AN IMPROVED PHOTOGRAPHIC CHANGING BOX AND DARK SLIDE
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Hare, Photographic Apparatus Manu-
facturer, of 1, Lower Calthorpe Street, Gray's Inn Road, London,
for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED PHOTOGRAPHIC CHANGING BOX AND
DARK SLIDE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Hare at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th May 1875.
I, GEORGE HARE, Photographic Apparatus Manufacturer, of 1, Lower
Calthorpe Street, Gray's Inn Road, London, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PHOTOGRAPHIC CHANGING BOX AND
DARK SLIDE," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in an improved apparatus for effecting the
transference of sensitive photographic plates, from the plate box to the
dark slide of the camera without subjecting them to the action of
light.

page_text: The Ottewill changing box, long known to photographers, necessitates
several independent acts, neglect of any of which endangers the safety
of the whole of the plates contained therein.
In my improved apparatus I make the movements automatic, and
place them beyond the controul of the operator, so as to render the
admission of light impossible. I close the aperture of the box by means
of a shutter acted on by springs, this shutter being opened only by the
attaching of the camera slide to which the plate is to be transferred, and
closed by the act of removing it.
Instead of the rigid sliding tops peculiar to former transfer boxes, I 1
employ a flexible sub-top which passes down into a well inside of the
box.
Transfer boxes have previously been filled with plates from the top;
in my improved box I insert the plates from the bottom.
The dark slide used in connection with this box differs from others 1
previously constructed, by having the end aperture closed by means of a
piece of metal or opaque material projecting from the back (which works
on an axis at the farther end), and which serves to exclude light from the
plate. This back, which has a catch lock, is so constructed that by
pressure upon it the aperture is closed and the plate retained firmly in 2
its place; while by lifting a bolt the plate is liberated, and the end
thrown open to permit of its egress.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Hare in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th November 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
HARE, Photographic Apparatus Manufacturer, of 1, Lower Calthorpe
Street, Gray's Inn Road, London, send greeting.
2
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of May, in the year of 3
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said George Hare, Her special licence that I

page_text: the said George Hare, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said George Hare, 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 "AN IMPROVED PHOTOGRAPHIC CHANGING
BOX AND DARK SLIDE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said George Hare, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 George Hare, do hereby declare the
nature of my said 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 consists in an improved apparatus for effecting the
transference of sensitive photograph plates from the plate box to the
dark slide of the camera without subjecting them to the action of light.
The Ottewill changing box, long known to photographers, necessitates
several independant acts, neglect of any of which endanger the safety of
the whole of the plates contained therein.
In my improved apparatus I make the movements automatic and
place them beyond the controul of the operator, so as to render the
admission of light impossible. I close the aperture of the box by means
of a shutter acted on by two springs, this shutter being opened only by
the attaching of the camera slide, to which the plate is to be transferred
and closed by the act of removing it. Unlike any shutter of a similar
kind, mine has a long tail piece which acts between guides, and thus
secures parallelism of motion. The shutter and springs are sunk into
the body of the cover of the box so as to be incapable of being tampered
with without taking the parts asunder.
Instead of the rigid sliding tops peculiar to former transfer boxes, I
employ a flexible sub-top which passes down into a well inside of the
box. This sub-top may be formed of any flexible material, but I prefer