Utility Manufacturing Company Falcon cameras

Last week I wrote about the peculiar affair of the Ciro 35 camera, and I thought I was done with intertwining camera brands. It didn’t take long to prove me wrong.  

Today’s camera is a Falcon by Utility Manufacturing Company, whose history leaves Ciro in the dust. It is a smorgasbord of brands and models, proving that, beyond technical ability, naming innovation and creativity are key to success in this industry. The chain of events described below differs by source, which is puzzling, since it all happened about half a century ago in the US.

The Utility company came on stage in New York in 1939, founded by a person whose name differs across sources. Nonetheless, I don’t think they came from the industry but saw the potential in a hobby newly available to all. From here it takes twists and turns. Most Utility models were named as variants of Falcon. While all agree on inception in 1939, some sources cite earlier models, probably a different Falcon that crept into the list.

After making several models, some targeted for the mid-market and others the entry-level, the company was taken over by Spartus. Spartus was founded in 1934 in Chicago by Jack Galter, a Renaissance man with interests in a variety of fields, who began his career as a musician and ended as a real estate mogul. Before the camera-making era, Spartus was a prominent clockmaker, a commonplace item in the pre-electronic era. Spartus moved Utility to Chicago, where they were based, continued making the same Utility-branded cameras, and began producing a few camera models sold under any brand one could think of. The rebrands were under Falcon, Monarck and Monarch (sic), Mar-Crest, Seymour, The Camera Man, Churchill, Photo Master, Monroe, Waldorf, Bernard, Majestic, Five Star, Metropolitan, and, not to be missed, Galter. If these are not enough, see more on the Chicago Cluster, a nickname for this phenomenon. As a postscript, it seems that Arco and Marvel brands were included in this mix as well.

As an entity, the Utility company ceased to exist, but the utility brand name still appeared on Spartus’s further models. Moreover, the Falcon moniker was pasted on a long list of unrelated cameras.  Common to all brands was the intermixing of the same names as brands and models alike, suggesting a front of a massive production line but actually far fewer models, where products were thrown into a bingo console and were pasted with names at random.

The saga did not stop here. In 1951, Herold Rubin, head of sales for Spartus, bought the company.  As a result, new brands were introduced: Herold Mfg. Co. and later Herold Products Co.

The company ceased camera production in the early 1960s, was sold to a Chinese company in 1993 and finally vanished in 2001.

Utility Falcon Miniature

The Falcon Miniature is not much of a camera. It is point-and-shoot taken to the extreme. The body is exceptionally lightweight and looks as if it were made of thin Bakelite. An online mention says the body is made of Nielite, a material I have never heard of, nor did Google. I say thin as, other than being lightweight, the body on my camera is badly warped.

The back is made of the same material, and is held by two spring catches at the sides. Inside is very little; the only moving part is the take-off spool. As the camera shoots half-size #127 format, it leaves room for a bay to hold an extra spool, an uncommon feature. The image produced is 3x4cm, portrait orientation, rather than the commonly used 4×6.5cm. While the 4×6.5 format may be used for contact prints, here prints should be enlarged. As a side note, film image sizes are metric across the board, as inherited from the German industry. As a side note to the side note, the mounting thread used for all cameras is Imperial BSW ¼”, later converted to NC ¼”, so both sides are content. To remount the back, position it so the window marked ‘1’ is on the left. The cover will also fit in reverse, but you’ll miss the correct sequence, in the remote chance you plan to shoot with it.

Using a half-frame format allowed for twice the capacity of the roll, a reminder of times when a roll of film was dear. To shoot, bring the first number on the paper back to window 1, then move the same number to window 2.

The miniature lens seems to be plain glass, as on other entry-level cameras of the era.

I do not know what this model’s target market was; it seems to be the grassroots. Having said that, my first camera, a Ferrania of some model, did not offer more settings, perhaps just a real lens and full #127 format. I’m talking some 65 years back.

Utility Falcon F

Utility Falcon F offered much more. It was/is a hideous camera, yet a tad prettier than the title holder, the Candid Camera Perfex Speed. There were several models, all carried the Falcon name:

• Falcon F, 4.5/50 Velostigmat lens, Deltax shutter, 25-100.
• Falcon FE / Falcon Special, added an extinction meter.
• Falcon G / Falcon Super Action, 3.5/50 lens, Alphax shutter, 25-200
• Falcon GE, added an extinction meter.
• The Falcon and Utility names appear on many more cameras made by The Chicago Cluster.

The camera style resembles the Falcon Miniature, just a tad taller, but it weighs like a brick. Here, Utility had abandoned the Bakelite body in favour of a cast alloy body and steel back and mechanism.

• Top has a winder knob on the left, so the film moves from right to left. A tiny viewer is mounted next to it, with a cold accessory shoe and a flat knob that lifts up to load the roll.
• The back is fully removable via a sliding bolt on the back’s right. Two red lenses that the back are marked ‘A ’ and ’ B’. To remount the back, have the ‘A’ window on the right, in reverse to the Falcon Miniature above. To shoot, bring the first number on the film’s paper back to lens ‘A’, then move the same number to lens ‘B’, so you are good with half-frame exposure.
• Inside is a well finished image mask, #127 half frame, 3x4cm, and two film bays. The right bay holding the loaded roll has a spring to keep the roll in place.
• On the lens assembly, the closest to the body, is the zone focusing dial, large and easy to use. Note that at the infinity lens position, it locks in place. To release, press and hold the little knob by the lens at 9 o’clock. The self-loading trigger lever is at the front top. A pointer at 1 o’clock selects the shutter speed, and a similar pointer at 6 o’clock sets the aperture value.
• A neat feature is a folding brace at the bottom that keeps the camera from falling on its nose. A simple solution I wish was added on other unstable cameras.

For the collector, I would highly recommend both models. It shows the poor US camera-making ability, warts and all. They are freely available at modest prices.

Camera passport

Utility Mfg. Camera family list

	Model	Year	Type	Format	Notes
	Carlton II Fixed VF	1940	Eye level direct view	127	Carlton Candid
	Carlton II Folding VF	1940	Eye level direct view	127
	Cinex delux	1950	Eye level direct	127
	Carlton	1940	Eye level direct view	127	Several styles
	Carlton-Reflex	1940	TLR	120
	Falcon folding		Folder	127	Several models
	Falcon Abbey Electronic	1940	Eye level direct	Rollfilm
	Falcon Junior 16 Box	1940	Box	127
	Falcon Minette	1939	Eye level direct	127	Several styles
	Falcon Miniature	1939	Eye level direct	127	Several styles, Fixed and folding veiwer
	Falcon Miniature Deluxe	1947	Eye level direct	127	Falcon Deluxe Miniature
	Falcon Miniature Flash	1940	Eye level direct	127
	Falcon Model 1		Folder	127
	Falcon Model FE	1939	Viewfinder	127
	Falcon Model V16	1939	Pop out	127
	Falcon Press Flash	1939	Eye level direct	120
	Falcon Rocket	1947	Eye level direct	127	Falcon
	Falcon Special	1939	Viewfinder	127
	Falcon Super Action F	1939	Viewfinder	127
	Falcon-Flex	1939	TLR	127	Spencer
	Falcon-Flex 120	1939	TLR	120
	Falcon Girl Scout	1939	Eye level direct view	1227
	Falcon Junior	1939	Pop out	127
	Falcon Magni-Vue	1940	TLR	120
	Falcon Midget 16		Box	127
	Falcon Minicam Junior	1939	Eye level direct	127
	Falcon Minicam Senior	1940	Viewfinder	127	Falcon
	Falcon Model 2 Automatic	1939	Folder	120
	Falcon Model 4	1939	Folder	120	Spartus No 4
	Falcon Model F	1939	Viewfinder	127
	Falcon Model GE	1939	Viewfinder	120
	Falcon Super Action EF	1939	Viewfinder	127
	Falcon-Flex 127	1940	TLR	127
	Falcon Automatic Model 2	1939	Folder	120
	Falcon Model G	1939	Viewfinder	127
	Marvel Sharpshooter		TLR		???

Utility Falcon F images

Utility Falcon Miniature images