No 2C Folding Autographic Brownie

Eastman Kodak Company

Name:	No 2C Folding Autographic Brownie
Type:	Folding (Rollfilm)
Manufacturer:	Eastman Kodak Company
Country of Origin:	US
Construction:	Conventional folding camera where the lens standard is pulled out on a track fixed to the baseboard. Imitation leather covering over a metal body. Autographic back with stylus held in clip adjacent to autographic window. Brilliant finder at top centre of the lens standard. Focussing scale on baseboard, which is notched at preset distances to engage with a catch on side of the lens standard. Early versions were produced in a rectangular, square ended format. This changed quite early on to the more usual body shape with rounded ends.
Plate / Film Size:	130 rollfilm (autographic) for pictures 2⅞" x 4⅞"
Movements:	None
Dimensions (w x h x l):
Production Period:	1916 - 1917 (square end); 1917 - 1926 (rounded ends). See Notes

The Folding Autographic Brownie cameras were introduced from 1915 as relatively cheap but sound folding cameras for the newly introduced autographic film. The No 2C Folding Autographic Brownie camera was the last of the three sizes to be introduced. While they offered alternative lenses and shutters over the period of their manufacture, they were more basic than their Folding Pocket Kodak counterparts.

Model / Variant:	Square ended model
Lens:	Achromatic
Shutter:	Ball Bearing
Date of this Example:	c1917
Serial Number:	Serial 30820
Availability:	Common  Uncommon  Hard to Find  Scarce
Inventory Number:	406

<Photographs to be added>

Description

This is an example of the square ended model of the No 2C Folding Autographic Brownie. The format changed to round ended from serial 38,501 according to Coe [4].

The camera is complete with the remnants of its original slip box. The inner sleeve is intact, but the outer is split; it has one end face missing and is worn on its surfaces.

It also arrived with an instruction booklet titled "Picture-making with the Folding Autographic Brownies", published by Kodak Ltd. The internal pictures show later round ended models, so it is unlikely this is original to the camera. However I did purchase another copy sometime later, which does show the square ended model and is dated 1916.

Notes

There were three distinct sizes of Folding Autographic Brownie produced in this format: the No 2 for 12 rollfilm, the No 2A for 116 rollfilm and therefore slightly larger, and the No 2C for 130 rollfilm as detailed here, the largest of the set.