THE POCO SHUTTER - ORIGINAL MODEL

Gundlach Optical Company, Rochester, New York 1894-1895

This shutter is believed to be the original Poco Shutter, based upon how it was referenced in an 1895 advertisement for the Poco Camera and the shutter having the "POCO" name engraved on the casing. Aside from the Poco Camera, it has also been seen on another Rochester Camera Manufacturing product, the Rochester Folding Camera - Final Model of 1894-1895. It was available in both manual and pneumatic release versions.

The new shutter was announced in The Photographic Times and American Photographer, Volume XXV for September, 1894, and again in Thomas H. McCollin & Company's The American Journal of Photography, Volume XV for October, 1894.

The shutter's design was secured under Patent No. 520,198, granted May 22, 1894 to Henry H. Turner and assigned to the Gundlach Optical Company. The example shown above, stamped "Patent Applied For", was manufactured after the February 15, 1894 filing date but prior to the patent's issuance.

No advertisements other than the one shown below from 1895 referencing "our new photographic shutter" and the aforementioned Poco ad also from 1895 have been found. Despite the shutter above being marked "POCO", it hasn't been found in any Rochester Camera Mfg. Co./Rochester Camera/Rochester Camera and Supply catalogues from June, 1895 and beyond. It would no doubt have appeared in RCM's catalogue for 1894, and possibly in their catalogue from the first half of 1895, if one was produced. The shutter has been seen mounted on the Folding Montauk Camera in G. Gennert's Descriptive Catalogue of Photographic Apparatus and Supplies, January 1, 1895. Other than in this instance, and a catalogue engraving showing this shutter on a Henry Clay Junior Camera, it has not been seen as standard equipment on any other camera I'm aware of. Based on what's known, the shutter was probably manufactured for about a year and a half at best.

Poco Shutter-Original Model (rear)

From Scovill's American Annual of Photography and Photographic Times Almanac for 1895

Poco Shutter-Original Model on a Rochester Camera Manufacturing Company "Rochester Folding Camera - Final Model"

Engraving from a Henry Clay catalogue depicting the Poco Shutter - Original Model on a Henry Clay Junior

Source: Google Patents