This camera, made sometime shortly after 1945, was recently acquired from online auction.
It was one of the SADDEST examples of a used camera I have ever seen!
It was filthy inside and out, the light trap had fallen out of the barrel, and the BACK was completely missing.
I cleaned it all up and adjusted it. The only spare back I had was from another camera, the back had a broken off latch and a missing film pressure plate.
So I made a new pressure plate from a carefully cut rectangle of plexiglass backed with strips of foam, and improvised on the back lock.
Day after Christmas I took the little beast to the St. Louis Zoo, loaded with a roll of ASA 200 print film from Walgreens.
I think the camera did its job pretty well.

Remember to click on images to see them enlarged.
All images are ©2008 E.J.Kowalski.