Neumann & Heilemann
Neumann & Heilemann was a company founded in the 1930s by Billy Neumann and Willy Heilemann, two German people living in Japan.
History
Billy Neumann had previously worked for Krauss in Paris, and Willy Heilemann for Kenngott, then they had helped Kazuo Tashima to found the Nichidoku company, later Molta (predecessor of Minolta).[1] Heilemann left Molta in November 1931, followed by Neumann in 1932.[2] They founded their own company, called Neumann & Heilemann Feinmechanisch Werkstätten Gōshi-gaisha (ノイマン・ハイレマン・ファインメハニシェ・ウエルクステッテン合資会社), whose logo was NH inside a circle.[3] It was installed in a new plant in Takagi (高木), currently Ōmori-chō (大森町) in the city of Nishinomiya (西宮市), near the Mukogawa (武庫川) river.[4]
The company made the Neuheil, Rulex, Perfect and Perfekt shutters. It also made Radionar and other lenses, certainly assembling imported Schneider elements into a locally-produced barrel.[5]
The company became involved in the production of machine tools, under the impulsion of Billy Neumann, and made an experimental motor tricycle.[6]
Neumann & Heilemann finally developed the Prince Flex, the first Japanese TLR, first advertised in August 1937 by the distributor Fukada Shōkai. It is said that the body was bought from a sub-contractor (perhaps Fujimoto), and that the company only proceeded to the main assembly.[7]
Billy Neumann founded the separate company Neumann Seiki (ノイマン精機) in August 1937, to manufacture machine tools in a new plant in the nearby city of Ashiya (芦屋市).[8] The company Neumann & Heilemann was dissolved on 11 September 1937.[9] All the assets and trademarks were sold to Fujimoto Shashinki Seisakusho, and the Takagi plant became Fujimoto's Mukogawa plant, reportedly called Mukogawa Shashin Kōgyō (武庫川写真工業, meaning Mukogawa Photo Industries).[10] (The Semi Lucky by Fujimoto would be produced in this Mukogawa plant.)[11] Fujimoto continued the production of the Prince Flex camera and Rulex and Perfekt shutters, and the assembly of the Radionar lenses. The NH logo and "Neumann & Heilemann" markings were kept on all these products, and it is not possible to identify for sure those which were made after Fujimoto's takeover.
Cameras
The attribution of the Condor folders to Neumann & Heilemann is a mistake.[12]
Shutters
- Neuheil
- Rulex (various versions)
- Perfect or Perfekt (various versions)
Lenses
- Radionar 7.5cm f/4.5, certainly assembled from elements supplied by Schneider[13]
- Radionar 7.5cm f/3.5
- Neotar 7.5cm f/4.5
- Radionar 10.5cm f/4.5
- Tritar 10.5cm f/4.5[14]
List of cameras equipped with a Neumann & Heilemann lens (this list is incomplete, and that a model appears in the list does not mean that all its variants are concerned):
- First plate folders (Radionar 10.5cm f/3.5)
- First Roll (Radionar 10.5cm f/4.5)
- Kinka plate folders (Radionar 10.5cm f/3.5)
- Semi Lucky (Radionar 7.5cm f/4.5)
- Semi Prince (Radionar 7.5cm f/4.5)
- Prince Flex (Neotar 7.5cm f/4.5 taking lens, Radionar 7.5cm f/3.5 viewing lens)
Notes
- ↑ Career of Neumann and Heilemann before entering Nichidoku: Tanimura, p.96 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12, and Awano, p.1 of Camera Collectors' News no.114.
- ↑ Dates: Tanimura, p.96 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12, and Awano, p.1 of Camera Collectors' News no.114.
- ↑ Dates and company name: Tanimura, p.96 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12. The company name is confirmed by an extract of the Kōbe Shinbun (27 September 1937) reproduced on p.99 of the same source.
- ↑ Tanimura, p.97 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- ↑ Tanimura, p.50 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.11, says that Schneider lenses were imported as separate elements and were assembled in Japan. Awano, p.2 of Camera Collectors' News no.114, says that the Neotar f/4.5 and Radionar f/3.5 lenses of the Prince Flex were perhaps imported as separate elements or already mounted in a barrel, but that the tariff structure was favorable to local assembly from separate parts.
- ↑ Tanimura, pp.98–9 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12, partly based on the testimony of a former employee of the company.
- ↑ Testimony of a former employee of the company interviewed in Tanimura, p.98 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- ↑ Tanimura, p.99 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- ↑ Extract of the Kōbe Shinbun (27 September 1937) reproduced in Tanimura, p.99 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- ↑ Tanimura, p.99 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
- ↑ Tanimura, p.51 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.11.
- ↑ Mistake in McKeown, p.717. Most Condor folders have a Rulex shutter made by the company.
- ↑ Tanimura, p.50 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.11, says that Schneider lenses were imported as separate elements and were assembled in Japan.
- ↑ Examples pictured in this page at ksmt.com, and in Hibi, p.65 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.8.
Bibliography
- Asahi Camera (アサヒカメラ) editorial staff. Shōwa 10–40nen kōkoku ni miru kokusan kamera no rekishi (昭和10–40年広告にみる国産カメラの歴史, Japanese camera history as seen in advertisements, 1935–1965). Tokyo: Asahi Shinbunsha, 1994. ISBN 4-02-330312-7.
- Awano Mikio (粟野幹男). "Purinsufurekkusu" (プリンスフレックス, Prince Flex). In Camera Collectors' News no.114 (December 1986). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha.
- Baird, John R. The Japanese Camera. Yakima, WA: Historical Camera Publications, 1990. ISBN 1-879561-02-6.
- Hibi Takashi (日比孝). "Nihon no supuringu kamera: Orinpasu" (日本のスプリングカメラ・オリンパス, "Japanese folding cameras: Olympus"). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.8, September 1986. No ISBN number. Supuringu kamera (スプリングカメラ, special issue on spring cameras). Pp.62–5.
- McKeown, James M. and Joan C. McKeown's Price Guide to Antique and Classic Cameras, 12th Edition, 2005-2006. USA, Centennial Photo Service, 2004. ISBN 0-931838-40-1 (hardcover). ISBN 0-931838-41-X (softcover).
- Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Neumann & Heilemann: kieta ashiato, Minoruta setsuritsu to sono ato no karera wo otte" (Neumann & Heilemann 消えた足跡・ミノルタ設立とその後の彼等を追って, On the traces of Neumann & Heilemann at the founding of Minolta and afterwards.) Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.12, October 1988. No ISBN number. Minoruta kamera no subete (ミノルタカメラのすべて, special issue on Minolta). Pp.96–9.
- Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Semi Purinsu kara Rakku made — Takahashi Kenzō shi ni kiku." (セミプリンスからラックまで・高橋健三氏にきく, "From the Semi Prince to the Luck — Asking Takahashi Kenzō") Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.11, March 1988. No ISBN number. Shirarezaru kamera (知られざるカメラ, special issue on unknown cameras). Pp.50–1. Based on an interview of Takahashi Kenzō, former CEO of Fujimoto, who entered the company in 1934.
- Watakushi no ni-gan-refu kamera-ten (私の二眼レフカメラ展, Exhibition of twin lens reflex cameras). Tokyo: JCII Camera Museum, 1992. (Exhibition catalogue, no ISBN number.) P.25.
