Scovill Mfg. Co.
Waterbury Camera, Variation 2
Date Introduced: 1885 ; Years
Manufactured: Variation 2: 1886-1898
Construction: back focus via
push-pull; single swing via side thumbscrew; reversing by two tripod
mounts
Materials: mahogany body; cherry base; black fabric bellows;
brass hardware
Sizes Offered: 4x5; 4.5x5.5; 4.25x6.5; 5x7 (starting in
1886); 5x8; 6.5x8.5 (photos above);
Notes: One of the most common Scovill cameras. Variation 1 had different swing hardware. The "Waterburys
Three" photo features the 4x5, 5x8 and 6.5x8.5 versions. Waterburys have a
distinctive golden yellow finish, which is achieved by simply varnishing (not staining)
the mahogany. It is not oak, as many suppose; it really
is mahogany, as stated in the catalogs, but perhaps a species not as dense and
red as that used for American Optical camera (the term mahogany refers to
any one of dozens of tropical trees having red wood). Smaller
sizes have one 1885 patent rod and sleeve device on the right hand side for
making the bed rigid, but the 8x10 has the device on both sides. American
Optical cameras usually have two such devices as well, for all sizes.
References:
Scovill's Dry Plate Making for Amateurs, 1886, p. 10
Scovill's Photographic Series:
The Photographic Instructor, 1888, p.
xiv
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, C.H. Codman & Co.
(Boston, MA), April 1887, p. 32
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List,
C.H. Codman & Co. (Boston, MA), September 1888, p.
20
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, Scovill & Adams Co.
Catalog, January 1889, p. 19
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1890, p. 69
Photographic Material,
Catalogue O & P, James W. Queen & Co. (Philadelphia, PA),
1891, p. 39
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, Scovill & Adams Co.
Catalog, January 1892, p. 9
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1893, p. 144
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, Scovill & Adams Co.
Catalog, 1896, p. 28
American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1897, p. lxxiv
("New Waterbury")
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