Burke & James Inc., Name That Equipment, Please!

Cleaning out some long-forgotten "treasures". I know nothing about photography. This seems like a place teeming with knowledgeable folks. If you know what this thing is, please share. Thank you in advance,
Sara

Enlarger. Page 65 of this 1933 catalog http://piercevaubel.com/cam/catalogs/1933burke&james270lp984.htm or page 45 of this 1940 catalog http://piercevaubel.com/cam/catalogs/1940burke&james.htm . These are examples of enlargers that are similar to yours. I do not know its year of manufacture. I know of no newer Burke & James catalogs currently on line. Burke & James went out of business years ago.

Thanks for the link shutterfinger. I was gonna say it looked like a Solar enlarger; my dad had one much like it many years ago.

To the OP, an enlarger is much like a slide projector. You put the film, looks like 5x7" (?) in that wood thing that slides into the center. The big dome thing sits on top. It basically projects an image of the film onto that baseboard. The photographer would do this in the dark, puting a piece of light-sensitive paper on the bottom, then turn on the lamp long enough to properly expose it. I said in the dark, but they actually use a dim light of a certain color that doesn't affect the paper. Then they put the paper into a tray of developer and slosh it around until the image appears. I'm sure you've seen it on old tv shows. They like to use them to identify a murderer who has been accidentally photographed. Generally the murderer somehow finds out that the photographer has such a negative, and then breaks into the darkroom to steal the negative. A smart photographer will unscrew an air vent, or something like that, and hide the negative in there. It used to be a pretty exciting profession! Nowadays they'll just upload the image straight to the internet, or perhaps live-stream it.

By the way, your enlarger is missing the condenser lenses. They normally sit on top, right where that metal can, or whatever it is, is sitting. They'll probably be about 9 or 10 inch diameter just in case you find them wrapped up somewhere.

I doubt if it has much value, but who knows? If you have a photographer friend they might be able to use the base and the column for a copy stand.

These days enlarger prices are getting higher. With a little clean, lube and adjust that would be quite nice amateur large format enlarger. I went this way with a Kodak Advance enlarger from 1940's which was only missing the base plate.

That appears to be a diffusion enlarger, rather than condenser type. The diffuser glass (the flat, dusty surface just above the negative carrier) will likely have a gradient patch of what looks like white paint in the center to even out the light (otherwise, there'll be a hot spot from the portion closest to the lamp) -- this must not be cleaned off the diffuser!

Back in the day, diffuser enlargers were the cheaper sort, as it was much less expensive to spray a controlled spot onto a piece of opal glass or similar than to produce a pair of matched condenser lenses; they were also lighter to ship and more compact (the condenser would add four to six inches to the height of one large enough for 4x5 and larger negatives.

BTW, that negative carrier looks more like 2x3 inch size (aka 6x9 centimeter) to my eye, than 5x7 inch; a 5x7 enlarger would have a diffuser diameter around 10-11 inches, while a 6x9 would be more like 4 1/2 to 5 inches across.

Mr Bill said:

I was gonna say it looked like a Solar enlarger; my dad had one much like it many years ago.

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Hey Mr Bill ! I was going to say a Solar Enlarger too. I printed with one when printing for someone trained in the 30s. the negative carrier ( for me at least ) was the "tell". I remember the bulbs for those were long-neck and hard to find and my boss said " look in that crate" and she laughed. I opened the crate and there were a few dozen bulbs "lifetime supply" ( she was in her 70s ) ... she had called every camera shop in a 50mile radius to do her pre-internet hoard
John

Donald Qualls said:

BTW, that negative carrier looks more like 2x3 inch size (aka 6x9 centimeter) to my eye ...

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Could be; my assumption was based on the only one I ever saw, sort of presuming they were all like that. I do note that the casting attached to the column seems to have space for a lift-assist spring suggesting some appreciable weight to the head. Easy enough for the OP to measure though.

jnantz said:

Hey Mr Bill ! I was going to say a Solar Enlarger too. I printed with one when printing for someone trained in the 30s.

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Yo John! I didn't think I knew anyone who even knew what a Solar enlarger was, much less making a living on one. I hope your former boss is still with us, but I fear not. I gotta admire people who made a living with that sort of gear. Or those Kodak Century cameras that I seem to recall you having.

In the late 60s I had a B&J 4X5, my first enlarger, although clumsy to use, was steady, slow with 35mm, but very usable.

Mr Bill said:

Yo John! I didn't think I knew anyone who even knew what a Solar enlarger was, much less making a living on one. I hope your former boss is still with us, but I fear not. I gotta admire people who made a living with that sort of gear. Or those Kodak Century cameras that I seem to recall you having.

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Yeah that was a great enlarger, I printed and printed and printed with that beast. 16x20s, 20x24s you name it, it was wonderful. From what I remember the bulb. reflected off of some sort of diffusion layer on the dome. It was something ! Sadly she passed away Sept 2001 but she is alive and well in my mind as I remember all the stuff she taught me and I think about regularly. Soon ... when rent might be cheep again I'll be putting the beast of the century camera to work again, thankfully by that time chemical photography will be obsolete and it will have no value for the city to tax me on

And then:
https://aarauctions.com/servlet/Search.do?auctionId=3490&itemId=75974

I had the 5x7 version to which I had a ZoneVi cold light fitted to the top. worked great....finally lost it in California as I couldn't find anyone to buy it.
I really don't enlarge L.F. negatives; only contact print....
happy Corona free holiday everyone!

John Koehrer said:

And then:
https://aarauctions.com/servlet/Search.do?auctionId=3490&itemId=75974

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So, not a treasure, exactly. I don't know how to use it so I may as well give it away. Thank you for your help. Much appreciated!

Generally the murderer somehow finds out that the photographer has such a negative, and then breaks into the darkroom to steal the negative. A smart photographer will unscrew an air vent, or something like that, and hide the negative in there. It used to be a pretty exciting profession!

Excellent example. I can see it in my mind's eye. Thank you.

Well, many photographers had hundreds if not thousands of negatives, to hide a negative just mislable and file it.