General · EdgepediaOctober 15, 20265 min read

Bell and Howell (company)

Bell & Howell was an American motion-picture equipment manufacturer founded in Chicago in 1907 by Donald J. Bell and Albert S. Howell, whose precision 35mm cameras and projectors helped set the technical standards of the early film industry; the name survives today on automation services, scanners, and licensed consumer electronics.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Founded	1907 in Chicago by Donald J. Bell and Albert S. Howell, organized with $5,000 in capital stock¹^•³
Signature product	The 2709 standard professional 35mm motion picture camera, introduced in 1912 and produced until 1958⁴
Industry role	Its 35mm-only equipment was the basis for many early SMPTE standards; by 1919 nearly 100 percent of Hollywood studios' professional camera equipment was Bell & Howell⁵^•⁶
Scale	About 500 employees and $1 million in annual sales by 1925; sales passed $50 million in 1957 and approached $1 billion in 2000⁷
Recognition	First Academy Award (Oscar) for technical achievement in 1951⁸
End of the original company	December 2002 merger with Böwe Systec Inc. to form Böwe Bell & Howell⁷
Name today	Split among an automation company owned by WestView, a scanner line managed by Kodak Alaris, and consumer products run by BHH, LLC through Emson Inc.²

Founding and early years

Donald Joseph Bell, a motion picture promoter and projectionist, and Albert Summers Howell, an engineer and machinist, had previously worked together repairing motion picture machines before launching the company in 1907.⁹ The firm began with roughly a dozen employees, and repair work made up about half of its early workload.³ Bell served as chairman and de facto salesman while Howell, at 28, was secretary and chief engineer.³

The company's equipment addressed the two major problems of the fledgling movie industry: flickering images and the lack of standardization of equipment. By manufacturing and servicing equipment solely in the 35mm size, Bell & Howell made 35mm film the industry standard, and its early 35mm standards became the basis for many standards issued by the SMPE, now the SMPTE.⁸^•⁵

The 2709 and Hollywood dominance

The company's hand-cranked 35mm professional camera, the 2709, was introduced in 1912. It was an all-metal design prized for sharp, stable images, and it allowed operators to frame and focus shots before recording. From the late 1910s to the late 1920s it was the most widely used camera in Hollywood studios, though it was heavy and tripod-mounted.⁴^•¹⁰ Charlie Chaplin bought a 2709, serial number 227, in 1918 for about $2,000 and used it on location for The Gold Rush (1925).⁴ Production of the 2709 design ceased in 1958, and several cameras were still in use in animation studios at the turn of the century.⁴^•¹⁰

By 1914 the company had more than 80 employees and a large factory at 1801 W. Larchmont Avenue in Chicago, a building with a distinctive clock tower that still stands, converted to apartments in the 1990s.³

The 1917 split

Despite the company's technical success, business jealousy and mistrust led Donald Bell, then chairman, to try to fire Howell and general manager Joseph McNabb in 1917. The two swiftly bought out Bell's shares for just under $200,000, leaving the company with only half of its namesake.¹ Bell sold his interest to Howell in 1921, by another account.¹¹

The amateur and 16mm market

Before 1923 the company mainly produced professional equipment for Hollywood productions, but Eastman Kodak's introduction of 16mm safety film in 1923 changed its direction. Bell & Howell's 16mm Filmo 70A, its first 16mm amateur camera, was a milestone in amateur filmmaking.¹ A 1924 automatic, spring-wound camera was easier to use than Kodak's own first offering, and while Kodak focused on home movies, Bell & Howell sold 16mm equipment to schools, religious institutions, and businesses; by the mid-1930s it offered projectors with bright bulbs and sound for auditoriums seating hundreds.¹² In 1934 the company introduced the first lightweight amateur motion picture camera using a daylight-loading film cassette.¹³

Diversification and later history

During World War II a workforce of 2,000 made gun cameras and other optical equipment for the military. After the war the company expanded into microfilm equipment and other products, and between 1940 and 1970 it also built businesses in optical equipment, electronic instrumentation, educational publishing, technical training, and micro-graphics.⁷^•¹¹ In 1966 it took over the DeVry Technical Institute, a for-profit electronics school it sold in 1987. In the 1980s and 1990s it expanded into electronic imaging and information, buying University Microfilms Incorporated and creating the ProQuest information service.⁷

The company also had a still-photography connection: Canon entered a marketing agreement with Bell & Howell at the start of 1962, and cameras such as the Bell & Howell/Canon Dial 35 were sold under the joint name.¹⁴^•¹⁵

In January 2000, with sales nearing $1 billion, the company announced plans to split into separate companies; eighteen months later ProQuest Co., headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, was launched as an independent firm. In December 2002 Bell & Howell merged with Böwe Systec Inc. to form Böwe Bell & Howell.⁷

The name today

Today, three distinct businesses bear the Bell and Howell name: WestView owns a firm offering industrial automation and mail-processing services, Kodak Alaris oversees a range of scanners, and BHH, LLC operates a consumer products venture through Emson Inc., selling goods like Tac lights, fans, and razors. In the United States the BELL+HOWELL trademark is also used by Elite Brands Inc. under license for consumer electronics.²^•¹⁶^•⁸

References

Initially written Oct 15, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 25, 2026