Kodak, No.1 Pocket Kodak Junior folding 120 roll film camera, c1929

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Kodak, No.1 Pocket Kodak Junior, Rochester, New York. For 8 images on 120 roll film. Based on the construction used for the No.2 Folding cameras, being of thin steel sheet, stamped, formed then joined. The method of joining is undetermined, possibly soldered. Sitting within this is the rest of the removable body, similarly constructed. Hinged to this is the front hatch/lens bed with self erecting lens when the hatch is opened. The finish is finely embossed natural leather, Kodak being particularly flamboyant with this art deco example. Around the end of the 1920s one of the improvements to folding cameras was the widespread use of a self erecting mechanism. To explain, folding cameras largely used a system where a hatch door hinged down until locking to form the lens bed. The lensboard was then pulled forward on a set of rails on the bed until it aligned with a focus scale or locked into a preset position. The arrival of the self erecting mechanism meant that the whole operation could be carried out in one go, so that the camera was ready for action immediately. The self erecting mechanism fitted to this camera is not quite perfect, the lensboard needs to be guided out carefully to ensure trouble free opening. This was by no means the first Kodak self erecting mechanism, this honour goes to the 1897 Folding Pocket Kodak.

This particular camera was donated to the collection by Mr. P. Stewart, in 1995.

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