Sears
Tower 120 Flash |
Sears is the most famous mail order house in the world since its Chicago building Sears Tower was the highest in the world for a certain period. In the U.S.A. it was the greatest mail-order an retail vendor of consumer goods. It was founded by Richard W. Sears in 1886. It started as reseller of watches in North Redwood, Minnesota. In 1887 Sears moved to Chicago and employed Alvah C. Roebuck as watch- and toolmaker. In 1893 Roebuck became partner in the company which then was renamed Sears, Roebuck & Co.. Like other great mail-order houses Sears had a house-brand for cameras, the Tower cameras which were all OEM products, made by different renowned camera makers of several countries.
Distributed cameras
original camera | sold as | |
Bilora Bella | Tower 5 (127 film) | |
Brownie type box - Germany | Tower 7 (120 film) | |
Mfr? Germany | Tower 8 (box camera) | |
Mamiya | Tower 10A | |
16mm submini spy cam | Tower 16 | |
Mamiya 48mm f2 | Tower 18B | |
Olympus Ace E | Tower 19 | |
Mamiya 48mm/f1.7 | Tower 20B | |
Asahiflex IIB | Tower 23 | |
Asahiflex IIB | Tower 24 | |
Mamiya-Sekor Lens, Exakta/Topcon mnt? | Tower 32B | |
Braun Paxette Reflex | Tower 33 Reflex | |
Braun | Tower 34 Reflex | |
??? | Tower 37 | |
??? | Tower 39 - very odd rectangular box with larg bulb flash | |
??? | Sears 39 - very odd as Tower 39 | |
??? | Sears 41 - very odd as Tower 39 | |
Toyoca-44 | Tower 44 | |
Halma 44 | Tower 44B | |
Nicca 5L f:2 | Tower 45 | |
Nicca f:1.4 | Tower 46 | |
Iloca Rapid | Tower 50 | |
?Steinheil Cassar lens 50mm f2.8 made in Germany | Tower 51 (not folding, 35mm) | |
Iloca Rapid B | Tower 51 120 folding | |
Iloca Rapid IIL | Tower 52 | |
?Japan, Color Luna Lens 45mm f3.5 | Tower 55B | |
Samoca LE | Tower 57A | |
Ising Pucky I | Tower 120 Flash | |
Busch 4x5 Pressman | Tower 4x5 Pressman | |
Ricoh 126 C Automatic | Sears Easi-Load FC 600 | |
Mamiya ??? | Tower Automatic 35 | |
Nicca III | Tower Type 3 | |
Nicca, Leotax? | Tower Type 3S | |
Ansco Marvel S-20 | ??? | |
Reflecta | Trumpfreflex | |
??? | Sears Model 65 | |
??? | Tower Camflash 127 (see also:Tower,Sears 39) | |
??? | Sears Model 600 Easi load FC (flash Cube) Instamatic | |
Ricoh XR-6 | Sears KS-1 |
Several Tower cameras were also made by Bilora. Sears lenses for SLRs were made by Ricoh. Conley was a partner of Sears & Roebuck. In 1924 Conley was owned by Sears, and bought Seneca. But the Seneca brand disappeared in 1926. In 1980 Sears, Roebuck and Co. was restructured and rebranded to Sears Merchandise Group.
Companies of Chicago (Illinois) |
Adams & Westlake | Central Camera Co. | American Advertising and Research Co. | Bernard | Burke & James | Busch | Calumet | Candid | Chicago Aerial | Chicago Camera Co. | Chicago Ferrotype Company | Deardorff | De Vry | Drucker | Galter | Geiss | Herold | Imperial | Kemper | Lennor Engineering Co. | Metropolitan Industries | Monarch | Montgomery Ward | Pho-Tak | QRS Company | Rolls | Sans & Streiffe | Sears | Seymour | Spartus | The Camera Man | United States Camera Co. | Western Camera Manufacturing Co. | Yale | Zar | Zenith |
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