Darlot (Paris, France)

Rapid Hemispherical (Hemispherique Rapide) Lens,  c. 1880's

How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, Scovill Mfg. Co. (New York, NY), distributed by Andrew J. Smith (Providence, RI), 1886, p. 54

Notes: 

Darlot exported a large number of lenses to the USA during the dry plate era.  Darlot's name for a rectilinear lens was hemispherique; the hemispherique rapide is thus a rapid rectilinear.  The hemispherique rapide had a small push-pull focus, as the lens fit into a collar; the focus was locked with a small thumbscrew.  The lens takes Waterhouse stops uniquely shaped like an inverted tear-drop.  Unlike most Waterhouse stops of the era, these are inserted until flush with the outside of the lens.  Then, the collar is positioned over the slot to secure the stop.

Darlot also made a wide angle rectilinear, the hemispherique, which was also very popular.

References:
Catalogue No. 7, T.F. Indermill, (St. Joseph, MO), 1 Oct 1885, p88
How to Make Photographs and Descriptive Price List, Scovill Mfg. Co. (New York, NY), distributed by Andrew J. Smith (Providence, RI), 1886, p. 54
 

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