American Optical Company. Scovill Manufacturing Company. The Scovill Detective Camera was a leather-covered camera in the 4 x 5 in. format. It featured a red internal bellows and had a rotary string-set shutter and two separate viewfinders. Controls for focusing, cocking, and setting the shutter speed were located within the camera's recessed base. This example is equipped with its original R. Morrison 6-inch lens with a set of Waterhouse stops. The leather flap for the Waterhouse stops is present but detached. 

The Scovill Detective Camera made it first appearance as early as 1883, in Scovill's The Photographic Amateur, Second Edition. Early Scovill advertisements for this camera intentionally showed little detail in an effort to preserve its "detective" identity.