THE EMPIRE
CAMERA NO. 1
The Scovill
& Adams Company of New York
1895 - 1896
Scovill's
"Empire" Camera No. 1, priced at $5.00, was the
least expensive hand or detective camera in Scovill & Adams' line-up. It most
likely replaced Frank McLaughlin's New England Rattler which was probably their
least expensive hand camera from 1892-1894. Unlike most other Scovill hand
cameras, catalogue ads for the Empire describe little about the camera or its
capabilities. The Empire Camera No. 1 has been seen in at least three versions,
all of which are featured here.
Introduced in 1895, the Empire was mentioned in The American Amateur Photographer
for April of that year. During the
regular meeting of the Society of Amateur Photographers of New York on March
12th, Mr. F.C. Beach exhibited the Empire and described its merits. The text
included the same engraving that appears in Scovill & Adams' How to Make Photographs for 1896.
The Empire was of simple construction having a sliding
box-within-a-box design to accomplish focusing. The camera utilized a
string-set, Tisdell-like shutter mounted to the inside of the sliding front
panel. This version's shutter release button, located at the 10 o'clock
position to the lens opening, is so small that it's barely noticeable. The
simple meniscus lens is equipped with a single threaded aperture cap. The Empire No. 1 was finished in varnished
wood, with the No. 2 being leather-covered at a price of $7.50. Available in 4x5 only with a single
viewfinder, the camera was designed with a non-removable spring-loaded focusing
screen. Other than the plate holder in
use, the camera lacks sufficient space to store additional holders. A non-capping circular hole at the rear
facilitated viewing and focusing the image.
The camera's dimensions are 9-1/8" deep,
8" wide and 6-1/2" tall.
The focusing mechanism on this first version differs from the style shown in the engraving from
Scovill & Adams' How to Make
Photographs for 1896. A
side-mounted sliding metal tab attached to the interior carriage, permitted the
photographer to achieve focus. The tab which is recessed and L-shaped at the
back end, limits the travel of the carriage. Adjacent to the tab are stampings
in the wood marked "10, 25, 100", versus a slotted lever and scale
that is also marked "10,25,100", as shown in the 1896 catalogue. Engravings from this period don't always
depict the actual product, but many times they are spot on. Sometimes, design changes occurred during
production and engravings weren't updated. Based upon the relative difficulty
in using this inset focusing tab and its more primitive design, this style may
have appeared first, ultimately being replaced with a much easier to use
sliding lever or even better, a fine focus knob.
A second version
of the Empire No. 1 shown below is distinguished by its center-positioned
viewfinder (versus the corner viewfinder on the first version), a revised lens
mount which may have held a different style lens, a hinged rear panel (versus
the fixed rear panel on the first version) and its slightly larger physical
dimensions:
Otherwise, this second version is essentially identical
to the first version, exhibiting the same hardware and side-mounted focusing
tab. This example is stamped with the
number "20" in several places, suggesting this to be an assembly
number rather than a serial number. The first version at top exhibits the same
scheme, having the number "72". The viewfinder is positioned at the
center, and the two-piece lens mount has a raised design with a routed-edge
base. Unless a retaining ring was used that simply screwed on from the rear to
secure the lens (which I have never seen on American detective cameras of this
era), the mount appears original to the camera as no other screw holes were
found when the mount was removed:
The rear panel is hinged on this example, permitting the photographer
to use either the circular viewing port, or to view the focusing screen in its
entirety:
The presence of nail holes on the rear panel strongly indicates
this hinged-back may not have been a factory modification: 
Having a hinged back panel, the interior plate carriage
is easily removed, better illustrating the camera's sliding-box design:
This second version's dimensions at 6-1/2" in height, 7-7/8" wide and 10-1/4" in
depth, is 1-1/8" deeper than the first version's at 9-1/8", now
permitting the storage of one additional plate holder:
First version Second
version
Plate holder
stamped "The Scovill & Adams Co. N.Y."
The modifications on this second version (most being factory,
one probably non-factory) all represent improvements, suggesting that its
manufacture followed the first version shown at top of this page.
My
Thanks to Antony D. Manthos
for sharing a rare and previously unknown version of Scovill's
"Empire" Camera, The Dalmeyer
from his collection, as well as for the images he provided below. The camera's ivoroid nametag reads "The
Dalmeyer, Manufactured Expressly for Henry C. Squires & Son, 20 Cortlandt
St., N.Y.":
Source: Antony D. Manthos
Henry C. Squires & Son was a furniture and department
store, that appears to have private-branded the camera under the Dalmeyer name.
The camera's name closely parallels that of the well known lens maker, John
Henry Dallmeyer, having only one "l".
One of the most significant differences compared with
Scovill's "Empire", is the Dalmeyer's ebonized finish. Scovill's "Empire" is only known to
have been offered in an Antique Oak stain ("Empire" Camera, No. 1) or
with leather covering ("Empire" Camera, No. 2). Two other differences are the focusing scale
located at the top back on the Dalmeyer versus the sliding tab on the Empire's
side (which duals as the focus adjustment) and the screw knob at the Dalmeyer's
base at the rear.
Advertisements for the Empire no longer appear in
Scovill's publications beyond 1896, and production is believed to have lasted
for less than two years.
Being an "economy" model, one would think the
Empire would have outsold Scovill's more expensive detective cameras like the
Antique Oak ($10), Triad ($25) or the Waterbury ($25). But like some other inexpensive cameras of
the period, prospective buyers probably opted for a camera with more features.
With less demand, fewer Empires were made.
The Empire may also have been Scovill & Adams' last attempt, at
offering a detective camera to compete in price with the other more compact and
lighter-weight cameras that were becoming the trend. By 1897, Scovill & Adams' only remaining
detective cameras were the Waterbury Detective (also referred to as the
Waterbury Regular), the Waterbury Triad (as the Triad was now called) and the
New Waterbury (formerly the Waterbury Hand Camera). They all disappeared from
the marketplace that year.
These two versions of the standard Empire No. 1 and this third version being the Dalmeyer are the only ones I've ever encountered, although a reference was
found alluding to the existence of at least one other Empire No.
1. Little advertising coupled with limited production and a very
short life span has made the camera rather obscure. Most collectors are unaware
of the Empire's existence, and among Scovill's hand and detective
cameras, it easily ranks among the hardest to locate. All versions of the
Empire can be considered very rare.