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WOLLENSAK EYE-MATIC MODEL 46

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Type: Movie Camera

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Manufacture :   WOLLENSAK 

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Production Date :  Manufactured in 1958

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Acquired at :    

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Acquired Date :    

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Andrew Wollensak left his job at Bausch & Lomb to go into business with his brother John in 1899 to make photographic shutters, though they soon began making lens and became Wollensak Optical. Based in Rochester, New York, the home of many photographic concerns, the Wollensak brothers ran the company until their deaths in 1936 and 1939 respectively.

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Wollensak lenses graced many American cameras; and they made binoculars, telescopes, and other optical equivalent. They very likely also sold unbranded products to other camera makers.

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Revere eventually purchased Wollensak to vertically integrate its source of lenses and shutters. While they were at it, they decided to use the brand on cameras as well. They began making a basic model which carried the Revere name, then upgraded the components and features and sold those under the Wollensak name

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3M phased out the Revere name but kept the Wollensak brand for audio equipment through the 60s, but it was a rough decade to be an American camera or electronics manufacturer. Wollensak's Rochester factory closed in 1972 and its name was retired; another famous brand lost.

Wollensak was one of Rochester's finest companies, and at their height in 1958 they had over 1200 employees. Their lenses, shutters, and other products were considered to be excellent, and during the war they made a wide variety of optical equipment for the armed forces. It is too bad that they could not manage to survive.

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Source:

Ollinger's Camera Collection 

A History of The Rochester, NY Camera and Lens Companies

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