
incorporated in that year. They manufactured the "Day Plate
Camera", a box camera containing a special magazine in which
a folded strip of black paper carried a series of separated 3
x 4 -inch glass plates (Pat. Sept. 6, 1898), permitting
daylight loading. The arrangement was described in Scientific
American for October 8, 1898. The company and all its
officers left the city during the following year (1899).
Movette
The Movette was an unusual negative-positive motion picture
system using a special 17 1/2 millimeter film, with two
perforations to a frame on each side. The frame size was 11 x
14 mm, and a special Kodak film was supplied in cassettes
holding 50 feet which ran for two minutes. The hand-cranked
camera retailed for $30 and the projector for $55, a packet
of film costing $1.50 with another $1.50 for a positive
print. The inventor of the system was a Mr. Frank L. Hough of
Chicago.
The Movette Camera Company was organized in Rochester in
1916, and was first located at 1155 University Avenue. In
November 1917 it was incorporated as Movette Inc., with a
capital stock of $1,250,000, and the plant was moved to 545
West Avenue. In 1920 they moved again to 295 State Street,
the building later occupied by the Photostat Corporation. The
chairman was then Homer Strong, the secretary W. F. Strang,
and the president was Howard Strong, secretary to the
Rochester Chamber of Commerce. In 1921 Howard Strong moved to
New York, and Homer Strong took over the presidency. In 1922
the company moved to 101 North Water Street, and by 1927 it
had disappeared.
In spite of everything, the Movette had little appeal to the
public. Possibly the need for a separate positive print may
have been one reason. Certainly the Kodak 16mm reversal
system announced in June 1923 proved to be infinitely more
successful and quickly replaced all other systems.
Photostat and Rectigraph
These early types of document copying cameras using
sensitized paper in a large camera, with a prism in front of
the lens to reverse the image, must be included in my story
although they have now practically disappeared.
The Rectigraph company was founded in Rochester in 1909, and
after occupying a few places was moved to its final location
at 282 Hollenbeck Street in 1921. In 1937 it became the
Rectigraph Division of Haloid; in 1958 of Haloid-Xerox; and
in 1961 the company was merged into the Xerox Corporation.
Obviously, with electrostatic copying working so well the old
type of photocopier using wet processing quickly became
obsolete.
The Photostat Corporation was incorporated in Rhode Island in
1911, and the company set up an office and factory at 299
State Street, Rochester, in 1921. In 1956 they moved out of
town, to 1001 Jefferson Road in Henrietta, and in 1963 it was
absorbed by Itek and is now known as "Itek Business
Products." Undoubtedly the old familiar type of Photostat
machine has disappeared forever.
Present day optics companies in Rochester
Besides Kodak, Bausch and Lomb, Ilex, and Projection Optics,
there are Tropel of Fairport, making very high quality lenses
(now owned by Coherent Optics of California); Anson
Instrument Company and Anstron Optical Company in the former
Wollensak building on Hudson Avenue; Planar Optics making
prisms of all types; Stefan Sydor Optics; Dorn Optics in
Webster; Fresnel Optics on Mount Read Boulevard making high
precision molds for Fresnel Lenses; JML Optical Industries
(was Precision Optics); and several smaller companies. The
optical center of America is no longer in Rochester, but
spread between Boston and Los Angeles.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Rudolf Kingslake, the author of numerous books on lens and
optical design, has spent his lifetime designing and teaching
about lenses and optics. Born in London, England, he moved to
the United States in 1929 to help establish The Institute of
Optics at the University of Rochester. In 1937 he became head
of the lens design department at Eastman Kodak. He returned
to the University of Rochester upon retiring from Kodak.
In his honor, the annual Rudolf Kingslake Medal and Prize is
presented by The International Society for Optical
Engineering (SPIE) in recognition of the most noteworthy
original paper to appear in Optical Engineering, the SPIE
journal on theoretical or experimental aspects of optical
engineering.
In addition, Mr. Kingslake is an honorary member of the
Optics Society of America (OSA), an honor that can only be
bestowed once per year, and the number of honorary members
cannot exceed 1/1000 of the total OSA membership.
Mr. Kingslake is also a lifetime fellow of the Society of
Motion Picture & Television Engineers (SMPTE).