Serendipity lens that I can't ID

[Patrick13]

This brassy lens was found stuffed into the bottom of a box full of random sized sheet film holders (which itself is another good find), and I can't find any net info on it beyond that the company had one patent.

It's small, sits neatly in a 3" square lens board. Has waterhouse stops set into a wheel. I'm still trying to figure out the lens configuration, but it looks like either a single or thin pair at each end. ((___))

Markings on the barrel are as follows:

WA Symmetrical
6^2 X 8^2 Equi 6" (where the ^ denotes that the 2 is raised and smaller)
Standard Opt. Co. Newark NJ

Pardon the image quality, it's not easy getting a useful shot on the spur of the moment.

116246

[Patrick13]

After two hours of digging around I make the following assumptions:

It's a variety of rectilinear or rapid rectilinear, and wide angle. It's most likely built like ((|____|)) but it's very hard to tell because the elements are pretty thin.

The 6x8 is a common style of marking on brass barrels to show what plate size they cover, if whole plate is roughly 6.5” x 8.5” then I'll guess that's what this covers.

The 6" is a second common, additional notation specifying focal length, and a 6" is indeed wide angle on a 5x7 so that must be right.

I was wrong in calling it waterhouse, it's a wheel stop, first seen in 1846 but popular in 1880-1890 and especially on wide angle lenses.

Is there any way to date this? I can't find any company records, mostly because "standard optical company" is a very generic word combination.

How am I doing so far?

In any case, I have a universal iris I can shove it into and see what's what this weekend and late this month when my new bellows are ready.

[Steven Tribe]

It is the whole plate size as it shows 6 (2) x 8 (2) - obviously meaning 6 1/2 x 8 1/2".

Standard Optical was a small company that was "eaten up/rescued" by another company - which the US experts will explain.

These wide angled rectilinears/periscopes have lenses that are so close together that they lost popularity when mid lens shutters became everyman's first choice. F16 also provides a challenge in focussing!