Argus (camera company)

Argus was an American maker of cameras and photographic products, founded in 1936 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Argus originated as a subsidiary of the International Radio Corporation (IRC), founded by Charles Verschoor.

Argus

Argus Building
Industry	Cameras
Founded	1936; 89 years ago (1936)
Defunct	1969; 56 years ago (1969)
Headquarters	Ann Arbor, Michigan, U.S.

History

The International Radio Corporation was founded in 1931 by local businessman William E. Brown Jr., George J. Burke (who was a judge at the Nuremberg trials),^[1] and Charles Albert Vershoor.^[2] IRC started out selling a line of radios, developed by Verschoor, that had a body made out of molded plastic instead of wood. The Model A, the company's first camera, was introduced in May 1936.^[2]

In August 1942, the company stopped all domestic production and focused on producing military optics and radio equipment for the armed forces during World War II.^[2]

The company changed its name to Argus, Inc. in 1944. Argus introduced the Argus Model 21 in 1947, a metal-bodied camera and the company’s first model with an automatic shutter cocking to prevent double exposure and a hot shoe for flash.^[3]

By the end of World War II, Argus had won the Army-Navy “E” award five times for “excellence in design and manufacture of war-related material".^[4][5] Argus Inc. changed its name to Argus Cameras, Inc. in 1949.^[6]

Its best-known product was the C3 rangefinder camera, which enjoyed a 27-year production run and became one of the top-selling cameras in history. The company's Model A was the first low-cost 35 mm camera in the United States.

In 1956, the Argus 50mm f/2.8 Cintagon lens, designed for the C44 camera, was one of the first commercial lenses designed with the aid of a computer.^[3]

In 1957, Sylvania Electric Products acquired the company but continued to operate as Argus. In 1962, Sylvania sold the company to Mansfield Industries, an importer of photography products.^[3] By 1969 it had ceased camera production (some rebadged cameras continued to be sold under the Argus name through the 1970s).^{[citation needed]}

More recently, the Argus brand has been reestablished, and is used on a variety of inexpensive digital cameras made by Argus Camera Company, LLC., located in Inverness, Illinois.

Models

Argus C3

A series

• A (1936–1941)
• AF (1937–1938)
• B (1937)
• A2B (1939–1950)
• A2F (1939–1941)
• AA (1940–1942)
• FA (1950–1951)

C series

Argus 21

• C (1938–1939)
• C2 (1938–1942)
• C3 (1938–1968)
• 21 (1947–1952)
• C4 (1951–1957)
• C44 (1956–1957)
• C3 Golden Shield (1958–1966)
• C3 Matchmatic (1958–1966)
• C3 Standard (1958–1966)
• C44R (1958–1962)
• C4R (1958)
• C33 (1959–1961)

Argoflex

Argoflex Seventy-Five

Argus Seventy-Five (Australian made)

• Argoflex E (1940–1948)
• Argoflex
• Argoflex II (1947)
• Argoflex EM (1948)
• Argoflex EF (1948–1951)
• Argoflex Seventy-Five (1949–1958)

• Argus Seventy-Five (made in Australia)

• Seventy-Five (1949–1958)
• 40 (1950–1954)
• Argoflex Forty (1950–1954)
• Super Seventy-Five (1954–1958)
• 75 (1958–1964)

Autronic

Argus Autronic 35

• Autronic 35 (1960 only)
• Autronic C3 (1960–1962)
• Autronic I (1962–1965)
• Autronic II (1962–1965)

Other models

Argus Lady Carefree, plastic camera for 126 mm film cartridges, c. 1967

• K (1939–1940)
• M (1939–1940)
• A3 (1940–1942)
• CC (1941–1942)
• Minca (1947–1948)
• A5 (1953–1956)
• A-Four (1953–1956)
• C-Twenty (1957–1958)
• Lady Carefree (126, circa 1967)
• Carefree (126)

Digital

Argus DC1500

Argus DC3000

• DCV-011
• DCM-098
• DCM-099
• DC-1088
• DC-1500
• DC-1512E
• DC-2185
• DC-2700
• DC-3000 (May 2000)
• DC-3185
• DC-3190
• DC-3195
• DC-3270DV
• DC-5190
• DC-5195
• DC-5340
• DC-6340

Awards

Argus had two cameras for children developed in partnership with TEAMS Design. The cameras, the Bean and Sprout, won a Bronze 2009 IDEA award^[7] from Bloomberg BusinessWeek and the Industrial Designers Society of America in addition to an Appliance Design 2009 EID award.^[8]

See also

• Argus Museum