Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Feb., 1887
Complete Left, 8th Nov., 1887
Complete Accepted, 9th Dec., 1887.
I, JOHN RUDOLPH GOTZ, Optician, of 19 Buckingham Street, in the City of
Westminster, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to portable photographic cameras and has for its object to
facilitate the correct adjustment of the position of the camera body for different focal
distances and different angles.
For this purpose a rail is fixed to each of two opposite sides of the base board, and
a frame or slide carrying at the top a pinion or a pair of pinions is mounted on each
rail in such a manner that it may be made to slide along the rail and fixed at any
desired point of its length.
The camera body resting with its curved base on the base board is connected with
the two slides by a pair of links placed right and left of the camera body and hinged
to the latter near the middle of its height, the upper end of the links being thus
pivoted to the side of the camera and serving as a fulcrum for the same, while the
lower end of each link is hinged to the slide or frame, preferably by means of the
same bolt or thumb screw which serves to fix the slide on the rail.
The horizontal axis passing through the upper pivots of the two links is also the
axis of the cylindrical curve forming the base of the camera, and the axis for a pair
of toothed ares or segments fitted to the right and left sides of the camera body near
its base. Each of the toothed segments is adapted to gear with the toothed pinion or
pinions situated on the same side of the camera body.
The toothed are is preferably sunk into a brass plate fixed to the side of the camera
body, so that the heads of the teeth are flush with the surface of the brass plate, and
each of the pinions (with vertical axis) is preferably placed in a recess of the slide
which bolds the axle bearings of the pinion. If two alternative bearings are used for
each slide, they are placed at the two ends of the same, and the lower pivot of the
link is situated near the middle of the slide.
Dated this 9th day of February 1887.
FAIRFAX & WETTER,
433 Strand, London.
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: 1, JOHN RUDOLPH GOTZ, Optician, of 19 Buckingham Street, in the City of
Westminster, 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:-
My invention relates to portable photographic cameras, and has for its object to
facilitate the correct adjustment of the position of the camera body for different focal
distances and different angles.
For this purpose a rail is fixed to each of two opposite sides of the base board, and
a frame or slide carrying at the top a pinion, or a pair of pinions is mounted on each
rail in such a manner that it may be made to slide along the rail and fixed by
clamping at any desired point of its length.
The camera body resting with its curved base on the base board, is connected with
the two slides by a pair of links placed right and left of the camera body and hinged
to the latter near the middle of its height, the upper end of the links being thus
pivoted to the side of the camera and serving as a fulcrum for the same, while the
lower end of each link is hinged to the slide or frame, preferably by means of the
same bolt or thumb screw which serves to fix the slide on the rail.
The horizontal axis passing through the upper pivots of the two links is also the
axis of the cylindrical curve forming, the base of the camera, and the axis for a pair
of toothed ares or segments fitted to the right and left sides of the camera body at its
base. Each of the toothed segments is adapted to gear with the toothed pinion or
pinions situated on the same side of the camera body.
The toothed are may be sunk into a brass plate fixed to the side of the camera
body, so that the heads of the teeth are flush with the surface of the brass plate. In
this case, each of the pinions is placed upright in a recess of the slide which holds the
axle bearings of the pinion. If two alternative pinions are used for each slide they
are placed at the two ends of the same, and the lower pivot of the link is situated near
the middle of the slide. I prefer however to employ a pinion with horizontal axis as
illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a partial side elevation of a camera in its upright
position Fig. 2 a partial side elevation of the same after the camera body has been
tilted backward; Fig. 3 a vertical section of the principal parts. A is the camera
body armed at the bottom with a pair of circularly curved racks a, (one right and one left
of the camera,) having their centre near the middle of the height of the camera
body. B is the base board, having on each side a metallic rail 6 secured thereto
by screws 1, 61. is the sliding frame having at the top a bearing c for the
axle d of the toothed pinion D which gears into the rack a.
a thumbscrew E screwed into the bearing c.
F are the links pivoted at the bottom to the sliding frame
the side of the camera body. The axis of the upper pivot
This axle is held in
C, and at the top to
coincides with the

page_text: centre of curvature of the rack a; G is a thumbscrew which serves to clamp the
slide C to the rail b and also as a pivot for the lower end of link F. The pinion D is
loose on its axle, but may be pressed against the bearing c by tightening the thumb
screw, so that the pinion will be held by friction. The frame C is allowed to slide
along the rail b, and may be clamped fast in the desired position by turning the
screw G.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, 1 declare that what I claim is :
1. In a photographic camera, the combination of a base board carrying a toothed
pinion, with a camera body having at the bottom a circularly curved rack, and a
link pivoted at its lower end to the side of the base board and at its upper end to the
side of the camera body, substantially as described.
2. The combination of a base board having a lateral rail or guide, with a sliding
frame adapted to slide along the said rail and to be fixed thereto, a toothed pinion
held by the said sliding frame, a camera body provided at the bottom with a circularly
curved rack, and a link pivoted at the top to the camera and at the bottom to the
sliding frame; substantially as described.
α,
3. The combination of base board B, having a pair of rails b, with a pair of
sliding frames C, carrying pinions E, a camera body A having a pair of racks and
a pair of links F, the whole arranged and adapted to operate substantially as
described.