[pure-silver] Re: largest camera ever used ---How odd
- From: Bogdan Karasek <bkarasek@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2008 15:14:27 -0400
Hi all,
Here's the answer to the first question. I took the liberty of copying
the contents of an e-mail from a camera collectors group I belong to,
IDCC, where the subject of "The Mammoth" came up awhile ago.
Cheers, bogdan
Quote:
From
_http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/Images/mammoth-camera.jpg&imgrefurl=http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammo
th.html&h=700&w=912&sz=71&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=zhACYuyRLd0MPM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=14
7&prev=/images%3Fq%3D%2522the%2Bmammoth%2522%2Bcamera%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa
%3DG_
(http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/Images/mammoth-camera.jpg&imgrefurl=http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mamm
oth.html&h=700&w=912&sz=71&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=zhACYuyRLd0MPM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=1
47&prev=/images?q=%22the+mammoth%22+camera&gbv=2&hl=en&sa=G)
"It is clear that George R Lawrence was not simply a commercial
photographer, he also had a great talent for inventiveness and innovation. Thus, when
confronted with the commission by the Chicago & Alton Railway to have its new
train photographed on a plate no less that 8 ft wide he considered the problems
and responded with a solution. After all, the slogan of his studio was 'The
Hitherto Impossible in Photography Is Our Specialty'. He presented his plans
and was given a free hand to proceed, two-and-a-half months later the camera
was ready. It was a camera unlike any other in the world. It weighed 900 lbs
and when loaded with the 500 lb plate holder made a total of 1400 lbs. When
fully extended the bed was about 20 ft long and the camera had a double swing
front and back. Across the top of the frame at the rear was a small track on
which two focusing screens were mounted to move back and forth like sliding
doors. _11_ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#fn11) Two Zeiss
patent lenses were especially made by the Bausch and Lomb Optical Company of
Rochester, NY. _12_ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#fn12) One
was a wide-angle lens of 5½ ft equivalent focus and the second one, which w
as used to make the train photograph, was a telescopic rectilinear lens of 10
ft equivalent focus. The camera was so large that prior to exposure a man
could enter and dust off the plate as follows:
The holder is put in position, the large front board, or front door as it
may be called, is swung open, the operator passes inside with a camel's hair
duster, the door is then closed and a ruby glass cap placed over the lens, the
curtain slide is drawn and the operator dusts the plate in a portable dark
room, after which the slide is closed and he passes out the same way as he
entered. _13_ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#fn13)
The amounts of materials used to construct the camera were truly prodigious.
Natural cherry wood was used throughout for the frame and bed. The bellows
consisted of three layers: an outer covering of heavy rubber, a lining of
black canvas, and an additional lining of opaque black material. Each fold was
stiffened by a piece of whitewood ¼ in thick. This light-proof construction
required two bolts of wide rubber cloth, more than 40 gallons of cement, and 500
ft of whitewood to ensure rigidity. The heavy bellows was divided into four
sections and between each one there was a supporting frame mounted on small
wheels to move freely on a steel track. The huge plate holder had a
cloth-lined wooden roller curtain that was light-tight and, when in place on the
camera, could be rolled back to uncover the glass plate just prior to exposure. It
was lined with three thicknesses of light-proof material to prevent leaks
while the plate was outside the camera. The wooden curtain contained about 80
ft2 of 3/8 in thick ash and was glued to the three layers by more than 10
gallons of cement. To ensure the smooth operation of the curtain, ball-bearing
rollers were mounted every 2 in in the holder's grooves in which it slid. _14_
(http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#fn14)
The Cramer Company of St Louis manufactured the 8 x 4½ ft glass plates using
its isochromatic emulsion. These were reputed to have cost $1800 per dozen.
The company also produced the equally large sheets of sensitized paper used in
making the contact prints. New techniques for developing and printing were
also worked out with the co-operation of the Cramer Company. _15_
(http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#fn15)
After months of planning, building, and testing George R Lawrence stood by
the lens of his mammoth creation, the moment had arrived. The tension of the
occasion can be seen in his face and in those around him on the photograph that
was taken to record the event. The roller curtain of the plate holder was
retracted by his assistant at the rear of the camera and Lawrence removed the
lens cap. Two-and-a-half minutes later he replaced the cap and the exposure
was completed. It is very likely that the final abatement of tension did not
occur until sometime later in the dark room when the crisp image of the train
showed up on the glass plate. Only then could Lawrence be certain that he had
solved yet another problem and, in the process, broken new ground in the
evolving art and science of photography. "
Notes
_1._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn1) Times-Herald, 24
October 1900. THOMAS YANUL of Chicago provided a photocopy of a newspaper
article entitled 'The Largest Photograph in the World'. It was one of several
such articles pasted in a surviving scrapbook that had belonged to George R
Lawrence. Unfortunately, the place of publication of the newspaper and the page
number were missing, and attempts at determining these facts have proved to
be unsuccessful.
_2._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn2) G. J. CHARLTON,
The Largest Photograph in the World of the Handsomest Train in the World,
Chicago and Alton Railway, probably published in Chicago in 1900, text and
photographs on 13 unnumbered pages. A copy was seen by me at the Chicago
Historical Society.
_3._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn3) Times-Herald, 24
October 1900.
_4._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn4) P. R. Duis and
G. E. HOLT, 'The fearless George Lawrence', Chicago Magazine (November 1978),
258-262.
_5._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn5) Times-Herald, 24
October 1900.
_6._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn6) Anonymous,
'George R. Lawrence biography', The Encyclopedia of Photography, Vol. 11, New
York: Greystone Press, 1974, 1992.
_7._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn7) H. H. SLAWSON,
'George R. Lawrence', The Complete Photographer, 6: 34 (1941), 2217-2221.
_8._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn8) Anonymous,
'Photography by artificial light', The Inland Printer (December 1897), 367.
_9._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn9) Times-Herald, 24
October 1900.
_10._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn10) S. BAKER, 'The
hitherto impossible in photography is our specialty', Smithsonian Air and
Space (October/November 1988), 64-68.
_11._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn11) Anonymous, 'The
largest camera in the world', Scientific American, 84 (2 March 1901), 132.
_12._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn12) Times-Herald, 24
October 1900.
_13._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn13) G. J. CHARLTON,
The Largest Photograph in the World of the Handsomest Train in the World.
_14._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn14) G. J. CHARLTON,
The Largest Photograph in the World of the Handsomest Train in the World.
_15._ (http://robroy.dyndns.info/lawrence/mammoth.html#cn15) H. H. SLAWSON,
'George R. Lawrence'.
This article first appeared in the History of Photography, Volume 1, Number
2, Summer 1991.
Ken Hart1 wrote:
I have this theory: instead of tying up space on my hard-drive, I send
files to people I know and ask them to forward the files to someone
else. I figure that by the time I need the file again, someone will
have sent it back to me! This email proves that my theory is workable,
so when each of you receives a copy of my 1994 tax return, please
forward it on to someone you know!
But, more to the subject line-- Wasn't there a camera built for/by a
railroad, large enough for the photographer to be inside? Also, more
recently, didn't a college group do a pinhole camera in an aircraft
hanger, coating emulsion onto a large strip of fabric?
WOW! A breach in the Time Continuum!
Bogdan
Eric Nelson wrote:
Strange, this email came in last night from 2006!
Here's the header with munged addresses.
Eric
From Laurence Cuffe Fri Dec 1 13:20:18 2006 Return-Path: <>
Authentication-Results: mta243.mail.re4.yahoo..com from=freelists.org;
domainkeys=neutral (no sig) Received: from 206.53.239.180 (EHLO
turing.freelists.org) (206.53.239.180) by mta243.mail.re4.yahoo.com
with SMTP; Fri, 12 Sep 2008 00:26:34 -0700 Received: from localhost
snip
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--
________________________________________________________________
Bogdan Karasek
Montréal, Québec bogdan(at)bogdanphoto.com
Canada www.bogdanphoto.com
"I bear witness"
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