view-master
something old...
The View-Master has a long history, dating back to the late 1930's in Portland, Oregon, USA. It was initially conceived by William Gruber and Harold Graves. Graves, who was president of Sawyers Photographic Services saw the potential of Gruber's camera rig he has developed for taking stereo photographs. The pair formed a partnership and the View-Master was born in 1938.
Initially it was intended that the View-Master be an educational tool, primarily aimed at adults, but as time developed the appeal of the View-Master soon spread to other areas, one of the more notable being children's entertainment.
The US Military were keen advocates of the View-Master and had specially commissioned sets of reels produced to aid with artillery spotting and aircraft identification during World War II. They purchased many millions of reels for this purpose, together with 10's of thousands of Model B viewers.
Sawyers didn't have the market to themselves and the Tru-Vue Company was a serious rival. In 1951 Sawyers purchases the Tru-Vue Company and importantly also obtained the rights to present Disney characters on their reels.
texture by skeletalmess
www.flickr.com/photos/skeletalmess/collections/7215761567...
view-master
something old...
The View-Master has a long history, dating back to the late 1930's in Portland, Oregon, USA. It was initially conceived by William Gruber and Harold Graves. Graves, who was president of Sawyers Photographic Services saw the potential of Gruber's camera rig he has developed for taking stereo photographs. The pair formed a partnership and the View-Master was born in 1938.
Initially it was intended that the View-Master be an educational tool, primarily aimed at adults, but as time developed the appeal of the View-Master soon spread to other areas, one of the more notable being children's entertainment.
The US Military were keen advocates of the View-Master and had specially commissioned sets of reels produced to aid with artillery spotting and aircraft identification during World War II. They purchased many millions of reels for this purpose, together with 10's of thousands of Model B viewers.
Sawyers didn't have the market to themselves and the Tru-Vue Company was a serious rival. In 1951 Sawyers purchases the Tru-Vue Company and importantly also obtained the rights to present Disney characters on their reels.
texture by skeletalmess
www.flickr.com/photos/skeletalmess/collections/7215761567...