Nimrod Automan

1906

Model 2

Thornton-Pickard Manufacturing Co.

Altrincham

England

Lens:

f8, rapid rectilinear, iris diaphragm to f45.

Shutter:

Thornton-Pickard Iris shutter (late model), 2 blade pivoted return. Speeded 1/25 - 1/100, T. Serial no. 1683.

Construction:

Leather covered wood body, leather bellows.

Format:

3 ¼" x 4 ¼" plates held in dark-slides.

Focusing:

Bellows. Double extension.

Attributes:

Brilliant view-finder. Self-erecting front. Reversing back. Removable lens panel.

Movements:

Rising front.

Notes:

Manufacturing no. 21

With:

Focusing screen back.; 1 double dark-slide.; Part of bulb release.; Tripod and tripod top, marked S-B Patent (Spratt Brothers).

The Nimrod Automan was a replacement model for the Oxford Automan. The main differences being an improved mechanism for erecting the front standard and a conventional rack and pinion focusing movement. Several models were produced:

No. 1 - Single extension.
No. 2 - Double extension.
No. 3 - As a No. 2 but with leather covering.
No. 4 - As a No. 3 but with swing back.
Focal Plane - With an additional focal-plane shutter.

The models 1 - 4 above were introduced in 1906. Almost immediately the No. 3 was dropped and the No. 4 renamed No. 3. The Focal Plane model was introduced around 1908. The cameras were available in quarter-plate or 5" x 4" (Focal Plane only 5" x 4"). When introduced a Thornton-Pickard Iris shutter was fitted to models 1 - 3 , the No.4 had a Panoptic. Later (c.1907) Unicums were fitted to all but the No. 1. Later still the Sunbeam shutter was fitted. The lens was either a Thornton-Pickard rapid rectilinear or a Beck rapid rectilinear.

References & Notes:

BP 11303/1893 (Tripod).; BJA 1907, pp. 247, 606.; BJA 1908, p. 210.; BJA 1909, p. 217.; BJA 1910, p. 198.

Further Information:

Holliday, Thornton-Pickard Cameras & Equipment.

Illustrations:

Christies Cat. 11/12/02 lots 91, 92. Cameras with Sunbeam and Panoptic shutters.

Thornton-Pickard Manufacturing Co. Company Details

Early Photography