Here is another "What have I got", Brass lens question.

[Wayne R. Scott]

In one of my many moments of semi-permanent insanity I bid on and won a brass lens. It reads "Special Rapid Rectilinear Eq F13 8x10 on the barrel. Also engraved is "Ralph J. Golsen, 146 State Street , Chicago" which I assume was the distributer of this lens. There is a slot in the lens barrel for water house stops and a leather pouch with brass stops numbered 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, and 256.

Any ideas on what "Special Rapid Rectilinear means? Are the stops conventional f-stops or are they US f-stops? Would Eq F13 8x10 refer to focal length of 13" for 8x10 coverage?

My next project it to make a lens board and mount the lens on my 8x10 (the lens did come with a retaining ring)

Any thoughts or ideas appreciated.

Wayne

 

[JosBurke]

I think you'll have plenty of replies soon enough--Jim Galli will be all over it I'm sure. I have the same insanity for vintage brass lenses---I tend to go for the Petzvals but I also have several RR's too !! I have only a few sets of waterhouse stops but I, like most others, tend to use the portrait lenses wide open for that swirly effect !! I do have a couple of my Dallmeyer Patent Portraits lenses that still have the waterhouse stops--it seems Dallmeyer tended to put the Lens serial number on each of the Waterhouse stops as well!!

 

[Jim Jones]

The Waterhouse stops are almost certainly in the U. S. system, from f/8 to f/64. Also, the focal length is probably 13", with 8x10 coverage, like you suggested. Nice buy!

 

[Ole]

Rapid Rectilinears tend to be around f:7.2 to f:7.8 when wide open. That means that an aperture marked with a smaller number than 7 is almost certainly in one of the other systems, and the largest marked opening almost certainly corresponds to f:8. Since US 4 = f:8, your guess is almost certainly correct!

 

[jimgalli]

I think Golsen was a large distributor. The lens was probably made by one of the large houses of the time like Bausch & Lomb and re-branded with the distributor's name. That was really common around the turn of the last century. Post a photo of the lens when you get it. Have some fun with it.