It has often been remarked by eminent photographers that the
arrangement is a most useful one which enables persons to be
photographed without being aware of it. The efforts in this
direction necessitated the operator being close to the camera; here
we have an instrument which permits him to be at any part of the
studio he pleases.
[Illustration: TN: Cadett's Pneumatic Shutter.]
Many have experienced the difficulty of taking children's portraits
with the proper amount of profile; with the above device all
difficulty vanishes--the operator may be by the side of the child
and attract its attention to any direction, and he has the means of
exposing and capping the lens with far greater rapidity than with
the usual method.
DIRECTIONS.--After the day's work is done the rubber tubing should
be taken off the instrument; this will prevent a partial vacuum in
the bellows and tube, which would otherwise ultimately occur. These
instruments are now constructed for application either inside or
[p126] outside the camera. Its use is very simple--squeeze the
ball end of the tube and the shutter opens.
This instrument no sooner made its appearance than Yankee ingenuity
set to work to improve on it, or at least to produce something
similar that might not infringe on the patent.
[Illustration: TN: Using the Pneumatic Shutter to Photograph a
Child.]
The first effort was to bring electricity into use to move a shutter
inside the camera box, and a very good device was perfected and sold
to numbers who were convinced of the usefulness of the idea, but
were unwilling to pay the price demanded for the English instrument.
This electrical apparatus, however, soon played out, and few
operators had the time or knowledge necessary to keep the battery in
order; and in many instances after the sittings had been made it was
found, on attempting to develop the plate, that no exposure had
taken place, hence these electrical shutters were soon relegated to
the limbo of played-out photographic apparatus, of which every
gallery of any standing has one. [p127]
[Illustration: THE "ECLIPSE" INSTANTANEOUS SHUTTER.]
For simplicity of construction and operation, for reliability and
good results obtained with it, the "Eclipse" Shutter has gained an
enviable reputation. It is safe to say that no shutter is better or
more favorably known.
The "Eclipse" is made wholly of metal, and is finely finished. It
attaches over hood of lens by a velvet-lined collar, and has a clamp
to securely hold it in place. It is made in five standard sizes,
collars for hoods of lenses being attached to a shutter of the most
suitable size.
When the shutter is in a locked position ready for an exposure, the
right-hand leaf of fly covers the aperture of lens. When released,
the fly revolves, uncovering the aperture, which is again covered by
the left-hand leaf.
When the shutter is in the position shown in cut, less illumination
is given to the foreground; but by [p128] adjusting the shutter
in different positions any part of the view may be favored.
The hair trigger release may be operated either by hand, by a cord,
or by a pneumatic device. The pneumatic apparatus costs $1.00 extra.
The speed of the shutter is perfectly controlled by moving the
spring on back of shutter from notch to notch on the curved arm.
[Illustration: PROSCH'S "DUPLEX" PHOTOGRAPHIC SHUTTER.
FOR TIMED OR INSTANTANEOUS WORK. PERFECT IN BOTH.]
With this shutter, the latest production of the inventor of the very
popular "Eclipse" shutter, exposures can be made of any desired
duration. It is equal [p129] to any requirement for the most
rapid work, and as a time shutter, exposures can be made as quick as
two pulsations can be given to air bulb (about one-tenth of a
second) or of minutes' duration.
"Duplex" Shutters work perfectly, with even the very largest lenses,
up to their full capacity; and several lenses can be used with the
same shutter. The shutter gives a full opening; but yet, by the
peculiar opening in the exposure slides, any part of the picture can
be favored with more or less illumination by turning the shutter,
sometimes even inverting it.
The illustration gives a front view of the shutter, one-half size of
No. 2, which is suitable for an 8×10 lens, or even larger, as it has
an opening at the diaphragm of 1-1/8 inches.
Inclosed in metal casing are two pivoted slides, which move, in
unison, in opposite directions, and make the exposure in one
continuous movement without the slightest jar, even when worked at
its greatest rapidity. The motive spring is on the back of the
shutter, and is of coiled wire; a perfectly reliable spring. Its
tension is regulated by moving it along a series of notches. The
exposure slides are moved by a stud on the lever shown on front,
which passes through the shutter and a slot in each slide, and
engages with the spring on the back. On the end of the lever are two
notches hidden by the secondary lever. When the lever is fully
depressed, the release catches in the upper notch and locks the
slides closed. A slight pressure on the air bulb or a trip to the
projecting end of the release, frees the slides, and they make an
instantaneous movement or exposure. If the secondary lever has been
brought into play, by a turn or [p130] two of a milled-head nut,
the release will catch in the second or lower notch and hold the
slides at a full opening, in which position they remain until a
second pressure is given to the bulb, or the release is tripped by
hand.
The shutters are made in standard sizes, having narrow threaded
collars on each side, to which can be adapted tubes to receive
lenses, which are to be transferred from regular lens tubes. Any
intelligent instrument maker or machinist can adapt such tubes to
lenses; the original tube is not used.