An Improved Photographic Apparatus.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Jan., 1899-Accepted, 11th Mar., 1899
An Improved Photographic Apparatus.
I, LUDWIG NEUMAYER, of 13, Hallesche-strasse, Merseburg, Germany, Inventor,
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 ; —
This invention relates to a new photographic apparatus with reflector, for
sensitive plates and films or pellicles, which permits of the photos being taken
without displacing or removing the plates or pellicles, as will be clearly explained
in the course of the present description and specified in the claims.
And in order that the invention may be properly understood I have hereunto
appended an explanatory sheet of drawings, which shows, by way of example,
one mode of carrying out the invention.
On the drawings:-
Fig. 1 is a vertical section of the new photographic apparatus.
Fig. 2 is a horizontal section of the apparatus.
Fig. 3 is a view of a detail of the apparatus by means of which instantaneous
photos are taken.
Fig. 4 shows an india rubber sheet which is slotted and cut out and the pur-
pose of which is hereinafter described.
In the drawings the same reference letters wherever repeated indicate the same
parts.
In order to take portraits without displacing or removing the plate or pellicle,
the dull plate (made of ground glass) must be movable, that is to say, the plate
must be capable of being lowered sufficiently to correspond with the difference
between the plates and the pellicles. For this purpose the dull plate M rests
upon four springs d arranged on the walls D of the apparatus or of the dark
chamber. This plate has centrally at the sides rods K which can also be
disposed in the walls of the dark chamber and whose lower ends are jointed to
levers n. These rods and levers are retained in their up position by the action
of the springs d. When the slide Sch is displaced, in order to uncover the open-
ing o, the magazine can be introduced, and, by such introduction, the trap i
will be lowered and the magazine will be caused to bear, at its lower extremity,
on the protruding extremities of the levers, thereby lowering them and also,
as a consequence, the dull plate M. The magazine is pressed backwards by a
spring placed in the space along which the magazine is guided. When the
magazine is withdrawn the dull plate M will rise up again under the action of
the springs d, the trap i will automatically close, (the space above this trap is
provided with a plush edging for the purpose of excluding rays of light) and
the slide Sch will cover up the opening o.
The pellicle unrolls from a drum L, passes round the rollers, then behind
the magazine to the rollers 1, at the other side of the chamber, from whence
it passes to the take up drum L.
The mechanism for operating the mirror or reflector Sp is constructed as
follows: A spiral spring F (of a watch) is wound up by means of a key C and

page_text: actuates a pinion T which is provided, at its upper end, with an eccentric Ee
jointed to a slide B in such manner that by the rotation of the pinion a recipro-
cating motion is communicated to the slide which latter works in appropriate
guides J and Wi. The slide B is jointed, at each side of the inner walls of the
chamber, to oscillating pivotted-levers which, by the movement of the slide,
cause the mirror Sp to rise and fall through the intervention of small links.c
jointed to the upper ends of the levers and the back of the mirror. The motion
of the mirror would naturally continue until the spring I would have completely
unwound but in order to prevent this and to allow of the mirror being moved
at will said mirror works upon two curved and pivotted oscillating pieces or
escapements A arranged at each side of the chamber and provided, at each end,
with a stopper Zu. These stops serve to retain the mirror in its upper and lower
positions. The lower stops Zu are caused to hear against the mirror, so as to
arrest the latter, by means of springs h (see Fig. 1).
When pressure is put upon the button Dr or the bladder P is inflated, by
means of an india rubber ball bellows, the two escapements A, will at their upper
ends, which are connected together by a cross bar, he pressed forward and as
a consequence the lower stops Zu will disengage themselves from the mirror
which latter will then ascend and in its ascension will force back the upper
stops which latter, immediately the mirror has passed them, will again advance
so as to retain the mirror in the upper position so long as pressure is brought to
bear upon the escapements A. When the pressure ceases the springs h will
push forward the lower ends of the escapements and the mirror will again
descend, and, in so doing, force back the lower stops Zu, which, after the passage
of the mirror, will arrest the latter in the lower position until pressure is applied
anew to the upper ends of the escapements, and so on. Li is a support upon
which the mirror rests in its lower position and which serves to close the space
against the passage of luminous rays.
The arrangement herein before described does not permit of instantaneous
photographs being taken, for this purpose the apparatus is provided, at the back,
with a movable slotted partition formed by an india rubber sheet Gu rolled upon
an upper spring-drum Ro and attached to a lower drum Ru which latter carries,
at the outside, a toothed wheel gearing with a wheel a whose axle traverses
the wall D of the apparatus and carries, at its end, a small pinion i.e., which
engages a wheel W actuated by a key. When the wheel W turns, the rubber
sheet Gu will unroll from the drum Ro until its slot is at the bottom when a
lever z engages an appropriate catch and prevents it rolling up again. The
lever z is prolonged as far as the eccentric Ea, where it abuts against an ex-
tension E (Fig. 2) in such manner that, when the mirror descends, this exten-
sion disengages the said lever in order to permit of the rubber sheet Gu rolling
itself upon the drum Ro under the action of the spring, with which said drum
is provided.
For ordinary photographs the wheel W must be turned further so as to expose
the plate or pellicle completely through a window or cut out part with which
the india rubber sheet is provided. In this case the lever z would be retained by
a second catch and the rubber sheet would be made in the manner indicated at
Fig. 4.
indicates a shade placed above the plate M, V the exterior casing and GZ a
red glass by means of which the number of the pellicle can be verified. The
other parts represented relate to the regulation and operation of the objective
and are of the usual construction.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
consider novel and desire to claim is :—
1. A photographic apparatus having a reflector, characterized by a movable
internal mirror the mechanism of which comprises a key, a spiral spring, a

page_text: pinion, an eccentric, and a slide with a reciprocating movement to which are
jointed pivotted levers which act upon said mirror, the latter being retained in
its extreme positions by a pivotal escapement which can be actuated from the
outside of the apparatus; by a dull plate (made of ground glass) which is movable
and resiliently supported (by springs), this plate having vertical rods which are
arranged in the walls of the dark chamber and have their lower ends jointed to
pivotted levers, whose ends project into the space which serves for the reception
of the magazine, which latter, when inserted in the space, caues the said dull
plate to descend, said dull plate rising again when the magazine is withdrawn;
and by drums upon which the pellicle is rolled up and unrolled said pellicle pas-
sing behind the magazine and round guide rollers arranged in an appropriate
manner at each side of the dark chamber, substantially as hereinbefore described
with reference to the drawings annexed.
2. In a photographic apparatus, such as claimed in Claim 1, the arrangement
of the drums Ro, Ru, upon which is rolled and unrolled a slotted and cut out
sheet of india rubber the action being produced by mechanism, operated by a
key, comprising a toothed wheel acting upon a pinion which transmits its move-
ment, by gearing, to the drum Ru, and an arresting lever z which can be disen-
gaged by the eccentric mentioned in Claim 1, the suid drum Ro being under
the action of a spiral spring, substantially as hereinbefore described with refer-
ence to the drawings annexed.
3. In the photographic apparatus claimed in Claim 1, the arrangement of the
trap i, of the movable slide Sch, and of the plush edging between this trap and
the slide, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the drawings
annexed.
Dated this 5th day of January 1898.
H. D. FITZPATRICK,
100, Wellington Street, Glasgow, Agent.