THE TISDELL CAMERA
Tisdell Camera and Manufacturing Company,
Scranton, Pennsylvania circa
1893
The Tisdell Camera
also referred to as the Tisdell
Detective Camera and the Tisdell
Hand Camera, was introduced by June, 1893 with an ad appearing in Scribner's Magazine listing it as
"The Tisdell Camera". It's
been called the second version of the Tisdell & Whittlesey (or "T.
& W".) Patent Detective Camera, given that Abner G. Tisdell was instrumental in the design for both cameras.
Tisdell
& Whittlesey's T. & W. Patent Detective Camera
In reality, the Tisdell Camera was a distinctly different
camera in its construction and operation. Made by Tisdell subsequent to Elbert
A. Whittlesey's passing on March 11, 1891 and the eventual dissolution of Tisdell & Whittlesey, New
York, Abner Tisdell's new
firm Tisdell Camera and Manufacturing Company was established in 1893 in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Tisdell resided in Brooklyn,
New York from the mid-1880's, relocating to Scranton, Pennsylvania with the
establishment of his new factory. He would move back to Brooklyn by mid-1904,
evidenced by his address cited on a sound reproducer patent for Edison-style
cylinder players.
From Scribner's Magazine, June,
1893
From The Tribune, Scranton, Pennsylvania June
3, 1893
Comparing it against the earlier Tisdell & Whittlesey Detective, the
Tisdell Camera's plateholders and focusing screen were accessed through a door
hinged at the center top, versus the T. & W. Patent Detective's side-hinged
full-length top door. The Tisdell Camera featured a hinged front panel with a
removable lens board. The shutter's release and fine focusing controls were
accessed from underneath the camera, as opposed to the T&W Detective's
controls which were contained within the camera on most examples and its
shutter release which was located at the top corner outside. The Tisdell
Camera's shutter design was covered by Patent
No. 536,242 granted to Abner G. Tisdell on March 26, 1895. Tisdell's June
14, 1893 patent application just happened to coincide with the Tisdell Camera's
introduction, but it would take almost two years for the patent to be granted.
The patent being assigned to the Tisdell Camera and Manufacturing Company of
Scranton, Pennsylvania, indicates the company was still in business in early 1895.
But by this time, production of the camera is believed to have ceased, most
likely sometime in 1894.
Source: Google Patents
This Tisdell Camera's shutter board is
stamped "Pat. Apl'd
For" along the top and one side edge. This suggests it was
manufactured sometime between June 14, 1893 and March 26, 1895.
Unlike the T. & W. Detective's single
fixed viewfinder, the Tisdell Camera's viewfinder could be rotated for either horizontal
or vertical format:
The Tisdell Camera's sliding box-in-a-box
arrangement, now replaced the earlier T. & W. Patent Detective Camera's
bellows (or truncated pyramid):
Tisdell
Camera Tisdell &
Whittlesey's T. & W. Patent Detective Camera
At least one example of the Tisdell Camera
has been seen with covers over the viewfinders:
Antony D. Manthos Collection
Another interesting feature, some of the
plate holders accompanying this Tisdell Camera example are stamped "The Phantom", along with
"Tisdell's Patent, July 29th, 1888". This date appears to be an incorrect
stamping, as research thus far has only produced Patent No. 386,907 granted to
Abner G. Tisdell on July 31, 1888 for a "Photographic Plate Holder".
Tisdell Camera's "The
Phantom" plate holder
Adding a further bit of mystery, another one
of these holders bears the same "Phantom" stamping, as an overstrike
of "The Blair Camera Co. Patented Feb. 9th 1875, " Sept. 2nd,
1884". These dates correspond with Patent No. 159,537 granted to Stewart
L. Bergstresser of Laurelton, Pennsylvania on
February 9, 1875 for a "Photographic Plate Holder" (assigned to J.B. Bergstresser,
of Renovo, Pennsylvania and E.L. Bergstresser, of Hublersburg, Pennsylvania) and Patent No. 304,406 granted
to Thomas Henry Blair, Boston, Massachusetts on September 2, 1884 for a
"Camera Box" (for Blair's Combination Camera back and plate holder).
Blair
Hawk-Eye plate holder
Another known Tisdell Camera has been found
with these same holders, strongly suggesting that Tisdell outsourced his
holders from Blair, their manufacture incorporating features from Blair's
previous patents along with Tisdell's patent. If
true, this arrangement between Tisdell and Blair may have existed even earlier
with the manufacture of the T. & W. Patent Detective Camera. These Tisdell
"Phantom" holders, though simpler and lacking a darkslide
lock, do share some construction similarities with those holders used in
Blair's Hawk-Eye.
This Tisdell Camera bears the number
"54", stamped on the lens board, the base of the front shutter
compartment, the top edge of the rear panel and on top of the rear internal
frame of the sliding box section. The general view, is that appearing in
numerous places, these were assembly numbers that were used to associate all
components fitted for a particular camera. However, this number may have also
have served the dual purpose as a serial number. Another known example, Tisdell
Camera (#60 shown here with the covered viewfinders), displays the same
numbering scheme as on #54.
The Tisdell Detective's lens is marked
"Tisdell Mfg. Co., 4x5 Rapid Rectilinear", with its mounting flange
marked "Made in France". The lens is speculated to have been
manufactured by Darlot, Paris. Its brass lens cap actually slides into the lens
shade rather than over it as typically seen on most lenses of the era. Being
sized 4x5, its range could cover 4x5 or 3-1/4 x 4-1/4. Unlike the earlier T. & W. Patent Detective Camera that was offered in both these
formats, it's unknown whether the Tisdell Camera was available in formats other
than 4x5.
Cameras, lenses and other products by
Tisdell & Whittlesey or Tisdell Camera and Manufacturing Company, are
rarely encountered today. Examples of the T. & W. Patent Detective Camera
do surface from time to time, but the Tisdell Camera is almost never seen.
My Thanks to Antony D. Manthos for supplying photos and information for his
Tisdell Camera.
For more information on the Tisdell & Whittlesey T. & W. Patent
Detective Camera, look for it under the "Antique Cameras" section of this website, or click on
the link below:
The T. & W. Patent Detective Camera