IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughts-
man, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING PHOTOGRAPHIC
PICTURES." A communication from David A. Woodward, of Baltimore,
in the United States of America.
Sealed the 29th January 1858, and dated the 22nd September 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
22nd September 1857.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING PHOTOGRAPHIC
PICTURES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is, first, to furnish the artist or draughtsman
with an instrument by which he may be enabled to produce an accurate
image of the object to be delineated by photography, and that will afterwards
portray on his canvas or other material an infallible representation thereof in
light and shade, whereby a most accurate likeness or copy of any desired size
may be produced, requiring only one sitting of the subject.
And, secondly, to enable the photographer to print a picture on prepared

page_text: canvas, or other material of greater or less dimensions than those of the
negative ordinarily used for such purpose, whereby he is enabled to use a
more perfect negative, produced by bringing the entire field of his picture
within the scope of the focus of his instrument, and afterwards to throw it up
or enlarge it, and print by concentrating the rays of light through the negative
picture in the instrument, instead of placing his negative in close contact with
the prepared paper, as in the usual manner. To this end, a photographing
camera constructed with an inner adjustable box is used for holding the
sheath, which can be moved nearer to or further from the lens, for the purpose
of focussing when used for throwing the picture on a distant object. To the
outer case is fitted an ordinary photographing tube, holding one or more
achromatic lenses, and provided with a rack and pinion adjustment. By this
camera the negative picture is obtained on glass or other suitable material,
and it is then secured in an open sheath and placed in the instrument in the
same position as before, so that the light may pass through it. To the rear
end of the camera box a plano-convex luminating lens is adapted on a line
with the achromatic lens and a reflector, thus converting the instrument into
a "solar camera."
The mirror or reflector is hinged to a circular collar encompassing the tube
which holds the luminating lens. This collar is provided with rack teeth, into
which gears a pinion operated by a mill head outside the box, for the purpose
of turning the reflector to catch the sun's rays, and by means of a segment
rack and pinion, the reflector is adjusted to focus the sun's rays on the
luminating lens. The instrument being so adjusted, with the reflector passing
through an aperture in the shutter and the room darkened, the sun's rays are
reflected with great power through the negative, which is focussed on the
sensitized paper or canvas of any desired size by moving the inner sliding box
and achromatic lens. The image is then printed on the sensitive surface, and
it is afterwards to be developed and fixed in the usual way.
In using the instrument to reflect a positive picture for tracing, &c., the
negative picture is first taken on glass, and afterwards copied in a similar
manner by placing it between the instrument and the light, to produce a
picture on glass that is positive when seen by transmitted light, which is then
placed in the open sheath at a suitable distance from the luminating lens,
when the rays of light passing through it and the achromatic lens, throw
a positive picture on the canvas, which, as in the former case, may be arranged
and focussed to any desired size, to be traced or painted.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd March 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Hér most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Alfred Vincent Newton, Her special license that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN OBTAINING PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES," being a communication
from David A. Woodward, of Baltimore, in the United States of America,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
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 Alfred Vincent Newton, 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 Drawing hereunto annexed;
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
:-
The object of this Invention, as communicated to me by my foreign corre-
spondent is, first, to furnish the artist or draughtsman with an instrument that
will enable him to produce an accurate image of the object to be delineated by
photography, and that will afterwards portray on his canvas or other material
an infallible representation thereof in light and shade, whereby a most accurate
likeness or copy of any desired size may be produced, requiring only one
sitting of the subject.
And, secondly, to enable the photographer to print a picture on prepared

page_text: canvas or other material of greater or less dimensions than those of the
negative ordinarily used for such purpose, whereby he is enabled to use a more
perfect negative, produced by bringing the entire field of his picture within the
scope of the focus of his instrument, and afterwards to throw it up or enlarge
it, and print by concentrating the rays of light through the negative picture in
the instrument, instead of placing his negative in close contact with the
prepared paper, as in the usual manner.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 represents the instrument in side
elevation; and Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same; A
represents the box of an ordinary photographing camera fitted with an inner
box B, that holds the sheath C, which can be moved nearer to or further
from the lens for the purpose of focussing, when used for throwing the picture
on a distant object. To the box A is also fitted an ordinary photographing
tube D, holding one or more achromatic lenses E, E', which are focussed on
the object by means of a rack and pinion F, thus forming a complete and
perfect photographing camera, by which the negative picture on glass or other
suitable material is first produced. The picture is then secured in an open
sheath and placed in the instrument in the same position as before, so that the
light may pass through it. To the rear end of the camera box A, a plano-
convex luminating lens G, is adapted on a line with the achromatic lens E
and also a reflector H, whereby the instrument is converted into a "solar
camera." The mirror or reflector H is supported on a circular collar I,
encompassing the tube J, which holds the luminating lens G. Around the
inner side of this collar is a rack a, about half of the circle which gears into a
pinion c, operated by a mill head K outside the box, so as to turn the reflector
to either side to catch the sun's rays; and to one side of the reflector is
attached a segment rack L, which passes through the end of the box A, by
the side of the tube J, and gears into the pinion e, which is also operated by a
mill head, so as to adjust the position of the mirror to focus the sun's rays on
the luminating lens G. The instrument being so adjusted with the reflector
passing through an aperture in the shutter of a darkened room, the sun's rays
are reflected with great power through the negative, which is focussed on the
sensitized paper or canvas at any desired size by moving the inner sliding box
B, and lens E, by means of their respective racks and pinions. The image is
then printed thereon and is afterwards to be developed and fixed in the usual
way. In using the instrument to reflect a positive picture for tracing, &c., the
negative picture is first taken on glass, and afterwards copied in a similar
manner by placing it between the instrument and the light, to produce a
picture on glass that is positive when seen by transmitted light. This picture

page_text: is then placed in the open sheath at a suitable distance from the luminating
lens G, when the rays of light passing through it and the achromatic lens E
will throw on the canvas a positive picture, which, as in the former case, may
be arranged and focussed to the size desired to be traced or painted. For this
purpose it is only necessary to exclude the direct rays of the sun and not
entirely to darken the room.
It will be perfectly obvious that this instrument may be so constructed and
arranged as to throw the picture downwards on to a table or in any position
most convenient for the artist to work.
Having thus set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements in
Obtaining Photographic Pictures," as communicated to me by my foreign
correspondent, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim the photo-
graphing camera obscura or the solar reflector and lens, or any part thereof of
themselves; but what I claim as new under the above in part recited Letters
Patent is adapting to the photographing camera a lens and reflector in rear of
the object glass, in such manner that the instrument may be made to answer
the twofold purpose of a camera obscura and a camera lucida, substantially as
and for the purpose herein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-second day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
A. V. NEWTON. (L.S.)