THE WILART INSTITUTE STANDARD

Wilart Cinema Industries, New Rochelle, New York 1924 - 1927

The Wilart Institute Standard is a 200-foot capacity 35mm newsreel camera that was manufactured by Wilart Cinema Industries. The Wilart Instrument Company of New Rochelle, New York, became Wilart Cinema Industries, as reflected in a public notice of name changes published in The New York Times, June 10, 1922.

Believed introduced in 1924 and manufactured into 1927 at least, the camera was built for the New York Institute of Photography to be used for cinematic instruction. It's under the "Institute Standard" name, that it's best known for today.

The Institute Standard's design evolved from another Wilart camera, believed to have originated about 1917 or 1918. As indicated in a summary of motion picture film formats outlined in A Technological History of Motion Pictures and Television, edited by Raymond Fielding, 1967, listed is a 17.5mm camera called "The Actograph" manufactured by Wilart Instrument Company in 1918.

Patent No.'s D60, 158 dated January 3, 1922 and No. 1,512,477 dated October 21, 1924 were both granted to Erik W. Nelson, an engineer working for Wilart. The wording in Patent No. 1,512,477 stated that "The object of this invention is to produce a small, compact and simple motion picture camera adapted for the use of a half-width film", which was how 17.5mm film was referenced at the time and for which the Actograph Camera was sized for. This last patent's October 21, 1924 date, suggests that the Actograph (1918), the Wilart News Camera (1923) and the Institute Standard (1924), were all being manufactured prior to securing all the patents that covered their designs:

Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

The Actograph camera appears alongside Wilart's professional camera in The Cinema Handbook by Austin C. Lescarboura, 1921:

From The Cinema Handbook by Austin C. Lescarboura, 1921 Source: Internet Archive

According to Home Movies, A History of the American Industry, 1897-1979 by Alan Kattelle, 2000, the 17.5mm Actograph was introduced circa 1917 and "the same design was later enlarged to a 35mm version with 200-ft capacity, known as the "Wilart News Camera". Still later, a simplified version was marketed by the New York Institute of Photography and was known as the "Institute Standard." This statement rings true, in that the Institute Standard 35mm featured here measures approximately 14-1/2" in overall length, as compared to the approximate 10" length of the 17.5mm Actograph as depicted in The Cinema Handbook below:

From The Cinema Handbook by Austin C. Lescarboura, 1921 Source: Internet Archive

Possibly offered for three or four years, the 17.5mm Actograph Camera and its companion Actograph Projector apparently proved to be as unpopular as the 17.5mm format. Apparently not many were sold, as the camera and projector are basically non-existent today. Wilart's News Camera, seen in reviews as early as December, 1923, was more sophisticated than the Institute Standard. Production figures are unknown, but relatively very few examples of either model survive and I've never come across a turret version.

In a single-lens configuration as seen in the 1927 advertisement below, the Institute Standard was equipped with a high-grade f3.5 cine anastigmat lens:

From The Handbook of Motion Picture Photography by Herbert C. McKay, 1927 Source: Internet Archive

Turret models with four lenses were also available:

From The Handbook of Motion Picture Photography by Herbert C. McKay, 1927 Source: Internet Archive

Per The Handbook of Motion Picture Photography by Herbert C. McKay, 1927, "The design is the result of the efforts of Mr. Carl Louis Gregory, the Dean of Cinematographers of this country if not of the world, and a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. Mr. Gregory was assisted by Mr. William Nelson and by the writer of this volume. This camera was sponsored by the New York Institute of Photography and manufactured in the factory of the Wilart Cinema Corporation. By thus combining the leading spirits of the various fields, the miracle was accomplished and the Institute Standard Camera is now upon the market."

Interestingly, per Before the Nickelodeon by Edwin S. Porter, there was an Actograph Company, 50 Union Square, New York and Troy, New York, owned by Edward M. Harrington, Frederick L. Beck and Norman H. Mosher in 1907. Per an advertisement in The Billboard for December 7, 1907, the company was engaged in the sales and distribution of motion picture films and equipment. However, there's likely no relationship to Wilart's Actograph Camera since the film distribution company pre-dated the camera's introduction by at least ten years.

This Institute Standard's magazine is marked "Melart Photo and Film Co.", suggesting it may have been used for newsreel or documentary work. There is no manufacturer's plate or serial number, some internal components are missing, and the lens is not original to the camera.

One account has the Wilart Company disappearing, about the time that talking pictures were being introduced in the mid-1920's. This seems consistent with the Institute Standard still appearing in the Handbook of Motion Picture Photography by Herbert C. McKay, 1927, and no other advertisements or reviews being seen for the camera beyond 1927, so far.

Like all Wilart cameras, the Institute Standard is rarely seen today.