[rollei_list] Re: OT:Nikon picture format
- From: David Sadowski <dsadowski@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 28 Sep 2009 22:55:56 -0500
As an aside on Japanese camera manufacturers in general, let me relate
something I heard back in the mid-1980s from Torkel Korling.
He had invented the automatic diaphragm mechanism (US Patent
2,029,238, issued Jan. 1936) and licensed it to Graflex, who I recall
used it on a camera called the Super D. He got the idea, he said,
when he was trying to take some spotaneous photos of children and got
frustrated that he couldn't see what he was doing up to the moment the
picture was taken.
Anyway, Mr. Korling told me that none of the Japanese camera companies
wanted to pay him royalties for his patent, so they waited until the
patent expired, and then they all used it for free.
So the development of the Japanese 35mm SLR might have happened years
earlier than it did, if someone had simply paid a royalty on his
patent. As patents ran for 17 years back then, I think this means it
expired at the end of 1954.
---
Rollei List
- Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe'
in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
- Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
- Online, searchable archives are available at
//www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list
Other related posts:
