Gastro Photor Camera
date: label: date made
content: early 1940s
notes: label: Description
content: Camera with an “... / MANUFACTURED BY / GASTRO-PHOTOR LABORATORIES /NEW YORK, N.Y. /.../...” inscription, manufactured in the 1940s and used to photograph stomachs for diagnostic purposes. Frank Gerhard Back (1902-1983) was a Jewish mechanical engineer from Vienna who worked for Wolf, manufacturer of endoscopes, and moved to the United States in 1939.
label: Description
content: Ref: “Candid Camera Photographs Interior of Human Stomach,” The Science News-Letter 37 (June 8, 1940): 356-357.
label: Description
content: Franz G. Back, “Motion Picture Camera,” U.S. Patent 2,297,603 (Sept. 29, 1942), assigned in part to Gastro-Photor Laboratories.
label: Description
content: Nick Hall, “Frank G. Back and the Postwar Television Zoom Lens,” Technology and Culture 57 (2016): 353-379.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New York, New York City
topic: label: associated subject
content: Endoscopy
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Medicine
label: See more items in
content: Health & Medicine
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Richard Kahn, M.D.
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1990.0229.01
label: catalog number
content: 1990.0229.01
label: accession number
content: 1990.0229
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Gastro-Photor Camera
label: Other Terms
content: Gastro-Photor Camera; Endoscopy
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood, walnut (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: bakelite (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: rubber (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: plastic (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: black (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: white (overall color)
label: Physical Description
content: red (overall color)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 34.7 cm x 50.5 cm x 30.3 cm; 13 11/16 in x 19 7/8 in x 11 15/16 in
label: Measurements
content: overall: 13 1/2 in x 20 in x 12 in; 34.29 cm x 50.8 cm x 30.48 cm