Duplex Ruby Reflex "Overseas"
Camera
Duplex Ruby Reflex "Overseas"
ca. 1920
Gift of the 3M Foundation, ex-collection Louis Walton Sipley, 1977
Description¼-plate, with 6-inch f/4.5 Taylor-Hobson Cooke Series II Aviar lens, serial No. 108079.
TextThe Thornton Pickard Company was founded by John Edward Thornton and Edgar Pickard in 1888. A few years later, the firm introduced an instantaneous behind-the-lens roller-blind shutter for their line of Ruby field cameras, which became the company’s signature product. A slightly modified version of the T-P shutter, mounted at the focal plane (directly in front of the film), was incorporated into the Duplex Ruby Reflex cameras upon their introduction in 1911. The “Overseas” version of the Ruby Reflex, with its handsome polished teak body and glove leather bellows and focusing hood, was intended to be a workhorse camera for use in rugged, humid locales. Teak, a tropical hardwood that is both moisture- and termite-resistant due to its high natural oil content, was often used for special purpose cameras produced by England’s finest camera manufacturers during the latter part of the country’s colonial period.
