Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 17th July, 1899-Accepted, 19th Aug., 1899
I, FERNAND MERCEREAU, of 32, Rue Jouvert, Paris, France, Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to an improved instantaneous hand-camera having a
magazine which can at will be taken out and have another one substituted for it even
in the full daylight without any risk of injuring the plates and in a way which is
as quick as it is easy. My camera is of small bulk, very light, and so simple that
it may be made at a very small cost, and provided one has a sufficient number
of spare magazines one may, with a camera of small size, take an indefinite
number of photographs which, once taken and removed from the apparatus with
the magazine containing them, can be easily kept without risk of damage until
it is convenient to develop them. Like most cameras of this kind, my improved
apparatus enables one to make time or instantaneous exposures as desired. The
plates in the magazine are brought to the taking position and returned to the
magazine by simply turning the apparatus over and at the same time operating
a button which actuates a retaining spring buffer.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings shows the improved camera in vertical
longitudinal central section;
Fig. 2 is an external elevation of it, with the magazine taken out and placed
apart;
Fig. 3 is a rear end elevation of the improved apparatus ;
Fig. 4 shows a section taken immediately behind the shutter apparatus and
corresponding to the lines A B of Figs. 1 and 5; and
Fig. 5 is a view partly elevational and partly sectional and corresponding to
Fig. 1, in which the magazine is shown pushed into the apparatus and the first
plate is shown in the proper position for receiving a photographic impression.
The apparatus comprises a rectangular chamber or box a, which is divided
lengthwise by a horizontal partition b into two compartments c and d, of which
one, c, constitutes the dark chamber proper and the other, d, receives the inde-
pendent magazine e.
Each independent magazine comprises a rectangular box e made so as to fit
exactly and slide in the compartment d with gentle friction; the magazine is
pressed by a spring f, fixed under it, against the lower surface of the partition b
of the compartment d. The box is closed by a lid g, which is provided with
tongues that engage in grooves in the sides of the box. This lid carries at its
outer end a pivoted catch h, which engages with a knob i on the magazine e to
keep the lid closed. When the magazine e is in place in the apparatus, the
catch his revolved, to free it from the knob i and to cause it to engage with a
knob j, fixed on the rear face of the apparatus; by this means the magazine is
retained in the compartment d, as will be easily understood on examining Fig. 1.
The lid g has at its free end a projection k, which, when the magazine is in place

page_text: as shown in Fig. 1, bears against a corresponding shoulder on the compartment d.
The lid, held by the projection and the catch h, is absolutely immovable. A
knob, ring, or other suitable device is fixed to the rear face of the sliding
magazine e to enable it to be operated easily.
The magazine is divided by suitable partitions m into a number of compart-
ments in each of which a sensitive plate n may be placed. Once in the magazine
with the lid g closed the plates are absolutely protected against the light, and the
magazine may, without risk, be handled for the purpose of inserting it into the
compartment d or of withdrawing it therefrom.
A spring strip o, fixed at one end within the compartment d to the internal
face of the side wall of the box a, carries at its free end a small catch p (shown in
dotted lines in Fig. 2) intended to engage in suitable recesses q made in the
external face of a lateral wall of the drawer e and in this way to fix the position
of this drawer as, will be hereinafter described.
If, when the magazine has been placed in the apparatus and secured to it by
means of the catch as described, it be desired to use the camera and to bring a
plate into the taking position, the drawer e is pushed inward so that its first
compartment comes vertically under a transverse slot which extends right
across and through the partition b and is in a line with the grooves of two vertical
guides s fixed to the internal surfaces of the side walls of the chamber c. During
this movement of the drawer, the lid g (which, as already stated, is rendered
immovable by the projection and the catch) remains stationary
and consequently as the magazine moves inwards the first of its
partments is uncovered (see Fig. 5). It will be easily understood that as. the
magazine e is pushed in more and more the other compartments will be uncovered
in succession as they come one by one beneath the slot r.
com-
The drawer e is fixed in such a manner that it cannot move of itself, in each of
its successive positions, by the engagement of the catch of the spring o with
the successive recesses q, for each of which there is, moreover, a mark which is
preferably numbered, as shown in Fig. 2 and which, when the drawer e is exactly
in the position necessary in order that the corresponding compartment may be
exactly under the slot r, appears at a little window t in the lateral wall of the
box a.
On the rear wall of the box a there is mounted in the interior of the chamber c
and in the axis of the latter a spring retaining buffer u, which is normally pushed
inwards so that it projects, as shown in Fig. 1, beyond the plane of the rear edges
of the grooves of the guides s; this is effected by a helical spring v, which encircles
the rod w of the buffer. This rod is extended to the outside of the box a and
carries at its outer end a knob x, which is pulled by the operator in order to draw
the buffer u back behind the grooves of the guides s.
The objective y, which is mounted behind the front wall of the box a in the
axis of the chamber c, may be of any kind. The shutter device by means of which
time or instantaneous exposure can be effected as desired, may also be of any
suitable kind. The one which I have shown by way of example in the drawing
is mounted in front of the objective y, on a guide plate z which is fixed to the
internal face of the front wall of the chamber c and is provided, like the latter,
with a hole concentric with the axis of the objective. Two shutters 1 and 2,
which are normally held back by springs 3 and 4, slide in this guide plate. A
pull-button 5, connected to the shutter 1, enables this shutter to be pulled towards
the right hand as seen in Fig. 4 and the shutter 1, acting in its turn on a pin 6
of the shutter 2, carries this shutter along with it. A stop on the plate z,
limits this movement of the shutters. The shutter 1 is solid and when it is
pulled back by its spring 3 it uncovers the hole of the plate z. The shutter 2,
on the contrary, is of such a length that it always covers the said hole, except
when a window 8, cut in the said shutter 2, is brought opposite to this hole.
The shutter 2 has, moreover, on its lower edge two notches 9 and 10 in which

page_text: may engage a pivoted detent 11, which is acted on by a returning spring 12
and can be released by means of a push rod 13, which can be operated from the
outside of the box a by means of a knob 14. When the detent is in engagement
with the notch 9, (see Fig. 4) the shutter device is ready for instantaneous work.
When the detent is in engagement with the notch 10, the shutter 2 occupies
a position such that the window 8 coincides with the hole in the plate ; this
is the position for time exposure. In both cases it is clear that by pressing
the button 14 the detent 11 will be caused to move round on its pivot 15 and
it will thereby be freed from the notch with which it will have been engaged
and will consequently allow the shutter 2 to return rapidly towards the left as
seen in Fig. 4 under the action of the spring 4.
The apparatus works as follows:-
The magazine e, filled with plates n, being in place and secured as hereinbefore
lescribed is pushed, when it is desired to take a photograph, into the position
shown in Fig. 5. The apparatus is then turned upside down and the first plate
can then fall through the slot and enter the grooves of the guides S. If, now,
the button is drawn back in order to withdraw the buffer u from the path of
the falling plate, this plate passes entirely from the magazine into the chamber c,
in the guides s of which the said plate is retained, when the apparatus resumes
its normal position, by the pressure of the buffer u on the back of the plate (see
Fig. 5). The shutter device is then arranged either for time or instantaneous
exposure as the case may be, and the photograph is taken. When the photograph
has been taken, it is necessary only to pull the button in order to allow the plate
which has been exposed to fall back through the slot into the compartment in
the magazine e which it occupied before exposure. The magazine is then pushed
one notch ahead in order to bring the compartment containing the second plate n
under the slot r, and so on. When all the plates in the magazine e have been
used, it is pulled back, whereby the lid g is caused to close over the magazine; the
catch his then freed from the knob j and made to engage the knob i in order to
fasten the lid g to the magazine e; the magazine can then be easily removed from
the apparatus and another one substituted for it. The camera may, of course, be
provided with one or more view-finders and other customary accessories of any
suitable or known type.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. A hand-camera for instantaneous photography comprising a chamber or
box divided into two superposed compartments c and d, one of which constitutes
the dark chamber proper whilst the other receives a movable independent
magazine e which contains the plates to be exposed and into which the exposed
plates are returned after having been exposed, the said magazine being capable
of being at will taken out of the apparatus and having another one substituted
for it, and the passage of the plates from the magazine to the desired position
in the dark chamber and vice versa being brought about by simply turning the
apparatus over and at the same time operating a button which actuates a plate
retainer.
2. Apparatus according to the preceding claim wherein the magazine e, which
is divided by partitions m into compartments containing the sensitive plates, is
fitted with a lid g carrying a catch h which, when the magazine e is in place in
the apparatus, serves, together with a projection on the lid, to render the lid
immovable in the apparatus and to prevent the magazine e from coming out of
the apparatus, the said magazine nevertheless being left free to be pushed inwards
by sliding it along the immovable lid so as to bring its compartments successively
into the requisite position for the passage of the plates into the dark chamber.
3. Apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein the partition 6 separating the
compartments c and d has a slot r under which the various compartments of

page_text: S
the magazine are brought in succession and to which correspond the guides
placed in the dark chamber and intended to receive each plate as it comes from
the magazine for exposure.
4. Apparatus according to Claim 1, wherein each sensitive plate passed from
the magazine e into the guides s of the dark chamber by merely turning the
apparatus over, is kept in position in the said guides by a spring-buffer, which
can be operated from the outside of the apparatus in order to liberate the plate
and allow it to fall back into the magazine.
5. A hand camera, constructed, arranged, and operating substantially as herein-
before described with reference to and shown in the accompanying drawings.
D
1
1000
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.
F. WISE HOWORTH,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Agent for the Applicant.