Goerz Identification

[Kathik]

Can anyone help me identify a Goerz lens The lense has C P Goerz AM Opt Co No.799701 the aperture scale is 6.8 - 45 That is it Please help thanks

[Ash]

It's a Goerz lens.




Can't expect any further info than that... not without a focal length or a picture.

[Kathik]

My point exactly thanks

[Jan Pedersen]

No focal lenght? 6.8 should be a Dagor and it should be coated.

jan

[Steve Hamley]

Ditto Jan's comment. The aperture scale looks Dagor-type, and the serial indicates it should be coated. Does it say "K1", "K", or anything like that?

I'm guessing it's a Goerz process lens; they made them in maximum apertures of f:6.8, f:9, and f:11.

I have a small 6" Goerz process lens that sounds very similar with the same range serial - jpeg attached.

Cheers,

Steve

[Toyon]

Process lenses are usually dialyts (4 air-spaced elements).

[Steve Hamley]

Not necessarily. Examples are Goerz Trigors, Goerz Kenro K2, Goerz f:11 Argyle, G-Clarons, Computar f:9, American Optical (as shown), and Goerz Double Anastigmat and Dagor Series IV f:11. There were many Dagor-type and plasmat process lenses.

Cheers, Steve

[John Kasaian]

It sounds like one of those ultra-rare APO Dogmars which were the object of an SAS commando raid during the early days of WW2, as a diversionary tactic during Dunkirk. Lt. Hillman Minx discovered this rare jewel when rifling through a motor vehicle office which had originally been thought to be a heavy water manufacturing facility (poor intelligence in those early days) Anyway, the lens was employed in taking photos for Luftwaffe driver's licenses and was far superior to any driver's license camera lens available to the allies. These were hand ground, one at a time by the well known optical genius Maybach Zepplin, the grandson of Baron Von Zepplin of airship fame. Maybach had been an abusive child and spent his time setting small spiders on fire with magnifying lenses. If not for the love and guidence administered by his famous grandfather, he might have ended up in prison of worse. Fortunately he was encouraged to become a lens grinder, as airship building was on the decline by the time young Maybach had graduated from Heidelburg.
The lens was spirited away by Lt Hillman Minx (who was later awarded the OBE for his gallantry) and his commando raiders and eventually wound up in the posession of Winston Churchill, who was a keen amature photographer himself, and when he recognized the potential of this very lens, he offered it to the United States government in payment for several thousand tons of lend lease peanut butter and sixteen C-47s. The US, having not yet entered the war effort, had the lens rebarrelled by CP Goerz Am Opt Co to protect the parties involved in the intregue so as not to overtly offend the then German Ambassador to Washington.

After it was rebarrelled, the lens was sent to Wollensak where it was reversed engineered as part of a WPA project, and put into mass production for use in cameras used to take military driver's licenses. As a result, US Army drivers had the best photographed driver's licenses among all the Allied branches of service. By this time, the US was totally involved in the war and when a GI jeep driver was captured and interrogated by the SS, an examination of his military driver's license told the story.
When Herr Hitler learned of this jealously guarded technology falling into Allied hands, it was reported that he wet his pants.

Post Script---to prevent such instances in which the US might reveal it's "optical hand" to enemy powers in the future, there is now a federal law preventing any lens considered to be "state of the art" to be utilized for the taking driver's license photographs in the United State.

And that, Kathik, is the story of your lens. ;)

[Jan Pedersen]

If it was not for the serial number i would believe you John :D

Try counting the reflections, a good strong flashlight will do. with shutter closed 2 strong and 2 weak reflections from both front and back and you have a Dagor design.

[Paul Bujak]

Nice tale, John. Nothing to do tonight, eh? :D

[Nathan Potter]

And so Kathik if you have your lens carefully evaluated for traces of peanut butter (don't use the FRI, CIA or NSA) its provenence can be positively ascertained.

Good Luck.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[Ash]

Last night I held two shot glasses to my eyes and I saw images of grandeur. Go forth with this lens, your life may be profitable.

[Nathan Potter]

Kathik, sometimes the only window to light from darkroom drudgery and failure, is humor. Don't take all this stuff too seriously.

Nate Potter, Austin TX.

[neil poulsen]

So, on with the story.

Can you mount the lens, focus it on something at "infinity" and measure the distance between the board and the ground glass? That distance would be the approximate focal length.

Is there no other identification?

[Kathik]

John,
I loved the story, maybe I'll use it on my ebay listing. Could really get noticed. Thanks, Kathi

[Kathik]

Thanks for all your suggestions , I am going to try them and I will update you on my findings.Here is a picture, Kathi23208

[Kirk Fry]

Late 70's early 80's 9 1/4 in process dagor. Will cover 8 X 10. The didn't put the focal length on them because it was on the box to the nearest hundredth inch or so. Each lens was very slightly different. They actually measured it. Should be an awesome lens at 3 ft or so. K

[Bernard Kaye]

John did not mention (fatigue?) role of Sir Herbert Austin's spirit of innovation in spiriting fine and so-so lenses out of Germany into Great Britain during the Great War.
Bernie