AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES.
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William George Helsby, of Liverpool, in the County
of Lancaster, Photographic Artist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
SYSTEM OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING PHOTOGRAPHIC PICTURES.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William George Helsby
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 3rd January 1867.
I, WILLIAM GEORGE HELSBY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
Photographic Artist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING PHOTOGRAPHIC
PICTURES," to be as follows:-
My improved system of manufacturing photographic pictures consists in
causing a large number of impressions, say, fifty, to be produced or made
closely together on one sheet of paper or flexible material properly sensitized
or prepared so as to economize or prevent waste of material and save labour,
and thereby be enabled to produce such pictures at a greatly reduced price.
The pictures can be cut or stamped out of the sheet, and mounted or used in
any ordinary or desirable manner. For the production of these pictures
simultaneously, and that they may be of uniform depth of shadow all over the
sheet, I employ the apparatus herein-after described.

page_text: The apparatus consists of a camera, in which there is mounted the desired
number of lenses, say, fifty; these lenses touch each other, and are fitted in
pictures, or symmetrically to produce
That an equal quantity of light may
either unsymmetrically to produce like
pictures of different sizes and shadows.
pass to every picture, no matter how the lenses are mounted, I fit a sliding
shutter to the object piece of the camera in such manner that it can be
opened and closed in the same direction, securing thereby that the extra
quantity of light allowed to enter through at one side of the object piece
aperture during the opening is compensated for by being shut off earlier in
the closing movement. A convenient arrangement of the sliding shutter is
to fit it loosely on a pin and to operate quickly by a lever or toggle joint, but
many other arrangements for operating the shutter could be used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William George Helsby in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd July 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
GEORGE HELSBY, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Photographic
Artist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William George Helsby, Her special license that I, the said William
George Helsby, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William George Helsby, 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
"AN IMPROVED SYSTEM OF AND APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING PHOTOGRAPHIC
PICTURES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
George Helsby, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William George Helsby, 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, that is to say :-.
My improved system of manufacturing photographic pictures consists in
causing a large number of impressions, say, fifty, to be produced or made
closely together on one sheet of paper or flexible material properly sensitized
or prepared so as to economize or prevent waste of material and save labour,
and thereby be enabled to produce such pictures at a greatly reduced price.
The pictures can be cut or stamped out of the sheet and mounted or used in
any ordinary or desirable manner. For the production of these pictures
simultaneously, and that they may be of uniform depth of shadow all over the
sheet, I employ the apparatus herein-after described.
The apparatus consists of a camera, in which there is mounted the desired
number of lenses, say, fifty; these lenses touch or are near to each other, and
are fitted in either unsymmetrically to produce like pictures, or symmetrically
to produce pictures of different sizes and shadows. That an equal quantity of
light may pass to every picture, no matter how the lenses are mounted, I fit a
sliding shutter to the object piece of the camera in such manner that it can
be opened and closed in the same direction; I thereby render it certain that
the extra quantity of light allowed to enter through at one side of the object
piece aperture during the opening is compensated for by being shut off earlier
in the closing movement. A convenient arrangement of the sliding shutter is
to fit it closely on a pin and to operate quickly by a lever or toggel joint, but
many other arrangements for operating the shutter could be used.
That my Invention may be fully understood, and that others acquainted
with photographic apparatus and the manufacture of pictures enabled to carry.
the same into effect, I have attached bereto a Sheet of illustrative Drawings.
containing six views of apparatus constructed according to my Invention (the
plate frame being shewn in position) and suitable for taking a negative
containing fifty impressions.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2, a front elevation (part of the shutter-
mover cover being removed); Fig. 3, a transverse section; Fig. 4, a back
elevation; Fig. 5, a view in elevation of the back of the plate frame, the
glass plate and cover being removed, and Fig. 6, a transverse section of (part
of) the apparatus fitted with a light screen for convenience in focusing. In
all the views like letters denote the same parts.
A is the base board or plate; B, the frame of the camera; C, the plate
frame; a, the lenses supported in the plate 6; c, sliding shutters provided

page_text: with openings corresponding to the levers; d, shutter frame held in position
by the screws d¹; e, handles fixed on spindle c¹ carrying the key f for
operating c. When is moved round g, which is supported by spring, h is
depressed, the pin i released, and c moved by f coming in contact with one of
the projections j, c, i, and j, are connected rigidly together; k, sliding light
director with push pieces / connected thereto. In the plate frame m is the
outer skeleton; n, the dark slide closing in the ordinary manner; o, a plate
with apertures corresponding to the lenses; p, the prepared sheet of glass;
7, a spring at the back of p to keep it at the same distance from all the
lenses; r, the cover secured by pieces r¹ and thumb bars 72. The frame o
carrys when moved parts p, q, r, 21, 23.
To produce a negative containing fifty impressions by the said apparatus I
operate in the following manner :-I first get the lenses in focus by using a
focusing frame which is slid into the position occupied by the plate frame on
the Drawings, the light director k having been first drawn backwards from
the lenses towards the focusing ground glass plate into the position shewn by
dotted lines in Fig. 3. The focus having been obtained I turn e and move
the shutter c so as to exclude light from the lenses, and push the light
director forward by pressing on 1; this being done I place the plate frame in
the position shewn on the Drawings, taking care that the shutter c and the
sliding frame n are towards the same side of the apparatus, draw back k and
move the shutter c; this allows light to enter, and when proper exposure is
allowed twenty-five excellent pictures are impressed on the prepared surface.
I now turn e and close c, push forward k, and slide n, and the parts carried
therein from a to z, see Fig. 5; this brings the parts of the plate not acted
on by light opposite the lenses and apertures in o, the spaces to be operated
When k is
on being between and at the side of the rows of pictures made.
moved back and c opened the other twenty-five pictures are made, and that
they will be "closely together" will be apparent on looking at Fig. 5, where
the space covered by o is more than large enough to contain fifty oval
pictures of the size shewn by the oval openings. therein; the opening and
closing of c is in the same direction, thus if the shutter opens from left to
right it must close from left to right, and vice versa; and the mechanism is
made, as will be obvious, somewhat like a double lock for this purposo. In
Fig. 6, a plate for rendering the operation of focusing more certain is shewn
by t, apertures of the exact shape which it is desired the pictures should be at
the proper distance from each other are made therein, it is affixed to the
camera.
Having now described the nature of my said Iuvention, and particularized

page_text: the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine myself to all the
details of parts and modes of operation herein described, for instance, to the
number of lenses; the number of times the shutter c and slide n, or either of
them, might be made to move before withdrawal of a plate; the mechanism
shewn for moving c, as many modifications may be made; what I claim as an
improved system of manufacturing photographic pictures is, producing directly
from the object a number of impressions close together on one sheet, sub-
stantially in the manner set forth.
And I also claim the apparatus herein described for the purpose set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William George Helsby, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
WILLIAM GEORGE HELSBY. (L.S.)
In the presence of
JOHN DAVIES,
Clerk to John T. King,
Patent Agent,
4, Clayton Square,
Liverpool.