A NEW PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS WITH PORTABLE CAMERA OBSCURA
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Malfroy, of Horsley Road, Rochester,
in the County of Kent, for the Invention of "A NEW PHOTOGRAPHIC
APPARATUS WITH PORTABLE CAMERA OBSCURA."-A communication from
abroad by Jean Baptiste David, Gentleman, of Saint Etienne, Loire,.
France..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Malfroy at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th May 1875.
I, AUGUSTE MALFROY, of Horsley Road, Rochester, in the County of
Kent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A
NEW PHOTOGRAPHIC APPARATUS WITH PORTABLE CAMERA OBSCURA," to be as
follows:
-
We know that it is necessary, according to the ordinary processes of
photography, to make certain operations in a laboratory, sheltered from
all light, called camera obscura. No operation can then be made by the

page_text: operator without his having, close at hand, a room or tent in which no
light should penetrate and in which he can move to submit the plate
or negative to the different preparatory rinsing, and fixing baths which
are necessary to its treatment.
By means of my process the operator no longer requires that
appendage, so inconvenient, especially when the operation does not take
place in the so called studio, indeed the photographic apparatus of my
Invention carries with itself its camera obscura or laboratory, and the
operator can prepare, rinse, and fix on the spot and before the object to
be reproduced, the negative which is sheltered from all light, although
he himself should be in broad daylight. Hence it follows that even
under the least favourable circumstances it will be possible, by the
ordinary photographic process, to take views which have not hitherto
been taken for want of installation of an ordinary camera obscura or
laboratory.
My camera obscura or laboratory consists of a fixed box placed under
the ordinary photographic apparatus, the capacity of which does not
surpass that of the said apparatus. In this box is to be found another
made of tin, without a cover, which can be taken out on one side of the
exterior box, the side serving as a little door. In the tin box are three
gutta percha bowls separated from each other by a partition, and in each
of which the plate or negative can be immersed in the manner that I
am going to describe, to be submitted to the baths necessary to its
treatment. The first of these bowls contains the bath of nitrate of
silver; the second bowl has two compartments, in one of them is the a
bath of sulphate of iron, in the other a water bath. The other bowl
has also two compartments which contain the bath of hyposulphite and
a second water bath.
To accomplish these immersions in the conditions of installation which
has just been described, it is necessary, 1°, that the so called photographic &
apparatus, the camera obscura or laboratory, being fixed, may be able to
move so as to carry the negative or plate on a vertical level with each of
the bowls. This way of moving is given to the photographic apparatus by
means of two racks, used, so to say, as guiding rails, and having catches
at the different places where the apparatus is to stop; to obtain this, a
it is only necessary to push the apparatus which moves upon small

page_text: pulleys; 2°, that the negative or plate may be at the operator's will
dipped in and taken out of the different baths, passing through an.
opening made in the bottom of the photographic apparatus; this exists,
in fact a trap is to be found beneath the plate or negative in the bottom
5 of the apparatus; the plate or negative can move downwards or upwards
according to necessity, by means of nippers, between the jaws of which
its upper edge is clasped, and it can slide in vertical grooves inside the
photographic apparatus, at the operator's will, for the branches of the
nippers unite at the upper end and form a handle which is within the
reach of the oporator's hand, above the apparatus; thus the operator
can push or pull it when necessary, to dip in or take out of the desired
bowl, the plate, or negative; the handle is of a sufficient length to let
the plate go to the bottom of the bowl, so that when the plate or
negative is on the same level with-the lens of the apparatus, the handle
5 of the nippers is nearly quite outside the upper part of the said
apparatus, whereas, when the plate or negative is down the handle
disappears almost entirely, a little screw keeps the handle up when
necessary. The nippers, of course, by their handle, can be taken out
through the upper part of the apparatus when the collodion is to be
> applied in the open air. The other operations are made in the usual
way; however, as it is sometimes necessary to judge by looking at
the negative, whether or not it must be taken out of a bath, a little
yellow glass opening is made both in the cover of the lens and in the
framework. This little aperture, being opened an instant, allows the
3 image formed upon the negative to be seen by a ray of light going
through the apparatus.
The bowls may be filled up with their respective liquids from any
vessel whatever, but to have the apparatus supplied with all that is
necessary, the liquids are placed in recipients communicating with the
O bowls by means of india-rubber tubes provided with taps. These
recipients are placed in a separate compartment at the bottom of the
camera obscura or laboratory. To fill up the bowls the recipients are

page_text: which the 'photographer can operate everywhere, having close at hand
all that is necessary in a very limited space.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Auguste Malfroy in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th November 1875.
'
· TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COMÉ, I, AUGUSTE
MALFROY, of Horsley Road, Rochester, in the County of Kent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of May, in the year of
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 Auguste Malfroy, Her special licence
that I, the said Auguste Malfroy, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Auguste Malfroy, 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 "A NEW PHOTO-
GRAPHIC¸ APPARATUS WITH PORTABLE' CAMERA OBSCURA,' a communication to
me from abroad by Jean Baptiste David, Gentleman, of Saint Etienne,
Loire, France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Auguste Malfroy, 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 Auguste Malfroy, 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:-

page_text: photography, to make certain operations in a laboratory, sheltered from
all light, called camera obscura. No operations can then be made by
the operator without his having at hand a room or tent in which no
light should penetrate, and in which he can move to submit the plate or.
negative to the different preparatory rinsing and fixing baths, which are
necessary to its treatment.
By means of my process the operator no longer requires that
.appendage, so inconvenient, especially when the operation does not take
place in the so called studio; indeed the photographic apparatus of my
Invention carries with itself its camera obscura or laboratory, and the
operator can prepare, rinse, and fix on the spot and before the object to
be reproduced the negative which is sheltered from all light, although
he himself should be in broad daylight. Hence it follows that even
under the least favourable circumstances it will be possible, by the
ordinary photographic process, to take views which have not hitherto
been taken for want of installation of an ordinary camera obscura or
laboratory.
My apparatus is illustrated in detail by the three Figures of the
accompanying Sheet of Drawing. The camera obscura or laboratory
consists of a fixed box A, A, A, A, (Fig. I.,) placed under the ordinary
photographic apparatus B, B, B, B, (Fig. I.,) the capacity of which does
not surpass that of the said apparatus. In this box is to be found
another made of tin and without a cover, which can be taken out on the
side of the exterior box, the side serving as a little door. In the tin box
are three gutta percha bowls C, C³, C³, (Fig. I.,) separated from each
other by a partition D, D', (Fig. I.,) and in each of which the plate or
negative can be immersed in the manner that I am going to describe,
to be submitted to the baths necessary to its treatment. The first of
these bowls C, (Fig. I.,) contains the bath of nitrate of silver; the
second bowl C¹, (Fig. I.,) has two compartments; in one of them is the
bath of sulphate of iron, in the other a water bath. The other bowl Ċ³,
(Fig. I.,) has also two comparments which contain the bath of hypo-
sulphite and a second water bath.
To accomplish the immersions in the conditions of installation which
have just been described, it is necessary, 1°, that the so called photo-
graphic apparatus B, B, B, B, (Fig. I.,) the camera obscura or laboratory
being fixed A, A, A, A, (Fig. I.,) may be able to move so as to carry
the negative or plate on a vertical level with each of the bowls. This
way of moving is given to the photographic apparatus by means of
'

page_text: racks E, (Fig. I.,) used, so to say, as guiding rails, and having catches.
at the different places where the apparatus is to stop; to obtain this it is
only necessary to push the apparatus which moves upon small pulleys
F, F, (Fig. I.,); 2°, that the negative or plate may be, at the operator's
will, dipped in and taken out of the different baths, passing through an
opening made in the bottom of the photographic apparatus; this exists,
in fact; a trap H, (Fig. I.,) is to be found beneath the plate or negative
G, G, (Fig. I.,) in the bottom of the apparatus; the plate or negative
can move downwards or upwards according to necessity by means of
nippers between the jaws of which its upper edge is clasped I, I, (Fig. 1
I. and III.,) and it can slide in vertical grooves inside the photographic
apparatus at the operator's will; for the two branches of the nippers
J, J, (Fig. III.,) unite at the upper end J', (Fig. III.,) and form a
handle which is within the reach of the operator's hand above the
apparatus J¹, (Fig. I.). Thus the operator can push or pull it when 1
necessary to dip in or take out of the desired bowl the plate or negative;
the handle is of a sufficient length to let the plate G, G, (Fig. II.,) go to
the bottom of the bowl, so that when the plate or negative is on the
same level with the lens of the apparatus, the handle J of the nippers is
nearly quite outside the upper part of the said apparatus (as in Fig. I.),
whereas, when the plate or negative is down the handle disappears
almost entirely (as in Fig. II.); a little screw K, (Fig. I.,) keeps the
handle up when necessary. The nippers, of course, by their handle can
be taken out through the upper part of the apparatus when the collodion
is to be applied in the open air (as in Fig. III.). The other operations
are made as usual; however, as it is sometimes necessary to judge by
looking at the negative whether or not it must be taken out of the bath,
a little yellow glass opening is made both in the cover of the lens and
in the framework. This little aperture being opened an instant, allows
the image formed upon the negative to be seen by a ray of light going {
through the apparatus.
The bowls may be filled up from any vessel whatever, but to have the
apparatus supplied with all that is necessary, the liquids are placed in
recipients L, L, L³, (Fig. I.,) communicating with the bowls C, C³, C³,
by means of india-rubber tubes M, M³, M³, (Fig. I.,) provided with taps &
. (in m, m, m, Fig. I. for instance), and which recipients are placed in a
separate compartment N, N, N, N, at the bottom of the camera obscura
or laboratory. To fill up the bowls the recipients are taken out raised

page_text: with the hand above the level of the bowls, when the taps are turned
on. To empty them it is only necessary to replace the recipients.
The constructive element of this Invention consists in the whole of
these constructions and arrangements, by means of which the photo-
grapher can operate everywhere, having close at hand all that is
in a very
limited space.
necessary
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Malfroy, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this 11th day of November, in the year
of our Lord 1875.