Although much more a feature of the divided-back era, many photographic studios, when printing the efforts of their customers did so on postcard blanks.
The Eastman Kodak Company was founded by George Eastman (1854 to 1932) and Henry A. Strong (1838 to 1919) on 4 September 1888, and headquartered in Rochester, New York. It was best known for its photographic film and paper products. In 1903, Kodak introduced a camera (the No. 3A Folding Pocket Kodak) designed for postcard-size film, allowing the public to take photographs and have them printed on postcard backs. The Kodak postcard camera was discontinued in 1943. In 1907, Kodak introduced a service called “real photo postcards” (“RPPCs”), which enabled customers to make a postcard from any picture they took. Similarly, in 1902, Eastman Kodak began selling silver chloride photo paper with a pre-printed postcard back. The papers were marketed under various subsidiary company names: Velox, ASO, AZO, EKC, Solio, Artura, Aristo, and Kodak (brand). The postcard back heading Photo Post Card with the stamp box wording Kodak Paper dates to 1950 and later. Source: Dumbarton Oaks
The result is a number of unique cards.
R P Donaldson’s New Year 1903 card
In the 1904-1905 season Donaldson played in the front row of Edinburgh Academy rugby 4th XV. On 6 May 1911 Donaldson was part of the Edinburgh University cricket team that easily beat Aberdeen University.
Between 1893 and 1904 T Nisbet, farmer, was at Forthar, Freuchie, Fife.
Whether the ringed plovers returned to their nest after Master Donaldson’s photographic efforts must be a matter of conjecture.
Edgar’s Cart in 1906
This “Road” was a trifle muddy in the early spring as you can see. The buildings at the back are the Aluminium Pressworks. This cart had to be finally dug out and unloaded. Edgar.
The works in Edgar’s photograph appear to be the Aluminum Plate and Press Company Inc, North ave and Berckman, Plainfield, New Jersey and 87 Nassau, New York.
From our New Haven Correspondent. Master Mechanic Jerome LEARY of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company has resigned his position. He has accepted a flattering offer from the Aluminum Plate and Press Company, of Plainfield, N. J., to take charge of its plant, at a salary, it is said, of $5,000 a year.
The Irish World And American Industrial Liberator 25 February 1899
Philip Wells Hall (died 17 February 1952 aged 75) printing press manufacturer and inventor, began his career with the Aluminum Plate and Press Company of Plainfield, which in 1903 became the Hall Printing Press Company of Dunellen. As president, he retired in 1924, when the concern was absorbed by R Hoe & Co of New York.
In 1899 and 1902 the company filed several patent applications related to printing including a margin-roller for rotary printing-machines, a sheet-slitting device for printing-presses and a machine for the graining of metal printing or lithographic plates.
The U.S. Steel recognition strike of 1901 was an unsuccessful attempt by the Amalgamated Association of Iron, Steel and Tin Workers to reverse its declining fortunes and organize large numbers of new members. Indianapolis News of 20 May 1901 reported on the state of the strike in Plainfield; fully 1,000 machinists and helpers struck. They were employed in the shops of the Scott Printing Press Company, the Potter pressworks, the Campbell pressworks and the Aluminum Plate and Press works. On 2 June 1901 the New York Times reported that the first break in the strike situation in Plainfield came on the afternoon of 1 June when Superintendent J.W. Leary of the Aluminum Plate and Press Works granted his men the nine hours a day with ten hours’ pay schedule. The works then employed 130 machinists.
Out and about with the Knox sisters
Annabel sent these two photocards to the Knox sisters on the same occasion. The photographs show an overlapping group of individuals on different occasions. The cards were sent to and from Strathmiglo, a village and parish in Fife, Scotland on the River Eden.
Off to the Show
This black-faced ram is printed on a Kodak blank some time after the undivided-back era.
Perambulation
1905 trainspotting
The Rete Adriatica Class 500, classified after 1905 in the Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane (FS; Italian State Railways) as Class 670 (Italian: Gruppo 670) was an unorthodox and iconic cab forward 4-6-0 (2’C) steam locomotive.
The Class 670 was designed by Engineer Giuseppe Zara of the Rete Adriatica (one of the two major railway companies in Italy at the beginning of the twentieth century); its design was very unorthodox, as the boiler was reversed on the frames, so that the cab and the firebox were leading and supported by the bogie, while the cylinders were at the rear. The compound arrangement was also highly peculiar, as it was the first experiment with the Plancher compound engine: this arrangement meant that there were four cylinders, in which the two high pressure (HP) ones and the two low pressure (LP) ones were paired together respectively on the left-hand and the right-hand side of the boiler, and each pair was served by a single piston valve through a crossed-port arrangement. While simplifying the valve gear, this feature made it difficult to equalize the work done by each pair of cylinders, and this provoked hunting.
The locomotive also had a peculiar arrangement for its tender; the coal was kept near the cab on the left side of the locomotive, while a tender carried either 15,000 or 20,000 litres (3,300 or 4,400 imp gal; 4,000 or 5,300 US gal) of water, depending on the series.
The first locomotive, initially classified as RA 3701 (later changed to RA 500), was taken to France and subjected to trials with a dynamometer car loaned by the Chemin de Fer de l’Ouest, which were successful. As a result, another forty-two were built by Ernesto Breda and the German firm Borsig-Werke.
When in 1905 the railways in Italy were nationalised, the Ferrovie dello Stato initially reclassified the locomotives as Class 690 (FS 69XX), and later Class 670.
As well as the photograph, this 1905 card to AH Brewer in Bristol provides good information on this RA 5020 engine, listing its six couple bogie and four cylinder compound
Source: wikipedia
Elegant German Lady
Doon the watter in 1902
A photograph taken on a Clyde steamer.
During the late 19th century the Callan family were dairy farmers and farmed the lands of Fenwickland Farm, where Belmont in Ayr stands today. Thomas Callan decided to leave farming after the First World War and he started an apprenticeship with Dewar’s Auctioneers in Ayr’s Kyle Street. Dewar’s before starting up his own auctioneering business at 108 High Street, Ayr.
Colombo Harbour
The Port of Colombo fell to the British in 1796, when they first arrived on the island. However it remained a Kandyan Kingdom military outpost until it was surrendered in 1815. The Port was made the capital of the new British crown colony called Ceylon. The British decided to build houses and civilian buildings rather than making it into a military centre, giving birth to the modern Port of Colombo.
In 1865, the Municipal Council was created by the British in the Port of Colombo in an effort to teach the local population self-governance. The Colombo Municipal Council was practically the Legislative Council of Ceylon, meeting for the first time in 1866. In 1912, the Port was converted into a sheltered harbour, and the Colombo Port Commission was established in 1913. Much of the city was planned during the British occupation of the Port of Colombo.
Today the Port of Colombo is the largest and busiest port in Sri Lanka and the Indian Ocean. Located on the southwestern shores on the Kelani River, because of its strategic location in the Indian Ocean, it serves as an important terminal in Asia. During the 1980s, the port underwent rapid modernization with the installation of Cranes, Gantries and other modern-day terminal requirements.
Currently with a capacity of 7 million TEUs and a dredged depth of over 15 m (49 ft), the Colombo Harbour is one of the busiest ports in the world, and ranks among the top 25 ports. It is also one of the biggest artificial harbours in the world, handling most of the country’s foreign trade. It has an annual cargo tonnage of 30.9 million tons. The port is also the naval base for Sri Lanka Navy Western Fleet under the Commander Western Naval Area (COMWEST). The Port of Colombo is home to the second tallest building in South Asia and is the centre for many commercial interests.
Source: wikipedia
Wimbledon Common in 1903
This is a bit of Wimbledon Common about 2 miles from here – a lovely walk and very pretty. Sorry I have not one of Cissy by me at present at the moment but shall be doing some others soon.
ROH to Misses Trengrouse, 7 Saltram Place, Plymouth
Wimbledon Common is London’s largest common, covering 1,200 acres including Putney Heath in the north. It consists mainly of a plateau of acidic grassland without a summit. Soils are impoverished gravels, ideal for heathland and bogs. The land falls away to mature woodlands and much of the geology is predominantly London clay.
The Common was for centuries part of the Manor of Mortlake, owned by the Archbishops of Canterbury, with rights of hunting and grazing granted to local tenants. It acquired a reputation as a duelling ground: the politicians Pitt the Younger, Castlereagh and Canning were among those who fought here. Earl Spencer gained legal authority to enclose the common in 1803, but backed down in the face of local protests.
In a cottage beside the windmill, the Common’s best-known landmark, Robert Baden-Powell began to write Scouting for Boys in 1907. Elizabeth Beresford created the Wombles of Wimbledon Common in 1968 and the environmentally-conscious creatures gained their own television series five years later.
Sources: Hidden London; wpcc.org.uk
Undivided-back Postcards 