"Based in Elk Grove Village and resurrected in 1992 by new owner Bill Pearson"
Aha, alright I'll look this up :
Here is a copy/paste history lesson, most words are from "Joe O'Neal" and tiny pictures from Google :
It was the introduction of the Argus model A camera in 1936 that
established the supremacy of the 35mm film format by creating a mass market
for miniature photography and convincing Eastman Kodak Corporation that the
1x1-1/2 inch format had a viable future.
The camera was the brainchild of Ann Arbor entrepreneur Charles A.
Verschoor, the president of the
International Radio Corporation. It was the middle of the Great Depression, and Verschoor was looking for a product that would keep his
factory busy and his employees working during the slow periods of the radio
business, which was highly seasonal. He had become familiar with the Leica
camera during a visit to Europe and believed he could design and mass-produce
a 35mm camera that could be sold cheaply yet was capable of making pictures of
a quality suitable for the audience he had in mind. The Argus A was not a Leica.
It didn’t have the fine machining or precision optics of the German miniature.
But it didn’t have to. It was ideal for the amateur market Verschoor envisioned.
The camera debuted with a list price of $10.00. (That's about $140 in 2006 dollars)
More than 30,000 were sold in the first week. The success changed the company’s direction. Verschoor sold his radio patents, changed the name of the firm to International Research Corporation, and set about developing a line of cameras, slide projectors, darkroom equipment, and other photographic accessories.
One of the most important developments was the introduction of the Argus model C in 1938. This would eventually become the Argus C-3 in 1939, which would become the best selling 35mm camera in the world.
The Argus C-3, the venerable “brick,” would remain in production until 1966 and sell more than 3,000,000 units in its three decade life-span.
The photographic end of the business was very successful. Unfortunately,
a combination of shoddy bookkeeping, poor cost controls, and diversification
into small appliances like electric razors, destroyed the company’s profit
structure.
By the end of 1938, Charles Verschoor was forced to resign. The new
management team restructured the company and eliminated the unprofitable
lines.
Verschoor took control of the Electronic Products Manufacturing
Corporation, also based in Ann Arbor, and continued manufacturing low-end
cameras, projectors and darkroom accessories.
In 1942 the firm was renamed the Verschoor Corporation. After Verschoor’s death in 1943, the company became the Vokar Corporation and moved to Dexter, Michigan. By the mid-50s, it was defunct.
"Vokar" 1946
Argus, in the meantime, now calling itself the Argus subsidiary of
International Industries, dropped its line of darkroom equipment and
concentrated on cameras and projectors. It returned to profitability, but only
barely.
A major introduction of this period was a roll film camera, the Argoflex E
twin-lens reflex, the first American-made camera of that type.
It was the onset of World War II that saved the company. Argus, like all
photo equipment manufacturers, received government contracts and produced
optical and radio equipment for the U. S. Armed Forces. These included items
such as tank periscopes, components for proximity fuses, telescopes, as well as
some cameras.
The government also built a completely new optical manufacturing facility for Argus across the street from the original building. In 1942, the company again changed its name, this time to Argus, Incorporated. By the end of the war, Argus had become the largest private industrial employer in the city of Anne Arbor Michigan.
After the war, Argus kept a number of government contracts to produce
materials for the Armed Forces. The government business continued through the
Korean War. The firm also resumed production of cameras and photographic
equipment for the consumer market, resurrecting its Argoflex E twin-lens reflex
and Argus model A2 and Argus C-3 35mm cameras while introducing a number
of new models.
Once again, though, the company tried to diversify into the home
appliance market. The late 40s recession, minimal name recognition and lack of a
competitive edge in that field doomed the venture, however, and once again,
brought Argus to the brink of bankruptcy.
Management got rid of the appliance division and went back to what it
knew best, photographic equipment manufacture. It signified its new emphasis
on this market by changing its name again in 1951, this time to Argus Cameras,
Incorporated.
Business was relatively profitable for the next few years. In 1957, the
company was sold to Sylvania Electric Products and became a division of the
electrical company. Sylvania had big ideas for Argus and the future looked
bright. Then, in 1961, "General Telephone and Electronics" bought Sylvania. The
new management did not share Sylvania’s outlook for Argus, so Argus had to
go.
In 1962, in a move that left the photographic industry shaking its
collective head in amazement, Mansfield Industries, a small, Chicago-based
company that manufactured a line of inexpensive movie cameras and projectors,
bought Argus on a “pay-as-you-make-a-profit” basis.
Mansfield promptly appropriated the better-known Argus name and named itself as a division of Argus. It moved the Argus/Mansfield headquarters to Chicago, although some manufacturing stayed in Ann Arbor.
The company never made much of a profit and never was able to pay
Sylvania. In 1965, Sylvania took back control of Argus and Mansfield faded into
obscurity. By this time, though, the American camera industry was in severe
decline. Like the other American camera manufacturing companies, Argus found
it difficult to compete with the feature-rich, less expensive and higher quality
Japanese imports. Argus had already been importing foreign-made cameras
rebadged as Argus and this practice would continue for the rest of the
company’s life.
In 1966, Argus manufactured its last American-made still camera,
fittingly enough, an Argus C-3. The company continued to manufacture movie
cameras and movie and slide projectors. All of its still cameras were imported.
In 1969, Sylvania sold Argus to a group of Italian financiers. Argus once
again became an independent company. In 1970, Argus opened a projector
manufacturing plant in South Carolina, while management
promised to keep some manufacturing going in Ann Arbor.
By this time, the Ann Arbor part of Argus had gone from a peak complement of 1,200 employees to fewer than 100. The promise to stay in Ann Arbor was soon forgotten and by 1973, Argus had left the area.
More recently, the Argus brand has been reestablished and is used on a variety of inexpensive digital cameras made by Argus Camera Company, LLC., located in Inverness, IL.
Recently, Argus had two unique new cameras for kids developed in partnership with TEAMS Design. The cameras, the Bean and Sprout
