WALKER'S POCKET CAMERA LENS
Wm H. Walker & Company, Rochester, New
York 1881 - 1883
Single element achromatic wide-angle lens and Waterhouse
stop for Walker's Pocket Camera,
manufactured by William H. Walker of Rochester, New York.
Although Walker's Pocket Camera represented one of the
earliest efforts at providing an outfit for the amateur, Wm. H. Walker is best
known for his collaboration with George Eastman resulting in the Eastman-Walker
Roll Holder. Prior to bringing out Walker's Pocket Camera, he was involved in
the photographic supply business and would later be associated with Eastman
until he retired.
The lens, measuring 1-1/8" in height, with a barrel
diameter of 7/8" and a mounting flange diameter of 1-9/16" is stamped
"Wm. H. Walker, Pats Apld For", one of
which was for the camera's design Patent No. 259,064 granted June 6, 1882. As noted in Manufacturer and
Builder, May 1882, Volume 14, Issue 5, the camera was introduced at the Cincinnati
Industrial Exposition in August, 1881. Manufacturing continued in 1882 with
production stopping at some point prior to Walker selling his manufacturing
operation to W. F. Carlton in 1883.
Reportedly, about a half dozen examples of Walker's
Pocket Camera have survived, and this is believed to be the only extra Walker
lens known to exist.
For more information on William H. Walker and Walker's
Pocket Camera, click on the links below:
https://antiquecameras.net/blog90.html
http://www.historiccamera.com/cgi-bin/librarium2/pm.cgi?action=app_display&app=datasheet&app_id=1256
http://www.historiccamera.com/cgi-bin/librarium2/pm.cgi?action=app_display&app=datasheet&app_id=231