The Ilford meter was patented by J.A. Scott and the Britannia Works Co. in 1892. The first version was made of vulcanite, in the late 1890s an aluminium version was added. A few years later, c. 1902, a cardboard version appeared. A scale for weather (sky) conditions was added in 1905. The meter was still offered for sale into the 1930s probably only in the cardboard version.

A combination of dial and table gives the exposure required. The hour and month are combined on a table printed on the reverse of the meter. The dials then combine the plate type (speed), hour/month from table, weather and subject. The result gives the shutter speed and aperture pairs.

The plate type on these models stand for:

• II - Isochromatic Instantaneous c. 1891
• IM - Isochromatic Medium c. 1891
• O - Ordinary, before 1893
• R - Rapid, before 1893
• SR - Special Rapid c. 1893
• E - Empress c. 1895
• C - Chromatic c. 1897
• RI - Rapid Isochrome 1903
• M - Monarch 1903
• RC - Rapid Chromatic 1908
• SC - Special Chromatic 1913
• P - Press 1915
• AF - Auto Filter 1923

Prices:

• Vulcanite and Aluminium 5/-
• Cardboard 1/-, later 9d