Optimus Plunge camera shutter by Perken, Son & Rayment.
Category
Photographic technology
Date
1886
Materials
Metal
Measurements
85 x 70 x 32 mm
Order this imageCollection
Fox Talbot Museum, Wiltshire
NT 1524714
Summary
Optimus (™) Plunge camera shutter by Perken, Son & Rayment of London. Patented "Plunge Shutter". Brass and other metal construction with metal blade. Metal before-lens shutter, for 60mm lens tube(missing), metal plate slides up and down, spring tensioned adjustment slow to fast numbers 1-5. Pneumatic release valve. 35mm circular aperture. Threaded screw fixing on reverse. Markings: Engraved on front: "Perken, Son & Rayment, Hatton Garden, London". "Inst". "Plunge "Patent" Shutter". "'Optimus' Trade Mark".
Provenance
Part of the Fenton Collection. A gift from British Film Institute in 2017. From 1986-1999, part of BFI collection for the Museum of the Moving Image. BFI purchased collection in 1986 from James Fenton's Museum of Photography, Port Erin, Isle of Man 1976-1986