Improvements in Photographic Cameras.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 4th Aug., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 4th June, 1894-Accepted, 7th July, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Photographic Cameras.
I EDWARD HOWARD PERCY HUMPHREYS of 8 Hyde Park Gate S.W.
Gentleman do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention has reference to a method by which photographic pictures on
continuous films or otherwise can by the simple mechanism hereinafter described
be taken successively with greater ease and simplicity than heretofore.
For this purpose I use an ordinary hand camera or box with lens and time or
instantaneous shutter of any suitable construction Inside this box or camera
I place two rollers or guides and two wind rollers over which the film passes and
the two guides or guide rollers are so arranged that their common tangent planes
are perpendicular to the axis of the lens. The other two rollers are respectively
the wind up roller and the wind off roller, that is to say, in taking successive
pictures the film is rolled from the wind off roller on to the wind up roller.
circumference of the wind up roller is equal to the length of film required to take
one picture and after a picture has been taken the roller is made to revolve
so that it winds up the exposed film and allows new film to come in front of
the lens.
The
The construction above described is that usually employed for cameras of this
description and my invention consists in the combination of mechanism or mechanical
device to be now described.
On the axis of the wind up roller and capable of turning freely thereon is a
toothed wheel-the teeth of which fit into the teeth of a toothed curve. This latter
being fixed or attached to a main shaft running parallel to the wind up roller. The
toothed curve forms an arc of a circle and contains sufficient teeth to turn the
wind up roller through one revolution.
Also fixed on the main shaft is another toothed wheel near the circumference of
which is a pin or piece to which reference will be made hereafter and which we
may call a stop pin. The teeth of this wheel just mentioned fit into the teeth of
another wheel on another shaft. This latter shaft being used for winding up or
setting the shutter previous to an exposure.
On another part of the main shaft is fixed a small pin or piece which we may
call a release pin so placed that at a convenient moment after the film and shutter
have been wound up this release pin releases a catch connected with the shutter
and allows an exposure to be made.
In order to turn the main shaft a driving arm or handle may be connected
with it in any convenient manner and I preferably attach it direct to the main
shaft.
By means of a moveable stop piece or catch which can easily be adjusted into
position the wind up roller is allowed to revolve in the direction to wind up the film
but not in the opposite direction.
By means of another moveable stop or catch the toothed wheel on the axis of
the wind up roller already referred to is enabled when revolving in one direction
to make the roller revolve with it so as to wind up the film, but when revolving in
the opposite direction it slips round, the wind up roller being prevented from going
with it by the moveable stop or catch hereinbefore mentioned.
When the driving arm or handle is moved round as far as it will go (the distance
it can travel depending on a regulating arm in a manner afterwards to be described
herein) it turns the main shaft with it pulls up a length of film and winds up the
shutter at the same time. The arm or handle is then moved back in the opposite

page_text: direction and in so moving the shutter is released by the release pin above
mentioned and an exposure made. Thus by means of my invention a simple
to and fro motion of the driving handle pulls up new film sets the shutter and gives
an exposure.
As the film is wound up for successive pictures the circumference on which the
film is rolled gets larger and larger and each successive revolution of the roller
will pull up more and more film in excess of the amount required for one picture.
To obviate this I adopt the following device :-
Pivotted in a convenient manner 1 have an arm of metal or other suitable
substance. This I call the regulating arm above mentioned and is turned or cut at
one end. This turned or cut end is so placed that as the driving handle is turned
round to wind up the film the stop pin already described eventually comes up
against this turned or cut end of the regulating arm and the driving handle is
prevented from going any further in that direction.
A small roller is attached to this regulating arm at right angles and also rests
on the circumference of the wind up roller and parallel with it. By this means as
more and more film is wound on to the wind up roller the regulating arm is raised
up and the turned or cut end of the regulating arm is so cut or turned that the
larger the circumference on which the film is rolled the shorter is the distance
allowed the driving handle to travel. I thus obtain with each movement of the
handle a uniform length of film.
may
also and preferably do employ the following arrangement of the rollers in
my camera I place the two wind rollers nearer the lens than the two guides or
guide rollers between which is the piece of film on which the picture is to be taken.
The rest of the film 'I screen from the light coming through the lens during an
exposure in any suitable manner.
By the adoption of this arrangement considerable space is saved.
Dated this Third day of Avonst 1892
Improvements in Photographic Cameras.
1, EDWARD HOWARD PERCY HUMPHREYS, of 8 Hyde Park Gate, London, S. W.
Gentleman, 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 :-
My invention has reference to novel mechanism hereinafter described by which
photographic pictures on continuous films or otherwise can be taken successively
with greater case and simplicity than heretofore. For this purpose I use an
ordinary hand camera or box with lens and time or instantaneous shutter of any
suitable construction. Inside this camera or box I place two rollers or guides and
two winding rollers over which the film passes and the two guides or guide rollers.
are so arranged that their common tangent planes are perpendicular to the axis of
the lens. The other two rollers are respectively the wind-up roller and the wind-
off roller, that is to say, in taking successive pictures the film is rolled from the
wind-off roller on to the wind-up roller. The circumference of the wind-up roller
is equal to the length of film required to take one picture and after a picture has
been taken the roller is made to revolve so that it winds up the exposed film and
allows new film to come in front of the lens.
The construction above described is that usually employed for cameras of this
description and my invention consists in the construction of mechanism or
mechanical devices to be now described.
Ou the arbor of the wind-up roller and capable of turning freely thereon is a

page_text: toothed wheel the teeth of which fit into the teeth of a toothed sector, this latter
being fixed or attached to a main shaft running parallel to the wind-up roller. The
toothed sector contains sufficient teeth to turn the wind-up roller through one
revolution.
Also on the main shaft is another toothed wheel and on the toothed sector is a
pin or piece to which reference will be made hereinafter and which may be called
a stop pin. The teeth of this wheel just mentioned fit into the teeth of another
wheel on another shaft, this latter shaft being used for winding up or setting the
shutter previous to an exposure.
On another part of the main shaft is fixed a small pin or piece which may be
called a release pin so placed that at a convenient moment after the film and
shutter have been wound up this release pin releases a catch connected with the
shutter and allows an exposure to be made.
In order to turn the main shaft a driving arm or handle may be connected with
it in any convenient manner and I preferably attach it direct to the main shaft.
By means of a movable stop piece or catch the wind-up roller is allowed to
revolve in the direction to wind up the film, but not in the opposite direction.
By means of another movable stop or catch the tooth wheel on the axis of the
wind-up roller already referred to is enabled, when revolving in one direction, to
make the roller revolve with it so as to wind up the film, but when revolving in
the opposite direction it slips round, the wind-up roller being prevented from going
with it by the movable stop or catch herein before mentioned.
When the driving arm or handle is moved round as far as it will go (the distance
it can travel depending on a regulating arin in a manner hereinafter described) it
turns the main shaft with it pulls up a length of film and winds up the shutter at
the same time. The arm or handle is then moved back in the opposite direction
and in so moving the shutter is released by the release pin above mentioned and
an exposure made. Thus by means of my invention a simple to and fro motion of
the driving handle pulls up new film, sets the shutter and gives an exposure.
As the film is wound up for successive pictures the circumference on which the
film is rolled gets gradually larger and each successive revolution of the roller will
pull up more and more film in excess of the amount required for one picture. To
obviate this I adopt the following device.
Pivoted in a convenient manner is the regulating arm hereinbefore mentioned ;
it is turned or cut at one end. This turned or cut end is so placed that as the
driving handle is turned to wind up the film, the stop pin already described
eventually comes up against this turned or cut end of the regulating arm and the
driving handle is prevented from going any further in that direction.
A small roller is attached to this regulating arm at right angles and rests on the
circumference of the wind-up roller and parallel with it. By this means as more
and more film is wound on to the wind-up roller the regulating arm is raised and
the turned or cut end of the regulating arm is so cut or turned that the larger the
circumference on which the film is rolled the shorter is the distance allowed the
driving handle to travel. I thus obtain with each movement of the handle a
uniform length of film.
I preferably employ the following, arrangement of the rollers in my camera :-
I place the two winding rollers nearer the lens than the two guides or guide rollers
between which is the portion of film on which the picture is to be taken. The
rest of the film I screen from the light coming through the lens during an exposure
in any suitable manner.
By the adoption of this arrangement considerable space is saved.
The accompanying drawings represent a camera constructed according to my
invention. In these drawings
lin
Figure 1 is a plan with the top of the box removed,
Figure 2 a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 3,
Figure 3 a section on the line 1-1 of Figure 1, and Figure 4 a section on the

page_text: Figures 5 and 6 are detail views showing from opposite sides respectively the
mechanism for imparting motion to the winding-up roller and to the shaft for
winding up or setting the shutter, and for regulating the rotation of the winding
up roller as its circumference on which the film is wound gradually increases.
Figure 7 is a section on a larger scale on the line 4-4 of Figure 2.
a a represent the box of the camera and b the lens, c is the winding off roller ;
its journals are shown as supported between the tops of lever arms d d and the
upper ends of slots e in side frames ff and when it has to be put into place or
withdrawn the lever arms d d are temporarily moved aside on their axes g g and
the journals can then be moved up or down the slots e e; other suitable means of
securing the winding roller c may be employed. hh are the two guide rollers free
to turn in bearings in the side frames; these two rollers are so arranged as seen in
the drawings that their common tangent planes are perpendicular to the axis of the
lens b, i is the winding-up roller; its arbor turns in bearings in the side frames and
is shown as held down by lever arms jj; this roller is put into and removed from
position by passing the arbor down or up the slots k k in the side frames while the
lever arms are temporarily moved aside. Il represents the continuous film; it
is wound upon the roller c to which one end is secured in any convenient manner;
the other end is carried over the guide rollers hand to the winding up roller i to
which it is secured in any convenient manner. It will be observed that the various
rollers are so arranged that instead of the guide rollers h h being placed between
the winding rollers c and i and the lens as has been usual the winding rollers c and i
are nearer the lens than the guide rollers hh, considerable space is saved by this
arrangement. m m is a screen which prevents the light that comes through the
lens during an exposure from reaching any part of the film except the portion
between the guide rollers.
n is a toothed wheel mounted loosely on the arbour of the winding-up roller i;
this wheel gears with a toothed sector p fixed to a shaft 9 parallel with the roller i;
the toothed sector p contains sufficient teeth to turn the roller i one revolution and
the circumference of this roller is equal to the length of film required to take one
picture. On the shaft g is loosely attached a wheel r; on the sector
is a stop
pins the object of which is hereinafter explained. The teeth of the wheel r gear
with a wheel t on a shaft u which winds up or sets the shutter previous to an
exposure. Any convenient arrangement for winding up or setting the shutter by
the rotation of the shaft u can be adopted, and this forms no part of my present
invention; the particular arrangement which is in part shown in the drawings is
described in the Specification of my former Patent No. 4122 of 1892. v is a
releasing device in the form of a pin or arm on the shaft q so placed thereon as to
act upon and release a catch w connected with the shutter at a convenient moment
after the film and shutter have been wound up and allow an exposure to be made.
x is a crank handle for turning the shaft g; it is preferably fitted directly thereto
as shown.
y
Z
is a ratchet wheel fixed to one end of the wind-up roller i and z is a pawl or
catch pivoted to the frame A; the wheel y and pawl while allowing the roller i to
turn freely in the one direction that is to say in the direction for winding up the
film prevent it from turning in the other direction.
B is a spring pawl or catch pivoted to the roller i at the opposite end; this pawl
engages with a ratchet wheel C fixed concentrically to the wheel n; the pawl B
and ratchet wheel C cause the roller to turn with the wheel n when this is
revolving in the one direction, riz.: in the direction for winding up the film, but
when the wheel is revolving in the opposite direction the pawl B rides over the
teeth of the wheel C and the roller is prevented from turning by the pawl z.
D is a spring pawl pivoted to the toothed sector p and engaging with the teeth of
the wheel but so as to ride over the teeth when the sector is moving in the
direction of the arrow E, Figure 3.
F is what is hereinbefore called the regulating arm; it is pivoted at G to one of
the side frames and its free end G' is turned or cut so that when the shaft q is

page_text: "
revolved in the direction that winds up the film the stop pins already described on.
the sector P comes against the said end and prevents the shaft revolving further in
that direction. H is a roller lying upon and parallel to the wind-up roller i; the
arbor of this roller traverses the frame A and at one end passes into a hole in the
arm F so that as the circumference of the roller i gradually inreases owing to-
the winding up of the film thereon the roller H and the regulating arm are
gradually and proportionately raised on the pivot G towards the position indicated in
dots in Figure 5, and the turned end G¹ being thereby gradually moved up it.
gradually limits or lessens more and more the extent of the movement of the
sector p.
This turned end G¹ is so shaped that by reason of its action as a
controlling agent to the motion of the sector p as above described any angle 0.
through which the turned end G' allows the sector p to rotate is very approximately
in inverse proportion to the radius " ρ "of the roller i together with the film rolled
on it at any moment. So that " ρθ = always constant approximately. Con--
sequently a uniform length of film is wound up after every exposure.
The operation of the mechanism is as follows:-When the shaft q is turned by
means of the handle in the direction the reverse of that indicated by the arrow E.
Figure 3, the sector p rotates the wheel n and ratchet wheel C, and this latter
wheel by means of the pawl B rotates the roller i so as to wind up a length of film.
The sector p by means of the pawl D at the same time also rotates the wheel r ;
the extent of the movement of these parts is limited by the stop pins coming
against the end G' of the arm F (Figure 6); in the same movement the wheel r,
through the intermediation of the wheel t, imparts rotation to the shaft u so as to
wind up or set the shutter. When the shaft 9 is then turned in the reverse direction
that is in the direction indicated by the arrow E, Figure 3; the pawls D and B
ride respectively over the teeth of the wheels and C so that these wheels do not
move, their return motion being prevented by the pawl z on the wind-up roller i.
Towards the end of this return movement the releasing pin v comes against the
catch w Figures 4 and 7 and thereby frees the shutter so that an exposure is made.
It will thus be seen that by a simple to and fro motion of the handle to an extent
equal to or less than the arc of the sector pa new length of film is drawn into
position and the shutter is set and again released to give an exposure.
L is a
spring to keep down the arm F.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim
in respect of photographic cameras is :-
1. An arrangement of mechanism whereby one to and fro motion of an operating
handle or device effects the drawing out of a new length of film, the setting of the
shutter and the release of the shutter, substantially as set forth.
2. An arrangement of mechanism whereby an operating handle or device capable
of receiving a limited to and fro motion effects by its motion in the one direction
the drawing out of a new length of film, substantially as set forth.
3. An arrangement of mechanism whereby one to and fro motion of an operating
handle or device which causes fresh film to be exposed effects by the motion in the
one direction the setting of the shutter and by the motion in the other direction the
release of the shutter, substantially as set forth.
4. An arrangement such as hereinbefore described whereby the gradual increase
in circumference of a winding-up roller due to the accumulation of film thereon-is
utilized to proportionately regulate the extent of the rotation given to the said
roller, so that a uniform length of film may be wound up at every movement of the
roller, substantially as set forth.
5. The particular disposition of the winding-off roller, guide rollers and
winding-up roller as and for the purpose hereiubefore described in combination with
a screen such as m for screening from the film except that portion on which the
picture is to be taken the light that comes through the lens during an exposure, as
Bet forth.

page_text: 6. The improved camera constructed, arranged and acting substantially as
hereinbefore described and represented in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 4th day of June 1894.
J. C. MEWBURN & ELLIS,
55 & 56, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agents.