Bruguière No. 9 Viewer from France
 

 

BRUGUIÈRE

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BRUGUIÈRE viewers were manufactured in France for many decades during the 20th Century. Initially the viewers just utilised single views, however, to maintain competitiveness they were forced to abandon this format in the late 1950's in favour of the multiple view formats being offered by other manufacturers, most notably Sawyers View-Master. George Bruguiere took over the Colorelief company in 1965, then only to be taken over himself by Lestrade in 1974.

Bruguiere No. 1 Viewer

The first Bruguiere viewer, appropriately named the No. 1. A simple but effective viewer made from thick cardboard and dating back to the late 1940's. The lenses are glass and focusing is achieved by sliding the rear half of the viewer to the appropriate position until a clear image is achieved. When viewing a slide it is possible to read the slide's name as an aperture has been cut in the middle of the central inner support.


Bruguiere No. 7 Viewer

Using the same concept as the earlier No. 1 viewer above, this 1950's updated and streamlined design works every bit as well as the earlier model. Images are bright and clear. This viewer is manufactured from injection moulded  plastic.


Bruguiere No. 9 Viewer

Manufactured in France in mid 1950's. This viewer has a snakeskin pattern and is primarily made from cardboard, It has good quality glass lenses. The viewer can be focused by simply pulling the rear of the box in and out. The image considerably magnified when compared to the No. 1 shown above, but the slide name cannot be read as with the No. 1 as the internal support bar is solid. This is a very unsophisticated viewer but despite that, the viewing quality is very high and the pictures bright.


Bruguiere slides consist of two photographs on a single plate contained in a protective clear wallet. Each slide stored in the box has a thin sheet of tissue between it and it's neighbour to prevent them sticking or marking each other. The picture quality is very high, owning to the use of a 35mm format.

Musee Oceangraphique                                        Lourdes.  Place Monseigneur-Laurence

          

A scan of two sides of the Bruguière No. 9 Viewer box

Bruguiere Stereocolor Viewer

This Bruguiere Stereocolor viewer from the 1950's could show two different types of slide. One type consisted of just one stereo pair, mounted in a plastic mount. To view this type two inserts had to be removed from each side of the viewer to allow the full picture to be seen.

The second type of slide needed the the two inserts in place to block out unnecessary light. These slides consisted of eight pictures, four stereo pairs, mounted in a horizontal line. These were fed through the viewer by means of rotating a knob, located at the bottom of the viewer. The slides were supplied in boxes of three, giving twelve views in all.


The two formats of slide that could be viewed using this viewer

The inserts are removed when viewing the lower style of slide

 

      

Bruguiere Stereoclic Viewers

The Stereoclic viewer range was manufactured in France by Bruguiere and was a development from the single view viewers to multi-view to attempt to combat the threat posed by the highly successful Sawyer's View-Master range. Rather than using a circular reel, like the View-Master viewers, it used a strip of eight stereo pairs which feed from the top down, being advanced by a side lever. The quality of the pictures is quite good and they typically provide a stereo picture with good depth.

An example of a Stereoclic Model 10

This viewer has two notable features. It has a set of focusing eye-pieces and two advance leavers, one operates by moving the slide down and the other by moving it up. It was manufactured between approx 1958 and 1963.


A Stereoclic Model 11 (also know as a Stereoclic Junior)


A later version of the Stereoclic Model 11, still bearing the name "Junior". The production of this later version item had been simplified with less parts, for example, the lack of lens rings and a simplified advance lever.


This is an example of a Stereoclic 'Super' from the mid 1960's

Notice the metal focusing ring in between the lenses. This viewer is identical to the Colorelief Stereoclic. George Bruguiere took mover the Colorelief company in 1965 and this resulted in some items being sold under two different brand names for a short period of time.


 

Two different style of Stereoclic slide. (The one to the left is older and has narrower pictures)

La Vision Stereoscopique
Stereo Slide Viewer

Lumiclic
Mono Slide Projector

Bruguiere Babyclic

Bruguiere also manufactured this extremely rare 'one eye' slide viewer, the baby of the Stereoclic family, appropriately called the Babyclic. Slides manufactured for this viewer bore the name Babycolor. The black lever, visible on the top of the viewer, allowed it to be focused, giving a bright and detailed image. Exact manufactured date is not known, but is assumed to be early 1960's.


      

Although currently unverified, it is thought that the Bruguiere company was taken over and closed down by Lestrade sometime in the late 1960's, in order to reduce competition in the 3D viewer marketplace.

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