Record Details

Name/TitleTray-Stere­o­scope ‘Stéréo­scope-Classeur portatif’

About this objectThe dis­tinc­tive fea­ture of this stere­o­scope is that the tray, which holds 25 glass stere­oviews, remains fixed in posi­tion while the images are viewed. A turn­ing knob is locat­ed on the side. By rotat­ing this knob clock­wise or anti­clock­wise, an image is select­ed. In doing so, the entire view­ing assem­bly, includ­ing lens­es and tray, moves. On the top of the view­er, an index with 25 num­bers indi­cates the select­ed image, accom­pa­nied by a push button.
Inside, beneath the tray, is a mech­a­nism with 25 fin­gers. When the but­ton on top is pressed, the fin­ger cor­re­spond­ing to the select­ed image is acti­vat­ed and push­es the slide upwards into view­ing posi­tion before the lens­es. Releas­ing the but­ton returns the image back into the tray.
(from: Com­pendi­um of Stereoscopes)

Fur­ther read­ing: Stere­oscopy His­to­ry Series — Mack­en­stein (A. Ruiter)

Place MadeFrance

Mak­erMack­en­stein

Mak­er RoleMan­u­fac­tur­er

Date Madec. 1915

Tech­niqueMul­ti-view, tray-based

Tech­niqueFocus, lens tubes

Peri­od1893–1939

Sub­ject and Asso­ci­a­tion Descrip­tionLe Stéréo­scope-Classeur Por­tatif has a unique mech­a­nism. “Por­tatif” means portable. Although com­pact, the device is too heavy to be clas­si­fied as a true hand-held stereoscope.
The view­er was intro­duced in 1911, but it appears not to have been a com­mer­cial suc­cess, as it no longer fea­tured in the cat­a­logue of Mackenstein’s suc­ces­sors, Suf­fize & Moli­tor, after the First World War. Pro­duc­tion prob­a­bly ceased around 1915, which also explains why the view­er is today a rare collector’s item.

For­mat45x107mm

Object TypeStere­o­scope

Medi­um and Mate­ri­alsglass slides

Object num­berM‑ST017

Copy­right LicenceAll rights reserved