1840s-1901
Edward Anthony's New York photographic business grew into E. & H. T. Anthony & Company, a major supplier and apparatus maker; Scovill & Adams formed the other principal predecessor.
Ansco and Bausch & Lomb
9 and 14 researched events on one shared scale. Ansco 1840–1967, Bausch & Lomb 1853–present.
The axis stretches where either maker has research and collapses where neither does, so a year sits opposite the same year on both. Event counts differ because research depth differs, not because one company did less.
1840s
1850s
Rochester shop takes root
1853-1860
John Jacob Bausch opened a small optical shop in Rochester in 1853. Henry Lomb, another German immigrant, lent him $60 and became his partner. Their early trade centered on imported spectacles and optical goods, but the partnership paired Bausch's practical lens work with Lomb's commercial discipline.
A History of Rochester Camera and Lens Companies · History & Heritage
1860s
Vulcanite changes the scale
1861-1876
During the Civil War, imported horn for eyeglass frames became scarce. Bausch adapted Charles Goodyear's vulcanite hard rubber to frame production in 1861, giving the firm a scalable American-made product. The business used the Vulcanite Optical Instrument name before returning to Bausch & Lomb Optical Company in 1876.
A History of Rochester Camera and Lens Companies · History & Heritage
1870s
Instruments lead toward photography
1875-1883
Microscope production began in the mid-1870s and pushed the Rochester works toward precision optical manufacture. By 1883 the company was making photographic lenses. That sequence matters: photography grew from an established instrument shop with glassworking, mechanical, and measurement skills rather than from a camera cabinetmaker.
A History of Rochester Camera and Lens Companies · History & Heritage
1880s
Shutters join the lens business
1887-1888
Edward Bausch patented a between-the-lens iris diaphragm and shutter in 1887, and commercial shutter manufacture followed. Bausch & Lomb soon supplied both essential sides of the camera's optical package. A surviving circa-1895 stereo camera shows lenses, pneumatic shutter, focus, and movements combined in a complete instrument.
Folding plate stereoscopic camera · A History of Rochester Camera and Lens Companies · History & Heritage
1890s
Zeiss agreement reshapes catalog
1892-1917
An 1892 agreement made Bausch & Lomb the American producer of important Zeiss anastigmat designs. Planar, Unar, Tessar, and Protar names joined Rochester-made Plastigmat and Universal lenses. The initial contractual era changed during the First World War, yet Bausch & Lomb catalogs continued several design names afterward.
Semi-Centennial Catalog: Photographic Lenses, Shutters and Apparatus · A History of Rochester Camera and Lens Companies · Photographic Lenses and Shutters, F-11 V-28
1900s
1901-1907
Anthony and Scovill combined, and the shortened Ansco identity emerged while Binghamton became the principal industrial center.
History of Ansco · Ansco 1906 Product Catalog · Ansco 1842-1967
Factory breadth becomes visible
1903-1928
By 1903 the company reported roughly half a million photographic lenses and 550,000 shutters made. Catalogs from 1904, 1920, and 1928 reveal a striking range: still-camera, portrait, process, projection, photomicrographic, telephoto, wide-angle, and motion-picture optics, backed by Rochester optical-glass work.
Bausch & Lomb Photographic Lenses, Shutters and Accessories · Semi-Centennial Catalog: Photographic Lenses, Shutters and Apparatus · A History of Rochester Camera and Lens Companies · Photographic Lenses and Shutters, F-11 V-28
1906-1924
Manufacturer catalogs document broad lines of box, folding, plate, and professional cameras with multiple lens and shutter packages.
Ansco 1906 Product Catalog · Ansco Cameras and Supplies, 1924 · Ansco 1910 Product Catalog
1920s
Cinema demands faster optics
1920s-1930s
Motion pictures asked for speed, even coverage, reliable focusing mounts, and repeatable manufacture. The 1928 catalog paired f/3.5 cine Tessars with a 50 mm f/2.7 Ultra Rapid Anastigmat. Later Baltars extended that cinema branch, preparing the ground for the better-documented Super Baltar series.
Super Baltar Lenses · Photographic Lenses and Shutters, F-11 V-28
1928-1939
The American Ansco business combined with Agfa interests as Agfa-Ansco and participated in wider chemical-company reorganizations; product attribution became transatlantic.
1930s
1937-1941
Agfa-Ansco expanded Binghamton camera operations into the Emma Street factory during a period of industrial growth.
1940s
Aerial mapping widens the field
1940s
Bausch & Lomb's Metrogon adapted wide-angle optical thinking to aerial mapping. Period technical literature describes lenses selected for large negatives and controlled distortion, including the widely used 6-inch f/6.3 class. A Harvard collection specimen preserves the K-22 association and physical evidence.
Some Recent Developments in the Photogrammetric Equipment Field · Metrogon wide angle aircraft lens
1942-1945
Federal alien-property authority took control of enemy-associated interests; a 1943 vesting order specifically covered IG Farben interests in agreements with Agfa Ansco and Ansco Photoproducts.
Civilian Agency Records RG 131 - Records of the Office of Alien Property · Federal Register, October 28, 1943, pages 14634-14636
1946-1950s
Postwar production resumed under government supervision, including the Binghamton-built Automatic Reflex and a portfolio mixing domestic snapshot cameras with German-derived equipment.
Your Ansco Automatic Reflex · A Brief History of Ansco · Ansco Cameras, catalog B34-111
1950s
1950s-1960
Period literature documents Agfa-derived 35mm and 120 cameras, alternative outside-supplier lenses, and the Anscomark M interchangeable-lens system.
Ansco Cameras, catalog B34-111 · Ansco Miniature Cameras, brochure B52-95 · Ansco Dealer Price List, September 1960
CinemaScope reaches theaters
1953-1955
Bausch & Lomb worked with 20th Century-Fox on the combination lenses used for CinemaScope photography. The wide-screen process arrived commercially in 1953, and the Academy's technical awards record recognized both organizations for the lens work. The episode put Rochester optics into a highly visible industrial transition.
Scientific and Technical Awards database · History & Heritage
1960s
1960-1967
Ansco increasingly used Japanese OEM supply while the corporate identity moved toward GAF; the historical Ansco camera operation narrowed.
Super Baltars leave Earth
1960s
The Super Baltar cinema family ranged from 20 mm through 9 inches in a 1967 brochure, with faster apertures at the shorter focal lengths. A NASA technical report identifies a 76 mm f/2 Bausch & Lomb Super Baltar in the Ranger camera system, connecting a studio lens line to lunar reconnaissance.
Super Baltar Lenses · The Ranger VII Flight Path and Its Determination From Tracking Data
1970s
Eye care becomes the center
1971-1999
The company's photographic achievements remained part of its identity, but eye care increasingly drove the operating business. SofLens contact lenses arrived in 1971, followed by expansion in lens-care, pharmaceutical, and surgical products. By the end of the century, cameras and photographic objectives were legacy fields rather than the corporate center.
2000s
Ownership changes twice
2007-2013
Warburg Pincus completed a take-private acquisition in October 2007 in a transaction valued at about $4.5 billion including debt. Valeant then completed its acquisition in August 2013, making the business a subsidiary. These transactions changed ownership and financing, not the historical attribution of Rochester photographic products.
Valeant acquisition completion filing · Warburg Pincus acquisition completion announcement
2020s
Public listing returns
2022
Bausch + Lomb returned to public markets in May 2022 under the BLCO symbol while Bausch Health retained a controlling interest. The offering created a separately traded eye-health company but did not revive photographic-lens production. Present corporate status should therefore be kept distinct from the vintage catalog.
Bausch + Lomb Corporation 2025 Form 10-K · Bausch + Lomb initial public offering closing filing
Rochester continuity remains
2025–present
The 2025 annual filing describes a global eye-health company with about 13,000 employees and roughly 400 products, with Bausch Health still holding about 88 percent in February 2026. It also records substantial owned Rochester office, research, and manufacturing space, preserving a real geographic continuity.
Read either maker on its own: Ansco · Bausch & Lomb