I found a treasure, I think...

I'm smiling!  If you can find some film, run some through there for memory's sake.  I have some of my grandfathers tools that always make me remember him when I use them.

Enjoy!

mike

Hi Travis! 

The original Brownie was brown in color.  The camera had to be sent back to Kodak where the film was processed and printed- the camera was then reloaded and sent back to its owner.   The images were circular rather than square or rectangular.  Some of theses models may not have had glass lenses- they worked as a camera obscura.

The later models were black and used rather large roll film that may have been designated 116 or 216.  Some of the negatives were 2 1/4 X 4 1/4 in size.  Some of theses films are still spooled- I would have to did up the literature- I have it somewhere.  If you camera is black it may have 2 viewfinders- one for verticals and the other for horizontals.  I recall a leather strap or handle atop the camera and a fitted case.  The later cameras had a single element glass lenses the shutters were preset at about 1/30sec. and the approximate f/stop was around f/6.3- some as high as f/9 .   A few that I have seen had a provision for time exposures and the last of the big-box models had Waterhouse stops= theses were apertures on a sliding thing bar the could be adjusted for bright and cloudy days.

The "Brownie" name went right into the fifties.  Theses were cameras with Bakelite bodies and plastic lenses. and some were colored brown.  The Baby Brownie Special was the last one I can remember- it used 127 film. 

Nice find!    Ed

This is called the Brownie Hawkeye-Flash Model (without the flash however  ).  It only has the single viewfinder, it is black, has the handle on top, has the "L" shutter option for timed exposures, and takes 260 film.  I will try to get a minute to clean it and take some pictures of it this weekend to show you and see if you can give me any more information on it.  It has a patent no. on the bottom of the box- #177!!!  Can you believe that?!  It has a price tag, but of course the price wasn't marked on it  .  I am really interested in the age and history of this little toy, so hopefully you would oblige me with some more information about it when I post some pictures for you to look at.  Also, is it possible to find 260 film anywhere anymore?  There is absolutely no wear marks on the spools where the film loads, I really don't think this thing got used much at all.  It is just dirty from sitting in the attic for who knows how many years.  I would love to get some images out of it, and to know some more about it.  Thanks to anyone that can help.

Travis

If you guys actually want to use those old cameras all you have to do is Goggle or simply search for "620 Films" and there are dozens of companies and individuals that re-spool 120 film on 620 spools.  There are sources of the spools and even other larger films such as 116 and 616 sizes for those old brownies- the ones with the film inserts or holders.

Attached, is a picture of the Halkeye of the 1950s- it has a crystal finder at the top of the body.  One of the gray slide buttons is the shutter release and the other is the instantaneous/time exposure setting.  The flash attachment was connected to a terminal at the side of the body.

Ed