The No. 2 Magazine Cyclone Camera is a falling-plate camera which, when fully loaded, held ten glass plates in metal holders. Image size was 3¼ by 4¼ inches, also known as quarter plate. The Magazine Cyclone cameras were also made in Nos. 3, 4, and 5 designations.

As is shown in the photo below right, the inside of the camera has two metal rails upon which the plateholders were mounted (in the darkroom). Once the exposure was made, a knob on top made the exposed plate fall forward out of the way. Not a design for the ages, many a photographer discovered when he opened his camera in the darkroom some of the glass plates cracked from impact.

Western Camera Mfg. Co. was only in business on its own for a year - in 1899, it moved from Chicago to Rochester, New York, and merged with four other companies to become the Rochester Optical Company. This new company intended to be a serious competitor to Eastman Kodak, but by 1903 they were losing money rapidly. Kodak bought them out for $300,000, and continued some of the camera lines, but not the Magazine Cyclone.

Click here to see the Western Camera Mfg. Co.'s 'Pocket Zar' camera and plates

Click here to see a Western Camera Mfg. Co. ad for the Cyclone Camera.

Click here to see a Rochester Optical Company Cyclone Sr. Camera.