Re: Who invented the Cirkut camera?

[kathjeff@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Who invented the Cirkut camera???   It was William J. Johnston, and his
signature appears on page 17, of the Sept. 98 issue of Panorama Magazine, in
Richard Schneiders article entitled Historic Panoramas.  It also shows the
original patent # 776,403 dated Nov. 29, 1904, which was applied for on Jan. 7,
1904, with an illustration of the gearwork.
Jeff

Ron Klein wrote:

> Seems to me that at the first meeting of IAPP we had Eugene DeSousa talk
> about how he was an assistant to a Guy named Johnson who took out the
> patent.  This was in Green River Wyoming back at the turn of the century.
> Bill McBride without a doubt has all the history if you are interested.  I
> think DeSousa was pushing 100 when he gave his talk. He smoked like a
> chimney and had great stories about shooting cirkuts back in the 1900's.
>
> I have a #22 cirkut camera that belonged to F.W. Shellor.  He was an early
> day pan photographer here in Alaska.  His business card says "Operator of
> the Largest Panoramic Machine in the World".  The Camera is totally handmade
> and probably dates from the turn of the century as well.  Sadly not all the
> parts remain or I'd be tempted to use it.
>
>  There was also a fellow named Arthur Pillsbury that came in the Gold Rush
> to Alaska in 1898 shooting with a camera that he made.  I'd like to find
> that camera as I saw a photo of a steamboat going through a narrow gorge and
> the water spray from the paddles appeared completely frozen from a very fast
> exposure speed.  As you might know, top speed with any cirkut is 1/25 of a
> second. (That is a fan camera running without a fan) His camera must have
> been a dandy.
>
> all for now
>
> Ron Klein