IMPROVEMENTS IN CAMERAS FOR TAKING PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William James Stillman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th November 1871.
I, WILLIAM JAMES STILLMAN, of No. 100, Clarendon Road, Notting
Hill, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CAMERAS FOR TAKING PHOTOGRAPHIC
PICTURES," to be as follows:-
The bottom or base board of the camera is made in three portions, so
jointed & hinged together that they enclose the works of the camera
when closed up, and when open form a base for extending the gussets of
the camera by screw & other arrangements in order to vary & extend
at will the focal distance of the lens from the position of the sensitive
plate.

page_text: forward gusset being also connected with the frame & slide which carry
the lens, & the hinder gusset being connected with the camera back
which carries the slide containing the sensitive plate.
The front of the camera which carries the lens is fixed at right angles
on a sliding board which moves in grooves in the base board, and is
jointed in such a way [that when closed up the hinges & joints in the
sliding board will coincide with the hinges & joints in the base board,
& enable the whole to close together, & this sliding board is pushed
forward by an arrangement of screw & nut so that it shall contribute
to make rigid the base board, & at the same time adjust the focus of
the lens, while the camera back which carries the slide containing the
sensitive plate is moved back & forwards in grooves in the base board,
or by clamps or in slots therein or thereon, & fixed in any desirable
position by a screw or screws of which the one end shall move in the
groove or slot, or be in the clamp in the base board, & the other shall
be connected with the back, so that by turning of a nut or screw the
back shall be clamped into the desired position.
10
4.07.
The back of the camera as aforesaid shall be so constructed that the
under side of it shall form a longitudinal section of a cylinder, and shall
be fitted to a shoe by a corresponding concavity of the upper surface of
the shoe in such a manner that the two parts, the camera back proper
and he shoe on which it rests or slides, may be clamped together by the
action of a screw, "lever, or wedge, so as to fix the camera back and the
slide containing the sensitive plate at any angle of inclination to the
base board which may be desired, forming what is called a swing back
for the purpose of enabling the operator to adjust the sensitive plate
according to the inclination of "the object to be photographed. The
peculiarity of this form of swing back being that its position in
reference to the object to be photographed, being adjusted by a motion
of the upper portion of the back of the camera, on the lower part or
shoe by an adaptation of the inferior and superior surfaces respectively to
each other through a coincident cylindrical curvature or other cur-
vature whatever, permitting free motion between the two, and the
binding them together at any desired position by the action of screw,
wedge, or lever of any kind, and thereby fixing them rigidly in the
place required on the base board at the same time that they are fixed
relatively to each other; or fixing the two portions of the back rigidly 'with
•
"
..
J
.

page_text: reference the one to the other, and leaving them free motion conjointly on
the base board by an independant arrangement of screw, rack, and pinion,
or other motor as desired, the Invention as to the back consisting of a
division of it with into parts, an upper and a lower, by the motion of the
former of which on the latter any length of inclination desired may be
given to the sensitive plate contained in the camera back, and enabling
the operator to fix it firmly in that position.