IMPROVE- MENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS."-A communication from abroad by
Jean Jacques Leopold Rousseau de Lafarge, of Paris, France.
Sealed the 4th August 1863, and dated the 11th February 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald Brooman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th February 1863.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS," to be as follows:-
This apparatus enables the manipulator to operate in full light upon damp
collodion to sensitize the glass, and to finish the proof in the light. The
apparatus does not alter the negative now used, but it serves as an auxiliary
to it. In the apparatus the following characteristic elements are combined:
The employment of two vertical and independent bath vessels arranged to
allow of the glasses being easily plunged therein, one vessel containing the
bath of silver, for sensitizing the damp collodion, may be of gutta percha,
hardened rubber, or other material having no action on the bath; the other,
containing the iron bath for developing the picture, should be of yellow or
orange colored glass; if made of any other material it should be lined with

page_text: yellow colored glass. There is a frame for holding the glasses to be exposed
capable of being opened and closed at bottom by withdrawing or inserting a
sliding bar. There is a second frame for holding the collodionized glass in
the former frame, which second frame is styled the plunging frame because it
is used for introducing the glass into the bath vessels entering also with it, it
is insulated from the first frame, and may be passed through it. A piece of
catgut is attached to the plunging frame to raise and lower it into and out of
the baths.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Brooman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 11th August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet, in the City of London, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, 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,"
(communicated to me from abroad by Jean Jacques Leopold Rousseau de
Lafarge, of Paris, France,) upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, or administrators, by an instru-
ment 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 Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the

page_text: same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, that is to say :-
This apparatus enables the manipulator to operate in full light upon damp
collodion to sensitize the glass, and to finish the proof in the light. The
apparatus does not alter the negative now used, but it serves as an auxiliary
to it. In the apparatus the following characteristic elements are combined:
-The employment of two vertical and independent bath vessels arranged to
allow of the glasses being easily plunged therein; one vessel, containing the
bath of silver for sensitizing the damp collodion, may be of gutta percha,
hardened rubber, or other material having no action on the bath; the other,
containing the iron bath for developing the picture, should be of yellow or
orange colored glass; if made of any other material it should be lined with
yellow colored glass. There is a frame for holding the glasses to be exposed
capable of being opened and closed at bottom by withdrawing or inserting a
sliding bar. There is a second frame for holding the collodionized glass in the
former frame, which second frame is styled the plunging frame, because it is
used for introducing the glass into the bath vessels entering also with it, it is
insulated from the first frame, and may be passed through it. A piece of
catgut is attached to the plunging frame to raise and lower it into and out of
the baths.
The arrangement of the apparatus and the method of action will be fully
understood on reference to the accompanying Drawings, and the following.
description:-
The apparatus is composed of a grooved box a, Figure 1, for carrying the.
glasses, at the back of which is a compartment 6 for the bottles, Figure 2. To,
this box two vertical vessels c, c, are attached by pintles and gudgeons d, d,,
Figures 1 and 2, and a hook e; a straight rod entering the hole g, Figure 2,
makes the attachment firm. There is a groove in the upper part of the
vessels c, c, of the breadth of the principal frame, hereafter mentioned, to
receive the frame during the operation. To hold it the vessels are fitted with
two plates projecting a little over the opening y, y, Figure 3. The groove in
each vessel is closed on one side k, Figure 1; on the other it may be closed by
a hardened rubber spring, Figure 17. The opening of each vessel is closed
by a stopper f, Figures 1 and 3, fitted with an india-rubber band; pressure is
exerted and maintained by two screws i, i. As before stated the vessel for
containing the nitrate of silver bath should be of waterproof material, and
should exert no action upon the bath; I prefer gutta percha or glass; it
should also be inclosed by a wooden frame. The vessel for developing the

page_text: picture should be of yellow or orange colored glass; if made of any other
material it should be lined with yellow colored glass.
Figure 21 represents a square piece of cork fixed to a small rod with two
lines thereon for indicating the minimum and maximum quantity of liquid to
be introduced into each vessel; Figure 3 is a side view of one of the vessels
open; Figure 4 represents the frame which exposes the glasses to the dark
chamber, and for stereoscopic proofs I call it the principal or outer frame. Its
lower part is opened and closed at will by means of a rod X of whalebone,
wood, or hardened rubber sliding in a grooved guide. p, p, is another exterior
groove having a corresponding groove parallel, and at the same height on the
other face; Figure 5 shews a second frame for holding the collodionized glass
in the former frame, which second frame, as before stated, is styled the plung-
ing frame. It is formed of bands of copper or brass of the same breadth and
thickness soldered together, as seen in the Figure. The bands a, a, are seen
in side view, and the bands b, b, in front view; c shows the latter in side view.
Small clips V, V, are soldered at z, z, and serve to hold the glass and insulate
it from the bands 6; a space is left for the easy passage of the liquid. At the
corresponding upper part there are also fixed two small plates y, y, as seen
at t, or simply of the shape represented at 9; they also insulate the glass which
thus rests only upon its four corners. The plunging frame is itself kept as
much as possible from contact with the principal frame by four other soldered
pieces or shoes r, r, r, r, a little bent, as shewn at 8. A small button f moving
round a pin assists in holding the glass; the whole should be silvered. The
plunging frame is moved from the principal frame into the bath vessels, and
vice versa, by means of a piece of catgut passing to the outside through a
hole m, formed in the upper part of the principal frame, Figure 4; Figure 24
shews a plunging frame with a different arrangement of the shoes r. r, r, r.
Figure 7 is another plunging frame of hardened rubber; Figure 6 shews the
plunging frame moving in the principal frame.
The spring which presses on the glass to keep it in position is represented
in Figure 20. a, b, shews a flap in side view, in which a recess is formed to
receive two copper plates r, r, and two steel springs 1, s. The two copper
plates are fixed in the flap by two axes at the points t, t; they are connected
hingewise at u, and at this point they are also connected to a rod which com-
municates outside with a button V; when pressure is exerted on this button
the two plates move on their respective axes, and enter the thickness of the
flap. The rod of the button is retained in this position by a spring bolt which
seizes it. If the copper plates are to be allowed to pass on to the glass simply
draw the spring bolt, and the two springs s, 8, being free, exert their pressure

page_text: and push the button outwards. If the principal frame for stereoscopić proofs>
has two flaps underneath, that of the lower part should have a handle in the:
form of a T entering at will, see Figure 14. The manipulations are per-
formed as follows:-The principal frame. enclosing the plunging frame is fitted
to the vessel containing. the. nitrate of silver; the plates y, y, Figure: 3;;take:
into the grooves p, p, Figure 4, and the frame slides along the opening in the
vessel, (this arrangement may be replaced by a dovetail groove and corre-
sponding dovetail projection, as represented in Figures 8 and 23). The flap
of the frame is then opened, the glass collodionized, and introduced into the
plunging frame, the flap is then closed, care being taken. that its spring.
re-enters the thickness thereof,.the rod X is drawn out, and the glass conse-
quently falls into the vessel. After it has been sufficiently sensitized it is
raised into the principal frame by drawing the string, the opening of the
principal frame is. closed, by returning the rod X to its-place, the spring bolt.
is then drawn, and I expose to the dark chamber. For the development.of.
the image the. frame is applied. to the vessel containing protosulphate of iron,.
and the glass is submitted to the bath in the same manner as to the nitrate:of
silver bath; with this difference, that it is made to turn on hinges, so as to
shew by transparency the development of the image; it is then only necessary
to wash and fix. If desired, other vessels may be fitted between those pre-
viously mentioned, and the box a, Figure 1. Before commencing another
proof, the traces of the iron bath are removed from the frame. Figure 9
shows the plunging frame in the act of being lowered from- the-principal
frame into a vessel c, Figure 15. In order that this may take place freely
the internal breadth of the principal frame should be narrower than the vessel,
and the lower opening of the principal frame should be widened and rounded
at the edges.
The plunging frame may be dispensed with by employing a screwed nipper
of silver, as represented in front and side views in Figure 19; it takes hold of
the glass at the upper part; a piece of india-rubber prevents the screw from
rubbing against the glass. The methods represented in Figures 18 and 22 may
also be adopted. In these arrangements the glass moves in grooves formed
by rebates a, b, a, b, on the frame, and two fillets fixed to the interior surface
of the door, see Figures 10 and 11. The rebates a, b, a, b, are on a level with
the rebate c, d, the same at the lower part of the frame; by the addition of
fillets I can form these rebates if desired in the frame of the preceding
arrangement. Figure 16 represents the internal grooves in which the glass
works, and the passage for the nipper or hooks. At the lower part of the
principal frame the rebates a, b, a, b, and the two fillets should be rounded

page_text: off, as shewn in Figures 12 and 26; in Figure 26 the fillets are held by
screws. The vessels do not require any modification; they may, however, if
desired, have small fillets fitted to them similar to those in Figure 12, or two
fillets in the form of triangular prisms, two sides of which are rounded where
they meet the third side. The: opening of the vessel is modified, as shewn
at r, Figure 25. In these last arrangements, before sensitizing the glass, it
is necessary to remove with a piece of paper about a sixth of an inch of
collodion from the side edges. Figure 13 shows how this Invention may be
applied to all kinds of dark chambers, it is only necessary to retain the plate t,
shewn detached at g.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as the "Improve-
ments in Photographic Apparatus," the apparatus constructed and acting.
substantially as herein-before described and represented in the accompanying
Drawings, by which the manipulator is enabled to operate in full light upon
damp collodion to sensitize the glass, and to finish the proof in the light, all.
in manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of August, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.