Elbow
The name Elbow was used on the Japanese 6×6 TLR Elbow flex and 6×6 folder Elbow Six, marked ELBOW CAMERA FIRM. Japanese sites say that the company's name was Elbow Shōkai (エルボー商会); the word shōkai means "company" or "firm" but is generally used for wholesale or trade companies, so this sounds like a distributor's name. Elbow's address was 文京区駒込東方町94, in Tokyo.
The cameras were manufactured by Tōyō Seiki Kōgaku (東洋精機光学) and Kosumo (i.e. Cosmo) Kamera Seisakusho (コスモカメラ製作所): the two companies are named in advertisements appearing in magazines published in April and September 1955 respectively. Tōyō Seiki Kōgaku, which also made the Prince and Rolex, may have been the same as Tōyō Seiki (東洋精機) which made the Eastern, Tōyō Kōki (東洋光機) which made the Elega, and Tōyō Kōgaku (東洋光学) which made the Elizaflex.[1]
Note
- ↑ These manufacturers are given by Kanno, p. 116; he does not speculate on their interrelationships.
Source and further reading
- Kanno (管野経敏). "A kara Z no kokusan niganrefu" (AからZの国産二眼レフ, Japanese TLRs from A to Z). In Miryoku saihakken: Nigan refu: Firumu kamera ha e no messeiji (魅力再発見・二眼レフ：フィルムカメラ派へのメッセージ, Fascination rediscovery: TLRs: A message to film cameras). Tokyo: Shashinkogyo Syuppansha, 2006.
