Dawe was an electronics company based in West London. After the war, they produced and promoted electronic flash equipment and produced two cameras, the Universal Press and the Nelrod Liteflash. The company was founded in 1945 by Frank Walter Dawe.

The camera, later simply called the Universal, was manufactured by G.H. Williamson Photographic Appliances Ltd of Wheatley near Oxford. It has a coupled rangefinder with a very large dial on the top of the camera showing the set distance. On the side of the camera there is a bracket to hold an electronic flash, the lead from the flash plugs into the top of the camera where it connects to a lead running to the lens board which carries flash connectors, though the solenoid used to release the shutter has been removed.

The patent by G.H. Williamson and E.P.A. Williamson is for coordinating the rangefinder and the focusing scale on a camera for different focal length lenses. The main components consist of two levers, one lever is connected to the rangefinder optics and to the focusing scale (in this case the dial on the top of the camera) the bottom of the second lever follows the movement of the focusing rack. Part way along the second lever is a movable block with a projection. As the focusing rack is moved (focusing) the projection bears on, and moves, the first lever (and hence the rangefinder and the scale). This will be accurate for one lens. If the position of the block is altered then the readings will be correct for another focal length.

The Universal is well-engineered and very heavy. Judging by the serial numbers of known cameras the Universal Press could only have sold in very small numbers.