Ilex Optical Co
Ilex Optical Co. is the same one who made the lens-shutter
assenbly for the Argus A. I'm relatively sure that there was only one
Ilex Optical Co. I believe they also made a shutter for larger format
called ACME ILEX. I wonder if Ilex had any connection with Wollensak.
Some of their products looked pretty similar.
Some of the other Argus cameras, (E series TLR,s and maybe
FA,s) used Wollensak "Alphax" shutters, which were similar to the Ilex.
The Argus E shutter is marked "Wollensak Rochester USA" and the FA
shutter has no such marking, but they sure look a lot alike, as well
as some of the later A2B,s shutters.
Bob Kelly or Phil Sterrit or Carl Turner might have some comment
about this subject.
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.
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