Improvements in Automatic Apparatus for the Taking, Sale, and Delivery of Photographs.
Year: 1898

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Automatic Apparatus for the Taking, Sale, and
Delivery of Photographs.
EDWIN JENNINGS BALL, Civil Servant, 2, Gainsborough Villas, Alexandra
Road, Plymouth, Devon, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:
A coin being inserted through an opening actuates a lever or wheel or system of
levers and wheels or both and by the aid of these directly or indirectly a prepared
photographic plate is removed from a receptacle containing preferably many such
plates to a carrier attached to a travelling arm or wheel by which a spiral or other
suitable movement can be imparted to the carrier and this with the photographic
plate after exposure by the removal of a shutter be consecutively immersed into
and removed from the necessary photographic solution, the photographic plate
being subsequently ejected from the machine. The carrier can be brought back
into position again by means of a cord or in any other suitable way. I prefer to
employ an apparatus arranged as follows but I do not confine myself solely to the
use of it as specifically described but may vary it or any of its details in any suit-
able way.
In a box-like receptacle is placed a screw preferably horizontal with
another screw or nut capable of being made to travel along it, each for instance
as the arrangement of an ordinary screw hand-drill. To the travelling screw or
nut or actuating movable screw handle of the drill I attach a vertical or inclined
arm bent at the top. On and around a part of this bent portion a carrier suitably
constructed to hold the photographic plate swings freely. The travelling screw
carrying this arm is caused to rotate and so to impart a spiral motion to the arm
and carrier. This rotation may be effected by means of a cord wound round a
cylinder or wheel or other suitable shape attached to the movable screw or nut.
A weight being attached to this cord unwinds it when allowed to fall and so causes
the travelling screw and what is attached to it to move spirally along and around
the other screw placed as stated preferably horizontal, or but slightly inclined.
Again when the other end of the cord is pulled the travelling screw or nut and its
attachments may be moved in the opposite direction and thus the weight wound
up again. In the front of the apparatus is a shutter that can be raised and lowered
and so allow the plate that has been dropped into the carrier to be exposed. This
plate is charged into the carrier in the following manner;-When the cord that
winds up the weight is pulled it causes the moving screw or nut or a portion of
its attachment on returning to the original starting position to impinge against
and move a pivotted and weighted bent lever or a wheel of suitable shape. This
it so moves as to remove it from below a lever placed beneath the coin slot, a coin
being forced through this slot actuates a lever. To one end of this lever is attached
a cord moving round fixed pulleys and attached at the other end to a carriage to the
back of which is attached a cord and a weight adequate to bring it back into its
starting position when the coin has passed through the slot and released the lever.
The coin forcing the short arm of the lever down the long, arm rising pulls the

page_text: cord and draws the sliding or rolling, carriage forward and through a slot at the
base of the receptacle filled with the prepared photographic plates pushing one of
the latter into the travelling carrier. The person desiring the photograph then
pushes or turns a handle or other arrangement by the aid of which the shutter
may be made to lift and then allowed to drop again and then the apparatus be
started and the exposed plate passed through the necessary solutions, a stop
suitably placed finally ejecting the photographic plate from.the carrier and thus
enabling it to slide or fall from the apparatus. It is evident that in the system
of screws referred to either the screw carrying the arm may be made to move in
the manner described or in any other suitable way or the other screw may be the
one actuated, or both may be actuated. To the outside of the shutter I prefer to
attach a mirror.
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1000
Improvements in Automatic Apparatus for the Taking, Sale, and
Delivery of Photographs.
I, EDWIN JENNINGS BALL, Civil Servant, of 55, Greenbank Avenue, Plymouth,
late of 2, Gainsborough Villas, Alexandra Road, Plymouth, in the County of
Devon, 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 for improvements in automatic apparatus for the taking, sale
and delivery of photographs has for its object to provide improved means
whereby a person can obtain a photograph of himself on the insertion of a proper
coin or coins into an apparatus.
In carrying out this invention the person stands on a platform and inserts the
necessary coin or coins into the apparatus, then either automatically by the weight
of the person or by hand the apparatus is wound up ready for action and at the
completion of the winding up a sensitised plate is fed forwards into a holder hang-
ing vertically from a vertical disc, after which the person pulls a cord or slide that
opens the shutter and when released automatically closes itself the time of
exposure being adjustable by varying the height to which it is pulled and its
speed of descent. When the shutter falls it releases the disc carrying the holder
and it rotates on a screw thus carrying at each rotation the plate through a series
of troughs arranged below the disc and finally the holder comes against a fixed
pin that tilts the holder and discharges the plate into a delivery shoot. Three
troughs are usually sufficient, the plate being immersed several times in each
according to the breadth of the trough and the pitch of the screw.
In the accompanying sheets of illustrative drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation
of the apparatus the side of the containing case being supposed removed. Fig. 2
is a front elevation of the front part of the mechanism. Fig. 3 shows a front view
of the lens or mirror and the means for indicating when the apparatus is empty.
Fig. 4 is a detail view showing how the main apparatus is unlocked on the insertion
of a coin. Fig. 5 shows the main mechanism by which the apparatus is operated.
Fig. 6 is a plan of the arrangement for feeding the plates into the holder and also
the hopper for containing the salts and the arrangement for feeding the salts into
the developing trough, and Fig. 7 is a plan of the developing troughs showing
the cover for covering up one of the troughs when not in use.
The mechanism by which the machine is wound up or set by each user com-

page_text: prises the platform 1 supported in front of the apparatus on springs 2 and having
a projection 3 that acts on the end of a lever 4 fulcrumed to the base of the
apparatus at 5 and connected to a cord 6 that passes round and is fixed to the
pulley 7, fast with a pulley 8 on which the cord 9 carrying the weight 10 is wound
in the opposite direction to the cord 6 and fixed.
As shown the platform 1 rises and falls vertically and the centre position of
the lever 4 is horizontal so that the projection 3 escapes the end of the lever at
the points 11 and 12. As the platform descends it thus depresses the lever and
raises the weight 10 until the projection escapes the lever 4 when the weight 10
will react and pull up the lever 4. When the platform again rises the projec-
tion 3 ascends slightly above the end of the lever 4 and in so doing raises the
lever and escapes when the lever again falls and the parts take up the position
shown in Fig. 5.
The cord 9 is attached to a ratchet rack 13 that as the platform 1 is depressed
slides over and past the teeth of the wheel 14 but as the weight 10 reacts, rotates
the ratchet wheel 14 and pulley 15, the rack being drawn completely past the
ratchet wheel 14 so as to leave the pulley 15 free to be returned to its initial
position as hereinafter described. On the pulley 15 is a stop 31 that normally rests
on the projection 32 on a swinging arm 33 pivoted at 34 and connected to an
arm 35 pivoted at 36. The arm 35 is provided with a projection 37 opposite the
coin slot 38 and on inserting a coin into the slot it acts on the projection 37 and
forces the arm 35 sideways horizontally and thus removes the projection 32 from
the stop 31 and so allows the weight 10 to rotate the pulley 15 in the direction
shown by the arrow. The coin in being forced through the slot 38 passes the
spring 40 which prevents the return of the coin. As the pulley 35 rotates the
coin that rests on it is carried forward and falls into a suitable receptacle beneath.
The pulley 15 drives an endless cord 16 connected to the small pulley 17 that
is fast with a pulley 18. The cord 19 is fixed to the pulley 18 and wound round
it and also after passing round guide pulleys 2021 round a pulley 22 on the disc 23
carrying a second pulley 241 on which is a similar cord 25 also fixed similarly
to the pulley 26 fast with a pulley 27 to which is attached a cord 28 with weight 29.
As the pulley 15 is rotated by the rack 13 the disc 23 is rotated on its axis and the
weight 29 is raised. It will also be seen that on the descent of the weight 29 as
hereinafter described the pulley 15 will be returned to its initial position the
stop 31 sliding over the inclined end of the projection 32 and forcing it sideways
to pass it.
The disc 23 is mounted on the screw 24 that forms its axis and on which it is
traversed like a nut so that as the weight 29 is being wound up the disc is traversed
towards the front of the apparatus until a projection 411 on its circumference
comes against the stop 80. As the weight 29 descends it traverses the disc in the
reverse direction towards the back of the apparatus. The disc 23 is however
held in its wound up position by means of the escapement catch 42 that acts on
the projection 43 on the disc.
The lens 44 is fixed inside the front of the apparatus and is covered by a slide 45
that is attached by the cord 46 to a pulley 47 fast with a pulley 48 on which is a
cord 49 connected to handle 50 outside the apparatus and sliding in a guide 511.
The user poses himself by means of the mirror 521 at the front of the slide 45 and
The
when he is ready he pulls the handle 50 to the end of its slide and lets ფი.
slide 45 is drawn up to the top and then by its weight immediately begins to
descend to again cover the lens. The time of uncovering or exposure is easily
adjustable by adjusting the length of the slide according to the period of the year,
being longer in winter than in summer. The pulleys 47, 48 are fast with a counter-
balance wheel 81 that serves to regulate the time of exposure and also ensures
the parts returning to their normal positions.
On the disc 23 near its periphery is pivoted the plate holder 54 in such position
that when the projection 411 on the disc is against the stop 30 the holder 54 is
opposite the shoot 55. The plates 56 are stored in the receptacle 57 across the

page_text: bottom of which slides the pusher 58 that is adapted to push out one plate at a
time into the holder 54.
The pusher 58 is actuated by means of the rod 59 that is connected to one end of
the horizontal lever 60 fulcrumed at its centre and connected at its other end to
the spring 61 and by the cord 62 to the lever 63 fulcrumed at 64 and having one
end projecting into the coin shoot 65. On inserting a coin 66 into the slot 67 it
drops down the shoot 68 and rests on the end of the lever 63. Above the coin
shoot is a guided slide 69 that when depressed forces the coin 66 past the lever 63
and actuates it thus causing the pusher 58 to force a plate into the shoot 55 and
to the holder.
On the side of the receptacle 57 is a hopper 721 for containing the salts for the
developing solution. The hopper has a small opening at the bottom and a small
portion of the salts are fed into the developing trough by the rod 581 attached
to the pusher 58. The rod 581 has a small hole 501 corresponding to the hole
in the bottom of the hopper 721 and at each stroke of the pusher 58 and rod 581
the hole 591 comes directly under the hole in the hopper thereby allowing a
small quantity of the salts to pass down the tube 722 into the developing trough
cach time the machine is operated.
The guided slide 69 is actuated to force a plate into the shoot by the link 70
connected to a lever 71 fulcrumed on the axis of the pulley 15 and that is actuated
by the stop 31 on the pulley just as the pulley is completing its final motion under
the action of the weight 10, the motion of the pulley being slightly less than one
rotation.
A weight 72 rests on the plates 56 in the receptacle 57 and is attached by a
cord 73 to a slide 74 on which is the word "empty" which word comes opposite
the slot 75 when the weight 72 rests on the bottom of the receptacle 57.
On the slide 45 is a projection 51 that when the slide is in its lowest position
acts on the escapement lever 52 that carries the catch 42 and lowers it in front of
the projection 43 on the disc. When the slide 45 is raised, the catch 42 is thus
removed and the disc 23 rotates slightly until the projection 41 comes against the
other catch 53 of the escapement lever which is lowered as the catch 42 is raised.
When the slide 45 again lowers, the projection 51 on it again operates the escape-
ment lever to remove the catch 53 and lower the catch 42 so that the disc is now
free to be rotated by the action of the weight 29 the projection 43 having pre-
viously passed the catch 42 and the horizontal motion of the disc removing the
projections 43 and 41 on the disc away from their catches so that they are not
stopped at the next and following rotations.
Below the disc 23 are arranged three tanks 76, 77, 78, containing respectively,
developing, fixing, and washing solutions. It will readily be seen that as the
disc rotates and passes along the screw axis 24 the holder 54 will pass first several
times through the tank 76 and similarly afterwards through the tanks 77 and 78.
In order to prevent the developing solution from getting spoilt by exposure to
the atmosphere the three troughs are all arranged inside a larger trough 82 which
is filled with water almost to the top. The arch cover 761 rests on slides 83
arranged near the top of the trough 82 but under the water. The cover is kept
back by the small weight 763 connected thereto by the cord 762 and is pulled
over the developing trough by the weight 29 through the cord 85 that passes
round the pulley 84 and is attached to the cross bar 88 which is connected to
the cover by the cord 87.
In order to prevent the holder 54 stopping the disc 23 by bearing on the edges
of the tanks 76, 77, 78, the holder is provided with a slot 79 so that it can rise
on its pivot.
After the disc 23 has passed the tanks it comes opposite the open-top slide 80.
The bottom of the holder 54 comes against the bottom of the slide and the holder
is tipped to discharge the plate into the slide down which it passes to outside the
apparatus.
In order to obtain a photograph the person steps on to the platform, inserts

page_text: a coin through the coin slot 67, and then another through the slot 38 and then
poses himself. When ready he pulls out the handle 50 and lets go.
As shown and described the apparatus is arranged for two pennies but it is
evident that it can be arranged for one, three or more coins, for example, for one
penny it is only necessary to rigidly connect the lever 63 and slide 69 and for
three coins the mechanical connection is broken at any convenient place and
completed in a known manner on the insertion of a penny.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. The apparatus for passing the plate through the developing tanks consisting
of a screw axis, a nut on the axis, a plate holder pivoted to the nut at a distance
from its axis, a series of developing tanks underneath the axis and a means for
rotating the nut on the axis.
2. The improved coin freed automatic photographic apparatus substantially as
described.
1000
WHEATLEY & MACKENZIE,
40, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Agents.