Editing Graflex (section)

{{short description|American camera manufacturer (1887-1973)}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Graflex, Folmer and Schwing Manufacturing Company
|logo = Camera 3 A Graflex - coll cinémathèque Grenoble 1.jpg
|logo_size = 200px
| type = Large format and medium format press cameras and lens manufacturer
| slogan = 
| founded = {{Start date and age|1887}} 
| location_city = New York City
| location_country = USA
| key_people = William F. Folmer and William E. Schwing, founders
| parent           = [[Eastman Kodak Company]] (1909), later [[Singer Corporation]] (1968)
| num_employees = 700
| revenue = 
| defunct = {{End date|1973}}
| industry = [[photography]]
| products = [[Camera]]s, Optical and other products 
| homepage = 
}}
[[File:Crown Graphic flash, 1948 - Musée Nicéphore Niépce - DSC06014.JPG|Graflex Pacemaker Crown Graphic, 1947|thumb]]

'''Graflex''' was a [[manufacturer]] that gave its [[brand name]] to several  [[camera]] models.

The company was founded as the '''Folmer and Schwing Manufacturing Company''' in New York City in 1887 by William F. Folmer and William E. Schwing as a metal working factory, manufacturing gas light fixtures, chandeliers, bicycles and eventually, cameras.<ref name="Kingslake" />

In 1909, it was acquired by [[George Eastman]], and the company was moved to 12 Caledonia Avenue (later renamed Clarissa Street) in [[Rochester, New York]] in 1928. It operated as the Folmer & Schwing Division of the [[Eastman Kodak Company]].<ref name="Kingslake" />

In 1926, Kodak was forced to divest itself of the division, which was spun off forming a new company, the Folmer Graflex Corporation, which changed its name to Graflex Inc. in 1946. In 1956, it became a Division of the General Instrument Precision Company, and moved its offices to Pittsford, New York outside Rochester. In 1968, the company was sold to the [[Singer Corporation]].<ref name="Kingslake">{{cite web|last1=Kingslake|first1=Rudolf|title=The Rochester Camera and Lens Companies|url=http://www.graflex.org/articles/kingslake/|website=Graflex.org|accessdate=30 January 2016|date=March 1974}}</ref><ref name=Schilling/>

Graflex was known for the quintessential press camera, the [[Speed Graphic]] which was manufactured for over 60 years, and was used by most of the photojournalists in the first half of the 20th century.