Folmer & Schwing Div., E.K.C.,  Rochester, NY

Commercial View

c.1915
1923
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Date Introduced: - ; Years Manufactured:  c. 1915-at least 1928
Construction: front and rear focus via rack and pinion (two gear tracks on sides of base rails);  reversing by removable back; three-piece lensboard
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base; black fabric bellows; brass hardware
Sizes Offered: 8x10, 11x14
Notes: a substantial camera.  It is essentially a studio camera of the era which happens to have a folding base.  A bellows prop is present to support the long-draw (42") bellows.  It is prettier from afar than close up.  The finish appears to be a one-coat orange varnish-stain, the brass is not highly polished or lacquered and the wood is not smoothly finished, and the 1923 catalog states that the brass has a matte finish - it is clearly a utilitarian model.   Earlier cameras had all brass thumbscrews, while later cameras had wooden knobs for the rack and pinion focusing.  The base connector screws were knurled in the earlier cameras, and wing-nut-like in the later cameras, and the brass was polished in the earlier camera and matte on the later.  The model had been discontinued by the 1929 catalog. 
The above example above was apparently never used, still having its original un-cut lensboard. 
References:
Eastman Professional Photographic Apparatus, 1915
Professional Photographic Apparatus and Materials Catalogue No. 30, Robey-French Co. (Boston, MA), c. 1915, p. 51
Eastman Professional Photographic Apparatus, 1917
Photographic Apparatus and Supplies, Hirsch & Kaiser (San Francisco, CA), c. 1918, p. 31
Eastman Professional Photographic Apparatus, 1920
Eastman Professional Catalog 1923, Eastman Kodak Co. (Rochester, NY), p. 29 
Eastman Professional Photographic Apparatus 1927, Eastman Kodak Co. (Rochester, NY), p. 22
Eastman Professional Photographic Apparatus 1928, Eastman Kodak Co. (Rochester, NY), p. 15
Eastman Professional Photographic Apparatus 1929, Eastman Kodak Co. (Rochester, NY), p. 15
No. 29 Illustrated Catalogue of Photographic Outfits and Supplies, Eastman Kodak Stores, Inc. (St. Louis, MO), May 1, 1929, p. 3
Professional Cameras and Sundries, Folmer Graflex Corporation (Rochester, NY), c. 1935, p. 19
 

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