Le Mignon Shutter (French)

[IanG]

I was given this shutter last year, seems they are very rare now, it wasn't fully functional.

It was missing the shutter release, but did work by pushing a screw driver in the hole bottom left of the name

Using a brass tube tapped at one end to take a cable release and a nail to actuate the mechanism it's now fully functional. I think the original would have been air controlled like the very first Compound lenses

Here it is fitted to a lens.

Ian

 

[Designer]

Excellent!

 

[Gary A.]

Do you have plans to use it?

 

[IanG]

Yes I'll use it with that RR lens, I need to test the shutter speeds the tension can be adjusted 1-7

Ian

 

[vin88]

very good post. how are you testing the shutter speeds? vin

 

[IanG]

I hope to borrow a shutter speed tester, if not I'll take it to a repair shop who has one. I have quite a few shutters to test and need something more sophisticated than a home made one.

Ian

 

[Mitica100]

Beautiful work!

 

[Dany]

Very nice piece of history!
In French language, "Le mignon" means "the cute" with, for somebody or something the notion of small and beautiful.
By the beginning of the twentieth century a lot of different similar shutters were proposed to be mounted on front of lens
The most sophisticated ones allowed the shutter to be cocked without opening during the cocking operation !!.
They were proposed in different sizes to fit different diameter of lens.
Most of the shutter of the time offered both finger and bulb release.

 

[vintagesnaps]

That's a beauty. What's the lens? It looks quite old, I'd be interested in seeing more of it.

 

[IanG]

That's a beauty. What's the lens? It looks quite old, I'd be interested in seeing more of it.

The lens is just an un-named Rapid Rectlilnear f8-64 approx 8" fl (203mm). I have quite a few RR's ranging from about 5" fl up to 20" (500mm).

This is a Wray f8 8" RR on a Houghton Duchess, fitted to a Thornton Pickard shutter.

Ian