What kind of camera is this?

[shalom_septimus]

<p>I came across this box camera some time ago, in a box of misc. stuff acquired from the usual place, and I can't figure out what it is, or what type of film it takes.</p>

<p>It's got one brilliant finder, a double-acting shutter which flips left or right, with a handy arrow printed on the shutter to tell you which direction to flip it for the next shot, and a winding key that screws into a threaded hole in the spool. The spool has a ratchet wheel at the end which engages in a one-way clutch; if you turn the key the other way, it screws out of the spool. The size of the film gate is 2-7/16 by 1-7/8; the film itself looks to have been almost exactly 2" wide. This doesn't seem to correspond with any film size I know of. There is no makers mark on the thing, nothing at all except the patent dates 2/25/1890 and 1/9/1894, although it looks like there may once have been a paper label inside the shell.</p>

<p>Weirdest thing is that I can't figure out how the photographer was expected to know when to stop winding. There's no red window, and no film counter, although there is some mechanism next to the spool which I can't figure out just what it does. Perhaps it detects a hole in the film and causes it to stop winding, a la 126 or 828. I dunno exactly.</p>

<p>I'm attaching some quick and dirty photos to this so people can see what I'm talking about.</p><div></div>

[shalom_septimus]

<p>A pic of the shutter mechanism and viewing lens; the taking lens is behind the shutter</p><div></div>

[shalom_septimus]

<p>Rear view looking into the film gate</p><div></div>

[shalom_septimus]

<p>The spool and winding key</p><div></div>

[shalom_septimus]

<p>Supply spool goes here, I guess. That metal rod comes out. You can also see the patent notice. Unforunately they didn't give the patent <strong>number</strong> ...</p><div></div>

[diser]

<p>Seems like one of Kodak's Bull's-Eye/Bullet/Falcon cameras...</p>

[patrick j dempsey]

<p>It's probably for 127 film, which is 46mm tall as opposed to 120's 60mm.</p>

[david_klaffenbach]

<p>Check out patents 421923, 512671, 512512, 512601 and 512655. They match the dates and have the word camera in them. Found at www.google.com/patents.</p>

[jack_welsh]

<p><a href="http://www.google.com/patents?id=fgRDAAAAEBAJ&dq=421923">http://www.google.com/patents?id=fgRDAAAAEBAJ&dq=421923</a><br>

<a href="http://www.google.com/patents?id=nUJaAAAAEBAJ&dq=512671">http://www.google.com/patents?id=nUJaAAAAEBAJ&dq=512671</a><br>

<a href="http://www.google.com/patents?id=_g9aAAAAEBAJ&dq=512512">http://www.google.com/patents?id=_g9aAAAAEBAJ&dq=512512</a><br>

<a href="http://www.google.com/patents?id=V0JaAAAAEBAJ&dq=512601">http://www.google.com/patents?id=V0JaAAAAEBAJ&dq=512601</a></p>

[patrick j dempsey]

<p>Cool patents.</p>

[shalom_septimus]

<p>OK, so now we know who invented it. Colonel H.N.B. Good doesn't seem to have much info about him on the web. I did notice that he found it necessary, in his introduction to the patent, besides describing himself as a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, to declare himself a gentleman. I wonder if that word has some UK-specific meaning that escapes us USAnians.</p>

<p>Still would like to know who manufactured the thing, or what size film it takes. Anyone know where I might find this info?</p>

[cliffmanley]

<p>That looks like one of the old original Kodaks. They just called the roll Kodak Film and it was a paper roll with emulsion on the paper rolled on a wooden spool. After development you would remove the emulsion from the paper and transfer it to a glass plate. It was quite an operation unless you just sent the roll to Kodak. There were 100 negatives to a paper strip. Look on Butkus at the 1888 Kodak manual. </p>

[shalom_septimus]

<p>Following up on my old posts:</p>

<p>Eventually determined this is for #102 roll film, which was discontinued 1933. Still don't know who made it, or how to know when you stop winding. I read somewhere that some of these old box cameras would make a clicking noise when it was time to stop turning the key; maybe that's how it worked.</p>

[shalom_septimus]

<p>Further follow-up: It is definitively identified as a first-generation Blair Baby Hawk-Eye. Thanks to Jos Erdkamp (www.kodaksefke.nl) for the identification.</p>