Elmo
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| Picture by Elmo Alves. (Image rights) |
Elmo is a Japanese company, currently producing CCTV equipment (including CCD cameras), projectors and presentation devices.
The company was founded in 1921 as Sakaki Shōkai (榊商会).[1] It released its first 16mm projector (model A) in 1927; this was the first such device manufactured in Japan.[1]
The company became G.K. Elmo-sha (㈾エルモ社, "Elmo & Co.") in 1933. The name is the abbreviation for "Electricity Light Machine Organization".[2] The first 8mm projector (model Hayabusa) was released in 1936,[1] and the Elmoflex series of 6×6 TLR cameras was introduced in the late 1930s or early 1940s.[3]
The production of the Elmoflex restarted immediately after the war. In January 1946, the Elmo company was one of the 17 founding members of the Optical and Precision Instruments Manufacturers' Association (光学精機工業協会, Kōgaku Seiki Kōgyō Kyōkai).[4]
The company was incorporated as K.K. Elmo-sha (㈱エルモ社, "Elmo Co., Ltd.") in 1949. It continued making the Elmoflex until the second half of the 1950s, then dropped the production of still cameras. It went on making cine cameras and cine and slide projectors. It began making CCD cameras in 1984,[1] and continues up to this day (2009).
Cameras
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Elmo official chronology in Japanese, and in English (pdf format).
- ↑ Name meaning in the official website.
- ↑ The official chronology says 1938, but no document mentioning the camera is reported prior to 1942.
- ↑ Lewis, p.60.
Links
In English:
- Company profile document (pdf format), including history, at mrelmo.co.uk
In Japanese:
- Chronology, name meaning and museum in the Elmo official website
