Improvements in Negative Enlarging Cameras, and Cameras for Printing from Negatives or Transparencies.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 7th Jan., 1998
Complete Specification Left, 22nd June, 1898--Accepted, 23rd July, 1898
Και οι εμμηναιο
Complete Specification Left, 22nd June, 1898-Accepted, 23rd July, 1898
Improvements in Negative Enlarging Cameras, and Cameras for
Printing from Negatives or Transparencies.
A communication by HERMANN STENDER, of Los Angeles, in the County of Los
Angeles, and State of California, United States of America, Artist, and
HENRY PEACE WARE, of Los Angeles aforesaid, Photographer.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both
in the County of Lancaster, 118, New Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, and 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
An object of this invention is to provide means whereby the photographer will
find it to his advantage to only take small negatives, the same being inexpen-
sive; so that when a satisfactory proof is obtained, the person having the photo-
graph taken may elect the size of the photograph desired, and then a large plate
of the desired size, the image in perfect proportion and equal in quality to the
small negative, may be readily secured from the small negative and without the
necessity of using more than one large plate. By this means the expense of
large photographs is so reduced as to bring such photographs within the reach of
those in moderate circumstances; and the photographs will be superior to any
photographs from direct-taken large negatives.
By this invention the operator is enabled to print from a negative and to pro-
duce therefrom without great skill or care, bromides or other prints on highly
sensitive paper of the highest artistic type and photographic perfection.
An object of this invention is to provide means by which to correct the printing
qualities of an under or overtimed, pyro or colour stained negative, or of a trans-
parency in case it is defective in the plastic appearance of the objects photo-
graphed, so as to produce from a defective negative, which otherwise cannot be
utilized, enlargements or prints of the highest degree of perfection.
Further objects are to provide simpler, cheaper, and more effective means for
regulating the position of the image upon the ground glass; and to provide
improved means for vignetting prints.
The accompanying drawings illustrate the invention.
Figure 1 is a fragmental sectional view illustrating a camera embodying the
invention.
Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same, the coloured screens being removed
from the light-diffusing chamber.
A represents a plate-holder within which may be arranged the sensitive plate B
which is to form the large negative.

page_text: C is a negative-or-transparency-holder which is arranged in the front end of
the camera and is adjustable transverse the camera, and D is a lens arranged
between the holder A, and the holder C. The usual bellows connection E is
arranged between the plateholders and the lens to allow adjustment of the various
parts relative to each other. The lens is mounted in a frame d which is verti-
cally adjustable, and is operated by means of the projecting tongue d'. Thus by
adjusting the lens vertically and adjusting the transparency-holder transversely,
the image may be thrown on any desired portion of the plate in the plate-holder.
In front of the negative-or-transparency-holder C, is the light-diffusing
chamber F. Within this light-diffusing chamber are arranged screens G, H
and I, of different colours, white, red, yellow and blue, by preference the screens G
and I being white and the screen H being of some suitable tint of red, yellow or
blue, the reason of which will be hereinafter explained.
The principal difficulty in enlarging negatives heretofore has been the tendency
of the enlarged negative to take flat, that is to say, there are no half tones in the
enlarged negative.
This invention shows that when a transparency is deficient in respect to the
plastic appearance of the objects photographed, by tinting the light passing
through the transparency to suit the quality thereof, the transparency can be
filled out or rounded so that the image thrown upon the ground glass will appear
as clear and distinct as though the person were looking directly at the object
photographed. The explanation of this is as follows:-
The three colours red, yellow and blue, properly combined, will produce all
possible shades and effects. The whiter the light which acts upon a light sensi-
tive plate, the quicker it will make its impression. Red and yellow lights will
not act upon the sensitive plate at all if they are intensified to a certain extent.
Blue light, on the other hand, acts in the other direction, it destroys the action
of the orange, or non-actinic light upon a plate. A blue screen inserted in the
light-diffusing apparatus in front of the camera, will assist a too contrasty or
yellow stained negative in its printing quality by changing its colour. On the
contrary, a yellow, red or orange screen, thus inserted will materially arrest the
too quick printing quality of a too flat, too thin, or too transparent negative. If
the small negative is perfect, white screens are sufficient.
In using this improved camera, first make a small positive or transparency from
a small negative by contact printing in the large plate-holder; the diffused light
causing all the delicate tones and half tones of the negative to be reproduced in
the transparency. Then this transparency is placed within the transparency-or-
negative-holder C and slipped into the front of the camera as shown in Figure 1.
The operator then adjusts the lens and plate-holder to give the image the
desired size upon a plate in the plate-holder. The coloured screens G, H and I
are arranged in the light-diffusing chamber in such series that they will tint the
light passing through the transparency to suit the printing quality of the trans-
parency. If the transparency is thin, insert a yellow, red or orange screen, thus
arresting the too quick printing quality of the transparency. If the transparency
is thick, or yellow stained, insert a blue or white screen. If a different light is
needed to bring out the full strength of the transparency, the coloured screens
may be arranged to give the desired tint of light. Everything being in readiness,
the plate-holder A having a sensitive plate B therein, is arranged in position in
the camera as shown in Figure 1, and the impression is taken. The impression
may be taken either by short or long exposure just as the transparency may
require it, the light which passes into the camera being tinted to bring out the
full strength of the transparency. By passing the light through the various
screens, it is immaterial to what light the camera is exposed. It may be placed
where the sun-light can strike a portion only of the front screen, or it may be
placed entirely in the shade or entirely in the sun-light. If it be placed so that
a shadow will rest on the upper portion only of the screen and the sun-
light on the lower portion thereof the light is reflected from the first screen to

page_text: the second and from the second to the third, by this time becoming so evenly
diffused that in looking through the camera, one cannot distinguish which portion
of the front screen is exposed to the strong light.
Another important feature of this invention is that the operator is enabled to
vignette negatives or prints in any desired shape and without having any sharp
line to ruin the print or negative. This improvement consists in arranging in
front of the negative-or-transparency-holder C and between it and the
screen, a vignette-holder K within which may be arranged a vignette
K', shown in Figure 2. This vignette is thus arranged in front of the
transparency and the diffused light which comes through the various screens
passes through the opening in the vignette without casting any uneven shadow
upon any portion of the plate; the central portion of the plate will take streng
and clear, but the other portions of the plate will take fainter and fainter, the
outer portions thereof being entirely obliterated, thus producing upon bromides
the vignette which it has heretofore been necessary to produce by continually
moving a vignette between the negative and the paper, in order to prevent sharp
lines.
In producing the transparency, the operator can judge of the printing quality
of the negative and can tint the light to suit the negative. That is to say, if
the negative is so thin that the lights and shades when printed with a white light
will print almost equally quickly, by inserting a yellow, red or orange screen, the
printing quality is materially changed. This is for the reason that through the
thin places of the negative, the actinic and non-actinic rays of light pass through
the negative with almost equal facility. Upon the contrary, where the negative
is thicker, both the actinic and non-actinic rays are arrested in their course, and
the tint is consequently intensified at these points to such an extent that the
printing proceeds much slower in proportion than does the printing of the thinner
portions of the negative.
In practical experience, the proportionate printing qualities of the lights and
shades may, by a proper regulation of the tints of the light used in printing, be
varied if necessary so that where the thin portions of the negative in printing
quality can be compared to one, the thick portions of the negative will in pro-
portion thereof be as five. Any intermediate proportions may be secured by a
proper tinting of the printing light. If a white light is used, the printing
qualities of the thick and thin portions of the negative always maintain the same
proportions relative to each other without reference to the intensity of the light
used, and for this reason a camera employing only white screens is capable of only
limited use.
The use of the other colored screens gives a range which enables the
operator to secure perfect prints from negatives which cannot otherwise possibly
be utilized.
In ordinary practice the inner and outer screens G and I are preferably white
and the middle screen H is tinted to the color and intensity deemed requisite for
the work at hand.
It is to be understood that the purpose of the tinted screen is to regulate the
actinic quality of the white light and that the order of arrangement may be
changed without departing from the invention.
Dated this 6th day of January 1898.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: Improvements in Negative Enlarging Cameras, and Cameras for
Printing from Negatives or Transparencies.
A communication by HERMANN STENDER, of Los Angeles, in the County of Los
Angeles, and State of California, United States of America, Artist, and
HENRY PEACE WARE, of Los Angeles aforesaid, Photographer.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for Foreign
Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street, Manchester, both
in the County of Lancaster, 118, New Street, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, and 322, High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, 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:-
An object of this invention is to provide means whereby the photographer will
find it to his advantage to only take small negatives, the same being inexpen-
sive; so that when a satisfactory proof is obtained, the person having the photo-
graph taken may elect the size of the photograph desired, and then a large plate
of the desired size, the image in perfect proportion and equal in quality to the
small negative, may be readily secured from the small negative and without the
necessity of using more than one large plate. By this means the expense of
large photographs is so reduced as to bring such photographs within the reach of
those in moderate circumstances; and the photographs will be superior to any
photographs from direct-taken large negatives.
By this invention the operator is enabled to print from a negative and to pro-
duce therefrom without great skill or care, bromides or other prints on highly
sensitive paper of the highest artistic type and photographic perfection.
An object of this invention is to provide means by which to correct the printing
qualities of an under or over-timed, pyro or colour stained negative, or of a trans-
parency in case it is defective in the plastic appearance of the objects photo-
graphed, so as to produce from a defective negative, which otherwise cannot be
utilized, enlargements or prints of the highest degree of perfection.
Further objects are to provide simpler, cheaper, and more effective means for
regulating the position of the image upon the ground glass; and to provide
improved means for vignetting prints.
The drawings accompanying the Provisional Specification illustrate the inven-
tion.
Figure 1 is a fragmental sectional view illustrating a camera embodying the
invention.
Figure 2 is a front elevation of the same, the coloured screens being removed
from the light-diffusing chamber.
A represents a plate-holder within which may be arranged the sensitive plate B
which is to form the large negative.
C is a negative-or-transparency-holder which is arranged in the front end of
the camera and is adjustable transverse the camera, and D is a lens arranged
between the holder A, and the holder C. The usual bellows connection E is
arranged between the plate-holders and the lens to allow adjustment of the various
parts relative to each other. The lens is mounted in a frame d which is verti-
cally adjustable, and is operated by means of the projecting tongue d¹. Thus by
adjusting the lens vertically and adjusting the transparency-holder transversely,
the image may be thrown on any desired portion of the plate in the plate-holder.

page_text: In front of the negative-or-transparency-holder C, is the light-diffusing
chamber F. Within this light-diffusing chamber are arranged screens G, H
and I, of different colours, white, red, yellow and blue, by preference the screens G
and I being white and the screen H being of some suitable tint of red, yellow or
blue, the reason of which will be hereinafter explained.
The principal difficulty in enlarging negatives heretofore has been the tendency
of the enlarged negative to take flat, that is to say, there are no half tones in the
enlarged negative.
This invention shows that when a transparency is deficient in respect to the
plastic appearance of the objects photographed, by tinting the light passing
through the transparency to suit the quality thereof, the transparency can be
filled out or rounded so that the image thrown upon the ground glass will appear
as clear and distinct as though the person were looking directly at the object
photographed. The explanation of this is as follows:
The three colours red, yellow and blue, properly combined, will produce all
possible shades and effects. The whiter the light which acts upon a light sensi-
tive plate, the quicker it will make its impression. Red and yellow lights will
not act upon the sensitive plate at all if they are intensified to a certain extent.
Blue light, on the other hand, acts in the other direction, it destroys the action
of the orange, or non-actinic light upon a plate. A blue screen inserted in the
light-diffusing apparatus in front of the camera, will assist a too contrasty or
yellow stained negative in its printing quality by changing its colour. On the
contrary, a yellow, red or orange screen, thus inserted will materially arrest the
too quick printing quality of a too flat, too thin, or too transparent negative. If
the small negative is perfect, white screens are sufficient.
In using this improved camera, first make a small positive or transparency from
a small negative by contact printing in the large plate-holder; the diffused light
causing all the delicate tones and half tones of the negative to be reproduced in
the transparency. Then this transparency is placed within the transparency-or-
negative-holder C and slipped into the front of the camera as shown in Figure 1.
The operator then adjusts the lens and plate-holder to give the image the
desired size upon a plate in the plate-holder. The coloured screens G H and I
are arranged in the light-diffusing chamber in such series that they will tint the
light passing through the transparency to suit the printing quality of the trans-
parency. If the transparency is thin, insert a yellow, red or orange screen, thus
arresting the too quick printing quality of the transparency. If the transparency
is thick, or yellow stained, insert a blue or white screen. If a different light is
needed to bring out the full strength of the transparency, the coloured screens
may be arranged to give the desired tint of light. Everything. being in readiness,
the plate-holder A having a sensitive plate B therein, is arranged in position in
the camera as shown in Figure 1, and the impression is taken. The impression
may be taken either by short or long exposure just as the transparency may
require it, the light which passes into the camera being tinted to bring out the
full strength of the transparency. By passing the light through the various
screens, it is immaterial to what light the camera is exposed. It may be placed
where the sun-light can strike a portion only of the front screen, or it may be
placed entirely in the shade or entirely in the sun-light. If it be placed so that
a shadow will rest on the upper portion only of the screen and the sun-
light on the lower portion thereof the light is reflected from the first screen to
the second and from the second to the third, by this time becoming so evenly
diffused that in looking through the camera one cannot distinguish which portion
of the front screen is exposed to the strong light.
Another important feature of this invention is that the operator is enabled to
vignette negatives or prints in any desired shape and without having any sharp
line to ruin the print or negative. This improvement consists in arranging in
front of the negative-or-transparency-holder Cand between it and the
screen. a vignette-holder K within which may be arranged a vignette K¹,

page_text: shown in Figure 2. This vignette is thus arranged in front of the trans-
parency and the diffused light which comes through the various screens
passes through the opening in the vignette without casting any uneven shadow
upon any portion of the plate; the central portion of the plate will take strong
and clear, but the other portions of the plate will take fainter and fainter, the
outer portions thereof being entirely obliterated, thus producing upon bromides
the vignette which it has heretofore been necessary to produce by continually
moving a vignette between the negative and the paper, in order to prevent sharp
lines.
In producing the transparency, the operator can judge of the printing quality
of the negative and can tint the light to suit the negative. That is to say, if
the negative is so thin that the lights and shades when printed with a white light
will print almost equally quickly by inserting a yellow, red or orange screen, the
printing quality is materially changed. This is for the reason that through the
thin places of the negative, the actinic and non-actinic rays of light pass through
the negative with almost equal facility. Upon the contrary, where the negative
is thicker, both the actinic and non-actinic rays are arrested in their course, and
the tint is consequently intensified at these points to such an extent that the
printing proceeds much slower in proportion than does the printing of the thinner
portions of the negative.
In practical experience, the proportionate printing qualities of the lights and
shades may, by a proper regulation of the tints of the light used in printing, be
varied if necessary so that where the thin portions of the negative in printing
quality can be compared to one, the thick portions of the negative will in pro-
portion thereof be as five. Any intermediate proportions may be secured by a
proper tinting of the printing light. If a white light is used, the printing
qualities of the thick and thin portions of the negative always maintain the same
proportions relative to each other without reference to the intensity of the light
used, and for this reason a camera employing only white screens is capable of only
limited use. The use of the other coloured screens gives a range which enables the
operator to secure perfect prints from negatives which cannot otherwise possibly
be utilized.
In ordinary practice the inner and outer screens G and I are preferably white
and the middle screen H is tinted to the colour and intensity deemed requisite for
the work at hand.
It is to be understood that the purpose of the tinted screen is to regulate the
actinic quality of the white light and that the order of arrangement may be
changed without departing from the invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is:
1. An enlarging camera provided with a negative-or-transparency-holder; a
vignette arranged in front of such holder; and a light-diffusing chamber arranged
in front of the vignette.
2. An enlarging camera comprising a plate-holder; a lens arranged between the
plate-holder and the negative-or-transparency-holder; a vignette-holder arranged
in front of the negative-or-transparency-holder; and a light-diffusing chamber
arranged in front of the vignette holder.
3. In a camera, the combination of a transversely movable negative-holder and
a lens vertically movable independently of the body of the camera.
4. In an enlarging camera, the combination of a transversely sliding negative-
holder; a plate-holder; and a vertically adjustable lens between the negative-
holder and the plate-holder.
5. In an enlarging camera, the combination of a transversely sliding negative-
holder; a light diffusing chamber in front of the negative-holder; a plate-holder;

page_text: and a vertically adjustable lens between the negative-holder and the plate-holder,
substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
6. In an enlarging camera, the combination set forth of the negative-or-trans-
parency-holder; the light-diffusing chamber, arranged in front of such holder,
and coloured light-diffusing screens arranged in the chamber.
7. An enlarging camera comprising a light-diffusing chamber provided with a
plurality of light-diffusing screens, one of which is of a tint to regulate the
actinic quality of the white light; a plate-holder; a negative-holder between the
light-diffusing chamber and the plate-holder; and a lens between the negative-
holder and the plate-holder.
8. A camera provided with a negative-holder and a plate-holder; a lens between
the negative-holder and the plate-holder; a light-diffusing chamber in front of
the negative-holder and provided with two white screens; and a tinted screen
arranged between the two white screens to regulate the actinic quality of the white
light.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.