According to "Motion Picture Photography: A History, 1891-1960" by Raimondo-Souto, the Wall 35mm sound-on-film camera was first launched around 1934, and was manufactured for several decades, with various improvements over the years. Based out of Syracuse, N.Y., The J.M. Wall Machine Co also produced cameras in the mid 20s for the Movietone inventors, Case and Sponable.
The US Army Signal Corps also purchased a number of cameras:
Here's a brief story on John M. Wall:
They were primarily newsreel cameras, and were designed to record optical sound on the camera negative with a module that fit on the rear of the camera. Like most newsreel cameras of that era, the track displacement was shorter than projection advancement; roughly 9 frames verses the typical 20.
The movement is similar in design to the later Arriflex 35BL movement, although the closer comparison seems to be the Moviecam (and thus Arricam) movement, which is also easily removed from the camera (unlike the BL), and shares the sloping gate design and even the wedge shaped lever.
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