From: Stanley E Yoder 
                                    Subject: Re: ILEX?
                                    
                                    Excerpts from mail: 6-Jun-98 Re: ILEX? by "Lars Van"@VISER.NET 
                                    > noticed someone
                                    > has what looks like an A style camera but refers to it as an "ARGUS ILEX
                                    > PRECISE." I have never heard that term & was wondering if anyone had any
                                    > info? Could it be a rare something? I doubt I'll bid on it but I thought it
                                    > was interesting anyway.
                                    
                                    Here is what Lahue and Bailey* say about the Argus A and Ilex:
                                    
                                    "The Argus A incorporated an Ilex combination designed especially for
                                    its use: the 50mm IRCF f/4.5 anastigmat lens mounted in a self-cocking
                                    Argus-Ilex-Precise shutter......the suspicion that its rated aperture
                                    was not f/4.5 was widely held in the trade.....Interested persons still
                                    maintain that bench testing of the Argus A's lens proves it to be about
                                    f/6.3 in aperture, with a shutter correspondingly slower than marked to
                                    compensate........It appears that this lens and shutter cost IRC $1."
                                    
                                    *Lahue & Bailey, "Glass, Brass, & Chrome", 1972, U. of Oklahoma Press,
                                    Norman, p.139.
                                    

Date: Sun, 07 Jun 1998 01:03:31
                                    
                                    I believe what was being auctioned here was probably a rather early
                                    Model A, which used an Ilex Precise shutter. It is possible that Ilex
                                    either made or supplied the lens as well as the shutter for this camera.
                                    I have one of these. On the front of the shutter, at the top, is lettered
                                    "ARGUS-ILEX-PRECISE". And at the bottom is lettered "I.R.C. F4.5 ANASTIGMAT",
                                    which probably means that ARGUS (then known as International Research Corp.),
                                    might have taken credit for the lens. 
                                          This camera, unlike later A's, has a brass "take-up spool" and a
                                    brass "half sprocket" as opposed to later models which used a "white"
                                    METAL (probably aluminum) for these parts, and had a "double" sprocket.
                                          The one I have is not the earliest model A since I have read that 
                                    the earliest ones have a steel back instead of aluminum, and do not have
                                    a tripod socket. Mine has aluminum back and does have tripod socket.
                                          Hope this info helps.        
                                                                                 Charles