Posted: Fri Dec 25, 2009 5:06 pm Post subject: |
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Sevo wrote:
The history of ISCO (Ioseph SChneider Optik) Göttingen is somewhat obscure - or rather it seems to have been actively obscured. They branched out of Schneider in 1936, supposedly to create motion picture taking lenses. But there is no sane reason why a cinema lens division would have to be legally entirely separate, so ISCO most likely was something "special". It is not unlikely that the cine lenses were merely the cloak for a skunkworks operation that essentially built aerial lenses for the still not entirely legitimate Luftwaffe and while keeping the main Schneider company out of possible trouble over the patent violations inevitable in creating cutting edge strategic products. In WWII, ISCO immediately was a relevant aerial lens supplier while Schneider proper trailed behind in their conversion to military production, so ISCO obviously had previous experience in that domain.
ISCO always was formally separate, though it originally started with the same shareholders. Post war it slowly went into entirely different ownership, though it still shared some pre war and wartime intellectual property with Schneider Kreuznach, and was a frequent Schneider licensee. ISCO was purchased by Schneider two years ago. _________________ Sevo |