Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 89.djvu/92

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��Popular Science Monthly

��ily it was constructed to enable the operator, under all conditions, to take a picture in a miniinuni of time. To be exact, it can be mounted and trained on an object in thirty seconds, which is a feat impossible with the old-style appa- ratus. Furthermore, it can be rotated either in a horizontal or a vertical position, and it can take panoramic pictures at any rate of speed desired. These are only two of many im- portant features which show the versatility of the machine.

The ordinary motion- picture camera is limited in operation to an angle of forty - five degrees above or below the hori- zontal. It must be used on a tripod, carefully lev- eled. In taking pano-

���The lens and diaphragm mech- anism which is automatically operated from the rear

��ramie pictures, two cranks, one for the horizontal movement, and the other for the |)erpendicular movement, must be turned simultaneously, either forward or backward, according to the direction of the swing required. Moreover, the panoramic action is confined to rect- angular movements.

Other restrictions are the awkward lens ad- justments; the friction of the film, which causes static electricity; exces- sive noise, making the machine impracticable for nature and wild ani- mal photography; its bulkiness and weight; the long time rec|uired to assemble it and pre- pare it for operation ; the lack of climate-resisting qualities; the numerous loose parts and acces-

��CURVEDARM

��UNIVERSAL JOINT 'steel SUPPORTING RING

E.YE PIECE VIEW FINDER

DIAPHRAGM DIAL

-FOCUSSING DIAL

��FILM METER

���^CRANK

��PANORAMIC BASE

UB-BASE

��By guidiiii; pressure of the left hand the instrument moves on its sub-base and is trained in any direction at the will of the operator

��sories, and other handicaps too nu- merous to men- tion here.

The camera in- \ented by Mr. Akeley overcomes these imi)erfec- t ions with a mech- anism entirely new. In form his camera is cylin- drical. It rotates in a steel ring on ball-bearings and is supported i)\- a c u r v e d arm, which rises from a sub-base on which the pano- ramic-base rests when in opera- tion, riie com- plete ap[)aratus, canu'ra antl pan- oramic devices, form a single compact unit to be used with or without a tripod.

By merely press- ing the le\er at the top of the

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