The Revere Camera Company was started in 1920 by Samuel Briskin, who also started Wollensak Recorders and Opticals.
History
The Revere Camera Company was founded in the early 1920s in Chicago, Illinois, as the Excel Auto Radiator Company by Ukrainian immigrant Samuel Briskin.[1] Built for Excel – and designed by Alfred S. Alschuler,[2] the manufacturing facility was located at 320 E. 21st St., Chicago, Illinois. They started making budget 8 mm movie cameras in 1939 through a subsidiary run by Briskin's sons, such as the Revere 88 Movie Camera and the Revere 85 8mm Projector. That company was later merged into Excel Auto Radiator Co., which then changed its name to Revere Camera Co. The Revere name is taken from the Revere Copper Company.[1]
In November 1952, Revere purchased the nearby Atwell Building – also designed by Alfred S. Alschuler[3]