IMPROVE- IN PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS. PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention. of "IMPROVE-
IN PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS."-A communication from abroad by
Sealed the 30th May 1865, and dated the 21st December 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
21st December 1864.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON. of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS," a communication to me from
abroad by Gabriel Jules Bourdin, of Paris, in the Empire of France, to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements in photographic apparatus,
whereby the two operations of rendering the plate sensitive and of developing
the image or picture are both effected without removing the plate from the
camera or taking it into the dark room.
According to one mode of carrying out this Invention the plate to be
operated upon is pressed closely against the open end of a vessel of orange-
colored glass, such vessel being contained between two uprights, one at each
end thereof, which uprights are held against the vessel by screws or otherwise.
The first upright contains the usual photographic lens, an opening being left

page_text: in the end of the vessel corresponding therewith, and the back one has an
opening made therein provided with a door. The plate is introduced through
this opening, and when the door is closed, a spring on the inside thereof
presses the plate tightly against the open end of the glass vessel. A small
aperture is made in the upper part of the vessel through which a tube is
inserted, extending nearly to the bottom or opposite side of the vessel. On
the top of this tube is fitted a hollow air-tight collapsible ball, which is made
to contain a sufficient quantity of the liquid employed for rendering the plate
sensitive. The tube being introduced and the ball compressed, the liquid is
forced into the glass vessel, and by turning the same the liquid is caused to
flow over the surface of the plate. The remaining liquid is then drawn or
sucked out by the expansion of the ball, and the photographic image or
picture is taken in the usual way. In order to develop this image or picture
another tube and ball are employed, the ball being charged with the developing
liquid, which is introduced into the vessel as before and caused to flow over
the plate. In lieu of a tube and collapsible ball, it is obvious that a syringe
may be employed for introducing and withdrawing the liquids into and from
the vessel. The plate may now be removed from the camera or vessel with
the image fully developed thercon.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st June 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVE

page_text: MENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS," a communication to me from abroad by
Jules Bourdin, of Paris, in the Empire of France, upon the condition, (amongst
others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to certain improvements in photographic appa-
ratus, whereby the two operations of rendering the plate sensitive and of
developing the image or picture are both effected without removing the plate
from the camera or taking it into the dark room.
According to one mode of carrying out this Invention, the plate to be
operated upon is pressed closely against the open end of a vessel of orange
colored glass, such vessel being contained between two uprights, one at each
ênd thereof, which uprights are held against the vessel by screws or otherwise.
The front upright contains the usual photographic lens, an opening being left
in the end of the vessel corresponding therewith, and the back one has an
opening made therein provided with a door. The plate is introduced through
this opening, and when the door is closed a spring on the inside thereof
presses the plate tightly against the open end of the glass vessel. A small
aperture is made in the upper part of the vessel through which a tube is
inserted, extending nearly to the bottom or opposite side of the vessel. On
the top of this tube is fitted a hollow air-tight collapsible ball, which is made
to contain a sufficient quantity of the liquid employed for rendering the plate
sensitive. The tube being introduced, and the ball compressed, the liquid is
forced into the glass vessel, and by suitably turning the same the liquid is
caused to flow over the surface of the plate. The remaining liquid is then
drawn or sucked out by the expansion of the ball, and the photographic image
or picture is taken in the usual way. In order to develop this image or picture
another tube and ball are employed, the ball being charged with the developing
liquid, which is introduced into the vessel as before, and caused to flow over
the plate. In lieu of a tube and collapsible ball, it is obvious that a syringe
may be employed for introducing and withdrawing the liquids into and from

page_text: the vessel.
The plate may now be removed from the camera or vessel with
the image fully developed thereon. In some cases the wooden supports or
uprights at each end of the vessel may be dispensed with, the lens and the
door through which the plate is introduced being attached to the vessel itself.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose I shall
refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings, the same
letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the Figures.
Figure represents a sectional elevation of one arrangement of the improved
photographic apparatus, and Figure 2 is a similar view of a slightly modified
arrangement. In these Figures, A represents the photographic plate, which is
made to fit tightly against one end of the vessel B of orange-colored glass.
This vessel may either be of a nearly spherical form, as in Figure 1, or it may be
made cylindrical, rectangular, or of any other convenient form, as in Figure 2.
In the former case the vessel is held between two wooden frames or uprights
C, C', held together by long bolts and nuts as shown. One of these frames C
is provided with the door d, which is furnished on its interior surface with a
spring e, which, by its pressure against the back of the plate A, when the
door is closed, forces the plate firmly against the lip a of the vessel B. The
frame C, receives the ordinary adjustable tube m carrying the photographic
lens. In the arrangement, Figure 2, in lieu of attaching the lens tube or
holder m to a wooden frame or support it is fitted directly into the end of the
glass vessel itself, whilst the door d is hinged to a metal mount d' also secured
directly to the glass vessel B. D is a tube, surmounted by a vessel or reservoir,
which may be made compressible, as, for example, a hollow ball of caoutchouc.
This is to be filled with the liquid employed for rendering the plate sensitive.
The tube is then inserted into the vessel A through an opening made for that
purpose, which opening may be closed when the tube is out by a spring
valve a', and when thus introduced the liquid is forced into the vessel by
compressing the ball. By placing or turning the vessel in the proper position
this liquid may be made to flow over the entire exposed surface of the plate.
The remaining liquid may then be withdrawn or sucked out through the
tube D by allowing the ball to expand again, and the picture is taken in the
ordinary manner. In order to develop the picture another ball and tube arc
used, charged with the developing liquid, which liquid is similarly introduced
into the vessel A, caused to flow over the plate, and sucked or drawn out
again as described with reference to the previous liquid.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried

page_text: into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First, the application and use of an apparatus or camera, wherein the
photographic plate is rendered sensitive and the image or picture taken, and
subsequently developed without the necessity of removing the plate from such
apparatus or camera.
Second, the peculiar construction and arrangement of photographic appa-
ratus and parts connected therewith, the whole operating substantially in the
manner and for the purpose herein-before described and illustrated by the
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of June, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)