IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Camille Silvy, of 38, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS."
Sealed the 24th January 1868, and dated the 26th July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Camille Silvy at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
July 1867.
I, CAMILLE SILVY, of 38, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to a new and improved apparatus which being
combined with the camera obscura now used in photographic apparatus,
allows by suppressing the ordinary frames and dispensing with dark tents, of
taking panoramic views on all points of the horizon. This apparatus consists
of a tube made of zinc or other metal, or any other convenient substance, in
the centre of which is a moveable little wooden roller, on which the sheet of

page_text: paper made sensitive is wound.
One of the ends of this sheet is stuck
on to the roller, whilst the other end is fixed on another similar little
roller placed out of the tube, and which serves to unwind the said sheet
through a slot cut in the whole length of the tube; this tube enclosing as
aforesaid the sheet of paper is then placed in another tube or socket fixed
vertically on the left side of the camera obscura. And in order to operate, the
sheet of paper is gradually unwound at the rear part of the camera obscura,
which is purposely of a circular form, by means of a second little.roller,
which is put into another tube or socket fixed vertically on the right side
of the camera. When a panoramic view has been taken the paper is
wound up anew in the first tube, answering the purpose of a sheath, and
contains the latent picture, which may afterwards be developed by the ordinary
means.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Camille Silvy in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CAMILLE
SILVY, of 38, Porchester Terrace, Bayswater, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Camille
Silvy, Her special licence that. I, the said Camille Silvy, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Camille Silvy,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and
no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS
(PHOTOGRAPHIC CARTRIDGE)," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Camille Silvy, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent

page_text: Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Camille Silvy, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following state-
ment:-
My Invention relates to a new and improved apparatus which being
combined with the camera obscura now used in photographic apparatus,
allows by suppressing the ordinary frames and dispensing with dark tents, of
taking panoramic views on all points of the horizon. This apparatus consists
of a tube made of zinc or other metal, or any other convenient substance, in
the centre of which is a moveable little wooden roller, on which the sheet of
paper made sensitive is wound. One of the ends of this sheet is stuck on to
the roller, whilst the other end is fixed on another similar little roller placed
out of the tube, and which serves to unwind the said sheet through a slot cut
in the whole length of the tube. This tube, enclosing as aforesaid the sheet
of paper, is then placed in another tube or socket fixed vertically on the left
side of the camera obscura; and in order to operate, the sheet of paper is
gradually unwound at the rear part of the camera obscura, which is purposely
of a circular form, by means of a second little roller which is put into another
When a
tube or socket fixed vertically on the right side of the camera.
panoramic view has been taken the paper is wound up anew in the first tube,
answering the purpose of a sheath, and contains the latent picture, which may
afterwards be developed by the ordinary means.
Having thus described in a general manner the nature of my said Inven-
tion I will now enter more fully into the particulars thereof in order that
the details respecting it may be more readily understood, referance being
had to the accompanying Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is an isolated view
in vertical elevation of the photographic cartridge, and Fig. 2 a view in
vertical elevation of the camera obscura on the side of the frame with the
photographic cartridge. Like letters of referance indicate corresponding parts
throughout the Drawings.
Fig. 1. A is the tube, the envelope or cartridge properly so called;
B, C, is the little wooden roller on which an end of the sheet of paper made
sensitive is stuck or otherwise fixed; D, E, is the other little roller on which
the other end is also stuck or otherwise fixed. This roller D, E, serves to
draw the sheet of paper in the same manner as chimney piece fire screens.
This cartridge is applied to the back or frame of the camera obscura in the

page_text: following manner:-Fig. 2. F, F, are the two tubes or sockets fixed on
each side of the frame of the camera obscura; the cartridge A with the paper
wound inside is introduced into the tube F, and screw heads G, G, and H, H,
are fixed on metal pins inserted in the extremities of the little rollers B, C,
and D, E, by means of which screw heads the consecutive unwinding of the
sheet of paper is obtained, and the said sheet presented by four successive
movements of the camera to the four points of the horizon from which
impressions are to be taken, and is then wound afresh in the cartridge. The
first unwinding extends to a quarter of the length of the said sheet of paper
which is developed on the circular frame I, I, by means of the roller D, E,
of the photographic cartridge, and which is next placed in the socket F¹. The
second, third, and fourth unwinding, comprising each another quarter of the
sheet of paper, are obtained by turning the heads H, H, and consequently
the little roller D, E, in the socket F¹; and when the four impressions are
achieved the sheet of paper is wound on the little roller B, C, in the
cartridge A by means of the heads G, G; after which the said heads G, G,
and H, H, are taken off and the cartridge A removed enclosing in a latent
state the impression on the sheet of paper as herein-before described.
By the foregoing description the panorama of surrounding objects and
places, and not of plane images, is taken by a special apparatus circular in
form. The camera being furnished with its immoveable frame, a lens so
regulated as to avoid the necessity of finding the focus, the fresh cartridges
are merely introduced and then taken away; the spare frames are done away
with, as is also the dark tent, the papers made sensitive not requiring to be
renewed, and the cartridges furnished with the papers made sensitive being at
will substituted for one another as many times as there are different panoramas
to be taken.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I no not confine
myself to the precise details above given and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings, as these may obviously be modified without departing from the
principle of my Invention; but what I claim and desire to secure by Letters
Patent is, an apparatus assuming the shape of a tube, or any other form, in
which is wound a sheet of paper made sensitive, and which may be developed
and wound afresh in combination with a camera obscura, the frame of which
or the back is circular in form, and the sides so arranged as to be able to
receive the said apparatus, and allow the partial and circular development of
the sheet of paper and its winding in order to take panoramic views on

page_text: all points of the horizon, substantially as herein-before fully set forth and
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Camille Silvy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
C. SILVY. (LS.).