Rochester Optical Co. (Rochester, NY)
Universal Drop Shutter (probably) - c.1890's
Illustrated Catalogue of Photographic Apparatus,
C.H. Codman & Co. (Boston, MA), June 1886, p. 16
Notes: This
shutter was associated with a
Schultze
Mfg. Co. Champion Camera Improved. It is not marked,
but appears to be identical to the Universal Drop Shutter illustrated in
the 1886 R.O.C. catalog. The three holes on the right side (one on
the handle of the sliding part, and one one each side of the fixed part)
were for brads from which to stretch a rubber band. This shutter
is almost identical to the suspected
Blair Camera Co. Drop Shutter.
Directions:
-Install by pressing it on the lens 90 ½
counter-clockwise from what is shown in the image above, the wooden
handle uppermost.
-Prepare it by pulling the long black piece all the way up until the
brass piece catches in the notch visible at the left. The lens is
covered by the bottom of the slider.
-Pull the plate holder's dark slide out.
---If an
instantaneous exposure is desired, press and hold down the brass trip
lever. The black slider falls all the way down; the hole in the
slider drops past the lens and makes the exposure.
---If a longer, or bulb-type exposure is desired, the brass
trip level is pressed but immediately released; the slider then catches
a notch halfway down that leaves the lens open until the brass lever is
pressed again to send the slider all the way down.
The hourglass shape of the exposure hole was thought to make the exposure more even over the plate. Other drop shutters had square or rectangular holes, were made all or partly out of metal, or used rubber bands or springs to increase the speed of the drop (and decrease the time of exposure).
References:
Illustrated Catalogue of Photographic Apparatus,
Rochester Optical Co., Rochester, NY,
June 1890, p. 18-19
Illustrated Catalogue of Photographic Apparatus,
Rochester Optical Co. (Rochester, NY), distributed by C.
H. Codman (Boston, MA), 1886,
p. 16
1892 Illustrated Catalogue of Photographic Apparatus,
Rochester Optical Co. (Rochester, NY), 1892, p.
26
Catalogue of Photographic Apparatus, Rochester Optical Co.
(Rochester, NY), May 1897, p. 50
Catalogue "G" 1898 Photographic Apparatus and Materials,
Montgomery Ward & Co. (Chicago, IL), p.33
