Revere Camera Company
Encyclopedia
The Revere Camera Company was started in 1920 by Mr. Samuel Briskin, who also started Wollensak
Recorders and Opticals.
Founded in 1920 in Chicago, Illinois, USA as the Excel Radiator Company by Ukrainian immigrant Samuel Briskin to manufacture car radiators, but started manufacturing some coarse household products later in the decade. They started making budget 8 mm movie cameras in 1939 through a subsidiary run by Briskin's sons. That company was later merged into Excel Radiator Co. which then changed its name to Revere Camera Co. The Revere name is taken from the Revere Copper Company
, which provided financial backing for Excel during the depression.
In the '50s the company was the second largest manufacturer of small movie cameras in the USA and in order to grow that business further the company took over their primary lens and shutter supplier in the form of the New Jersey based Wollensak Optical Co. both to secure their supply of parts but also to gain a more although Wollensak was primarily known as an OEM supplier of parts they had a small range of upmarket still cameras. The Revere brand name had become synonymous with budget cameras and soon after the take-over Wollensak models appeared that were mechanically mostly identical to the standard Revere models but had much better lenses, more stylish casing, and sold for a premium price. The company started manufacturing tape recorders in the early 1950s, that side of the business never became an important part of the company's output.
Samuel Briskin was diagnosed with inoperable cancer in 1960 and rather than leave the company to his family he decided to sell the company to 3M
for 17 million USD.
Wollensak
Wollensak was an American manufacturer of audio-visual products. At the height of their popularity in the 1950s and 1960s, many brands of movie cameras came with a Wollensak Velostigmat lens. Wollensak reel-to-reel tape recorders were prized for their robust construction and value.-History:The...
Recorders and Opticals.
Founded in 1920 in Chicago, Illinois, USA as the Excel Radiator Company by Ukrainian immigrant Samuel Briskin to manufacture car radiators, but started manufacturing some coarse household products later in the decade. They started making budget 8 mm movie cameras in 1939 through a subsidiary run by Briskin's sons. That company was later merged into Excel Radiator Co. which then changed its name to Revere Camera Co. The Revere name is taken from the Revere Copper Company
Revere Copper Company
The Revere Copper Company was North America's first rolled copper mill. It was started by Paul Revere in 1801 in Canton, Massachusetts and developed a commercially viable process for manufacturing copper sheets....
, which provided financial backing for Excel during the depression.
In the '50s the company was the second largest manufacturer of small movie cameras in the USA and in order to grow that business further the company took over their primary lens and shutter supplier in the form of the New Jersey based Wollensak Optical Co. both to secure their supply of parts but also to gain a more although Wollensak was primarily known as an OEM supplier of parts they had a small range of upmarket still cameras. The Revere brand name had become synonymous with budget cameras and soon after the take-over Wollensak models appeared that were mechanically mostly identical to the standard Revere models but had much better lenses, more stylish casing, and sold for a premium price. The company started manufacturing tape recorders in the early 1950s, that side of the business never became an important part of the company's output.
Samuel Briskin was diagnosed with inoperable cancer in 1960 and rather than leave the company to his family he decided to sell the company to 3M
3M
3M Company , formerly known as the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation based in Maplewood, Minnesota, United States....
for 17 million USD.