Improvements in Magazine or Detective Hand Cameras.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 20th July, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 20th Apr., 1894-Accepted, 25th May, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Magazine or Detective Hand Cameras.
I, ARTHUR JOHN BUNCHER, of Whittall Street, in the City of Birmingham,
Printer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to magazine or detective hand cameras, and has for its
object, the simplifying of the parts of the same, and the means employed for
removing or transferring the exposed plates, after each exposure, from the magazine
to the store chamber.
My said improvement consists primarily in dividing the camera box up into a
series of compartments, viz., a magazine, a store chamber, a camera chanber and
a hand-hole chamber.
The plates, both in the magazine and in the store, stand erect, and are
transferred from the former to the latter by a hook-ended slide, worked by hand,
and adapted to engage clutch-wise with plate carriers or plate frames in such a
manner that the reciprocation of the slide transfers the exposed plate from the
magazine to the store chamber and in front of a previous transferred plate.
In carrying out my invention, I take a rectangular shaped box of any suitable
height, length and breadth, and with the same divided off into four primary
chambers, viz., a magazine chamber, and lignable with it from back to front, a
store chamber wherein the exposed plates are deposited, and forward of and open
to the magazine chamber, a camera chamber, fitted with lens, shutter, finders and
other common accessories, and a hand hole chamber, into which the handle of the
slide extends.
A supplementary division is arranged upon the one side of the hand hole
chamber for the purpose of operating the camera shutter.
All the chambers may be fitted with sliding or other doors, whilst the hand-hole
chamber entrance may be fitted with a swing flap.
That part of the magazine open to the camera chamber is of little less size than
the carrier frames, and lignable with the back of the said contracted opening, and
also lignable with the face of the inside walls of the division between the store
chamber and the hand-hole chamber is a slit or opening of a height and breadth
suitable for the carriers to pass through, when clutched or laid hold of by the slide
as hereinafter described.
The carriers, with their plates, stand erect, and at the back of each other, and
with the same pressed forward by a coiled or other spring through the medium of a
following-up board, which bears upon the last or back carrier, so that the carriers
with their plates, are pressed forward against each other, and with the first of
the series coming against the frame dividing the magazine from the camera
chamber.
The means for transferring the carriers with their plates from the one chamber
to the other consists of a slide, composed of an upright bar, terminated by hook-
ended arms, having swells or inclines adjacent to the hook parts.
The said hook parts and swells are at given distances apart, so as to take within
furrows or sinkings having end stops made within the upper and lower parts of the
carrier framings as hereinafter described.
Each carrier consists of a frame, open at one side, and with the top and bottom
border edges of the same provided with longitudinal sinkings or furrows, and with
the fore parts of them fitted with undercut shoulders or stops, with which the
inclined hooks of the slide engage.

page_text: These said hooks of the slide slightly yield when passing over the shoulders of
the carrier, prior to their passage into the furrows or sinkings.
OPERATION.
Assuming that a number of plates are placed upright in the magazine, and with
the sinkings being presented to the front, and assuming that the handle of the slide
is at the end of its forward traverse, then by taking hold of the said handle, and
pushing back the slide, on the hooked ended catches passing through the upright
slit dividing the magazine from the store chamber, the inclined tips of them press
back the foremost carrier, whose plate has been exposed. Then the hooked ended
catches, on pushing back the said carrier, traverse over the front edge of the border
frame, and snap over into the channels or sinkings, and with the hooked end taking
or coming under the undercut shoulders or stops.
Now as the carrier is engaged with and held by the slide, the pulling forward of
the handle traverses it backwards and as the hooked ends leave the magazine and
enter the store chamber, the advance swells or inclines inward of the hooked ends
press back the forward carrier and those behind it in the store, thus leaving a
clearance or a space to receive the plate under transportation, and as the forward
traverse of the slide is completed, so this last transferred plate is placed at the
back of the others.
Now the return traverse of the slide releases itself from the said last-named
plate, and engages with another exposed plate in manner as already indicated, and
so on until the whole of the plates have been exposed and transferred consecutively
to the store.
Dated this 19th day of July 1893.
ARTHUR JOHN BUNCHER,
By Henry Skerrett,
Agent for Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Magazine or Detective Hand Cameras.
I, ARTHUR JOHN BUNCHER, of Whittall Street, in the City of Birmingham,
Printer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
This invention relates to magazine or detective hand cameras, and has for its
object, the simplifying of the parts of the same, and the means employed for
removing or transferring the exposed plates, after each exposure, from the magazine
to the store chamber.
My said improvements consist primarily in dividing the camera box up into a
series of compartments, viz., a magazine, a store chamber, and a camera chamber.
The plates, both in the magazine and in the store, stand erect upon their edges, and
are transferred from the former to the latter by a hook-ended slide, worked by
hand and adapted to engage clutch-wise with plate carriers or plate frames in such
a manner that the reciprocation of the slide transfers the exposed plate from the
magazine to the store chamber and in front of a previously transferred plate.
In carrying out my invention, I take a rectangular shaped box of any suitable
height, length and breadth, divided off into three primary chambers or compart-
ments, viz., a magazine chamber, and upon the side of it, a store chamber wherein
the exposed plates are deposited, and forward of and open to the magazine
chamber, a camera chamber, fitted with lens, shutter, finders and other common
accessories.

page_text: All the chambers may be fitted with sliding or other doors.
That part of the magazine open to the camera chamber is of little less size than
the carrier frames, and cross lignable with the back of the said contracted opening,
is a slit or opening of a height and breadth suitable for the carriers to pass
through, when clutched or laid hold of by the slide as hereinafter described.
The carriers, with their plates, stand erect, and at the back of each other, and
are pressed forward by a coiled or other spring through the medium of a following-
up board, which bears upon the last or back carrier, so that the carriers with their
plates, are pressed forward against each other, and with the first of the series,
coming against the opposed face of the boundry edges of the frame dividing the
magazine from the camera chamber.
The means for transferring the carriers with their plates from the magazine to
the store chamber consists of a slide, composed of an upright plate forwardly:
terminated by hook ended arms.
The said hook parts are arranged at given distances apart, and are adapted to
take within furrows or sinkings having end stops, formed within the upper and
lower parts of the carrier framings as hereinafter described.
Each carrier consists of a frame, open at one side, and with the top and, bottom
border edges of the same provided with longitudinal sinkings or furrows, and with
the fore parts of them fitted with undercut shoulders, or stops, with which the
inclined hooks of the slide engage.
These said hooks of the slide may either be rigid or be made to slightly yield
when passing over the shoulders of the carrier.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents partly in horizontal section
and partly in elevation, a magazine or detective hand camera constructed, arranged
and provided with improvements made according to my invention.
The said sectional view represents the side-by-side magazine and store chambers,
which are disposed cross lignable with one another, and also the meaus for
transferring exposed plates from the one chamber to the other.
The hooked ends of the means for transferring the plates which consists of a
slide with forwardly hooked ends, is shown in act of laying hold of the forward
carrier of a series of carriers carrying sensitised plates.
Figure 2 represents a like sectional view as Figure 1, but with the fore part of
the camera broken away, and showing one of the plate carriers with its plate being
transferred from the magazine or the combined magazine and exposure chamber
to the store chamber. This view also represents more clearly the channels, races or
passages wherethrough the plate carriers and plates are drawn and wherethrough the
slide for transferring the plates consecutively from one chamber to the other is slid.
Figure 3 represents a horizontal section of a part of the camera showing how
the plates are drawn from before one series of plates in the combined magazine
and exposure chamber to in front of the plates and carriers in the store chamber,
or in front of the following-up board of the store chamber, by the inclined plane or
wedge front edge of that carrier (with its plate) being transferred, acting wedge-
like and pushing bodily back the previously deposited plates.
Figure 4 represents a like view as Figure but with the exposed plate
transferred from the combined magazine and exposure chamber to the store
chamber, and with the slide shown in the act of being pushed back and with the
hooked ends of it passing backwardly over the lip of the front carrier of the
series in the magazine.
Figure 5 represents a transverse vertical section of the camera upon the dotted
lines A B Figure 1 looking in the direction of the arrow and with the camera
turned round so as to show the fronts of the plate carriers in elevation and also
showing the ends of the hooks, which are carried by the slide, engaging with the
shoulder or turn-back lip terminating races or grooves disposed near the top and
bottom edges of the carrier. The said view also exemplifies more clearly how the
said hooks lay hold of the said plate carriers and transport them consecutively from
one chamber to another after each exposure.

page_text: Figure 6 represents a front elevation of a plate carrier showing the turned-back
lip or stop with its wedge front edge and also the groove or channel and the clip
top and bottom edges.
Figure 7 represents a transverse section of the said carrier upon the dotted
lines CD Figure 6, looking from right to left.
Figure 8 represents a back elevation of the plate carrier, and Figure 9 represents
a horizontal section of the said plate carrier on an enlarged scale upon the dotted
lines E F Figure 6.
Figure 10 shows a like sectional view as Figure 5, but taken upon the dotted
lines G H Figure 2, that is, the section is taken rear of the slide and at the back
of one of the plate carriers. Figure 11 represents a vertical section upon the
dotted lines X-X Figure 1.
The same letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures
of the drawings.
a is a rectangular shaped box divided off into three primary chambers or
compartments, viz., a combined magazine exposure chamber b, a store chamber c,
and a camera chamber d, having fitted within the walls of its fore part a lens,
shutter and other camera accessories, and let within the top of the camera is a
finder d², whilst working in front of the store chamber and partly in front of the
combined magazine and exposure chamber is a hand-operated slide e, with its outer
end e², provided with a handle e³, for taking hold of the same, whilst the top and
bottom ends of the inner part e', of the same has rigid hooks or drags, with
inclined nose parts 1, which wipe over the turned-back lips of the plate carriers g,
(as hereinafter described) for the purpose of engaging with the same prior to the
same being dragged from the one chamber to the other.
Now this slide e, which may be either alike unto a plate or alike unto a skeleton
frame, works and is guided within a passage ¹, formed between upright walls or
divisions h, 2, whilst all-through longitudinal slots or gaps h³, are made horizontally
through the wall 2, to admit of the passage and sliding therethrough horizontally,
of the hooks f, which come near the top and bottom of the front edge of the slide.
The compartment d, is separated from the compartment b, by a partition wall i,
having a middle piercing 2, of an area about equal to the area of one of the plates
to be exposed, before which the lens is located, and at the back of which the series
of plates g, to be exposed are stored and are pushed up by the following-up board j,
(which is of about the cross breadth of the chamber 6) and the compressed coiled
spring k, located between the said board and the inside face of the back wall b¹, of
the camera box.
The top and bottom boundary edges of the plate carriers take their bearings
against the inside face ³, of the frame-like opening i, i².
Now the store chamber c, has fitted within it, a following-up board or plate m,
having a coiled spring n disposed between the back of it and the wall 6, of the
back of the camera.
The transferred plates in the store chamber are marked g'.
The plate carrier consists of a thin sheet metal plate 92, with the metal at the top
and bottom boundary edges of the same turned forward and upon itself and with
the middle parts of the turned-over metal shaped into horizontal channels or
grooves g³, having spring clips g', upon the inner sides and hollow beadings go, upon
the outer sides, whilst the fore part 9, of the plate carrier has a turned-back lip g',
with its rear part 98, inclined, so as to make the said front edge of a wedge figure in
cross section, and with the inclined plane directed forward, so that when the carriers
are dragged forward by the slide through the medium of the hooks, the said wedge
fore parts come between the front of the last plate and carrier deposited in the
store chamber and the back face, of the division wall h², in front of the said
plates, whereby the following-up board m, and a transferred plate or plates in front
of it, are pushed bodily backwards.
The back 9, of the carrier is open and the middle part of the same is provided
with a slightly turned-forward lip g¹.

page_text: UTERATION.
Assuming that a couple of plates with their carriers have been transferred from the
combined magazine and exposure chamber to the store chamber, and further assuming
that a third plate has been exposed and requires to be removed from the magazine,
then press inwards the slide e, when the parts f. of the nose ends f¹, of the hooks f,.
strike the rounded fronts g1, of the wedge-sectioned edges 97, 9, and force the fore
part of the said front plate and the fore parts of those at the back of it rearwardly
until the point of the hooked end passes the shoulder g, when the plates and
carriers are returned to their normal positions through the aid of the spring whilst.
the hooked ends are now engaged with the overhanging shoulder of the turned-back
lip, see Figure 1. Now pull forward the slide e, by the handle e³, when the hooked
ends of the hooks engaging behind the shoulder of the turned back and over-
hanging lip drag the carrier g, with its plate bodily with the slide, and as the nose
parts go, of the inclined plane, strike the rears 3, of the carriers g', (as in.
Figure 3) the said carriers g', are forced back by the impingement and forward'
traverse of the said inclined plane, which inclined plane acts as it were as a wedge.
between the back 4, of the partition 2, and the edge of the front of the previously
deposited carrier and plate (see Figure 2).
The full pulling out of the slide brings the third plate into the position as repre-
sented in Figure 4, then by pushing back the said slide so as to take the nose ends
of its hooks over the lip the engagement of the slide with the fourth carrier is made-
and so on the operation is repeated until the magazine is emptied and the plates all
deposited in store chamber from whence they are removed through a door.
Instead of the hooked ends of the slide being rigid, the same may be made-
yielding so as to wipe and snap over the shoulders of the turned back lips of the
carriers for engagement.
Or instead of employing hooks as the means for catching hold of the plates
for dragging them from one position to another or from before the plates or
following-up board in the magazine to the store chamber, I may employ self-acting
grips for holding the carriers when being dragged by the slide."
Or instead of employing turn-back lips or the carriers, I may employ projections,.
ribs or their equivalents, over and at the backs of which the hooks come.
Instead of the hooks being carried by the slide, they may be carried by the plate
carriers, whilst the shoulders may be formed upon the slide, and instead of the
wedge being upon the ends of plate carriers they may be carried upon parts of the
hooks in advance of the edge of and in the path of the carrier, so that as the said
slide is drawn the inclines or wedge parts of the hooks force back the carriers in
the store chamber as aforesaid and thereby makes way for the carrier and plate
being transferred.
Instead of the cross wedge or chisel wedge shaped parts, for the leading of the
last transferred plate before the front of the series previously transferred to the
store chamber, being upon the front edge, the said inclined lead may come upon.
the back edge and the front edges may be simply rounded off or both front and
back edges may have inclined leads to effect the necessary threading of the one
plate before another.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said'
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. In magazine detective cameras, disposing or arranging the magazine or the
combined magazine and exposure chamber side-by-side or cross-lignable with the
store chamber, each chamber being in communication with the other by a passage,
wherethrough plate carriers are dragged in an erect position by a slide or
equivalent in transferring an exposed plate from the magazine to the store,.
substantially as described and set forth.

page_text: Secondly. In magazine detective cameras, transferring the plates from the
magazine chamber to the store chamber by dragging the same edgewise from the
one to the other through the medium of hooks, catches or grips carried by a slide
or equivalent confined and working between guides and operated by hand,
substantially as described and set forth.
Thirdly. In photographic plate carriers, providing or fitting the same near their
front edges with turned-back lips, stops, catches or their equivalents, wherewith
hooks or equivalents, carried by a hand-operated slide, engage, for the dragging of
the said plate carriers from one chamber to another after exposure of the plate,
substantially as described and set forth.
Fourthly. In photographic plate carriers, forming the front edges, or the parts
near the front edges, of a wedge-shape or chisel wedge shape in cross section, for
the purpose of leading one plate carrier before another on the same being dragged
by a slide or equivalent, substantially as described and set forth.
Fifthly. In photographic plate carriers, providing parts of the same with inclined
leads, for the threading of a plate carrier before a previously transferred carrier or
carriers or before the following-up board of the store chamber, substantially as
described and set forth.
Sixthly. In magazine detective cameras, the combination with a hook-ended slide,
of a plate carrier having an inclined lead and a holding shoulder, lip or equivalent,
substantially as and for the purpose as described and set forth.
Seventhly. In photographic plate carriers, the improvements in the construction
of the same, substantially as described and set forth.
Eighthly. In photographic plate carriers, making the same from thin sheet
metal folded and fashioned in the way substantially as described and set forth.
Ninthly. In magazine detective cameras, the means of transferring plates after
exposure and their carriers from the magazine and exposure chamber to the store
chamber substantially as herein described and set forth.
Tenthly. In magazine detective cameras, the general construction, arrangement
and combination of the parts, substantially as and for the purpose as described and
set forth.
.10il.וו
A: 1001
ARTHUR JOHN BUNCHER,
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.