Falling Plate Fixerupper

Picked up a sad looking old box camera the other day. The original leatherette had been removed, but apart from that most of it seems intact. Nothing worked of cause and the curtains had disintegrated.
Managed to get the folding plate mechanism working, even had 5 plates.
Nice lens, zone focus f8 to f64.
Interesting shutter, twin curtains, winding mechanism that looks like something out of a medieval torture chamber and a little bulb for the buld.
I'm still sorting out the curtains as I don't know the size of the window it's a bit of trial and error.
Up to ordering some tiny screws as all of the originals are beyond reusing.
Anyway can't find any information on the internet, there's no maker markings except for a French patent mark on the shutter mechanism. Anyone seen one like it? Knowing the curtain size would be a great help.

Oh Yeah!

mshchem said:

Oh Yeah!

Click to expand...

It's very Jules Verne. I hope I can get it back together ok.

Pretty amazing tech!

It's a beauty and a worthwhile project.

That should keep you out of trouble for a loooooooong time. I have a couple Cyclone 4X5 falling-plate cameras I restored to working condition and love to use them, but they are far less complicated than the project you have on your table for sure.

It's like a mechanical puzzle. Good luck! Gives you something to do.

Looks like most or all of the parts are there and remarkably free of rust and corrosion. I'll bet you get it working and have a lot of fun doing it!

Thanks for all the encouragement.
I got the curtains functioning, but I can't adjust the speed and can't figure out how it works. I'll try and put it back together and figure it out another day.
Speed is fast, so at least I won't get much camera shake.

It's hard to tell from the photos, so I may be very wide of the mark, but some of the parts there resemble the parts on a Thornton-Pickard type curtain shutter. Could there be a spring tension adjustment to control speed?