THE QUEEN TIME & INSTANTANEOUS SHUTTER

James W. Queen & Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 1888 -1891

Manufactured under Francis Burrows' Patent of November 27, 1888, Patent No. 393,500 and sold by James W. Queen & Company, this is the second James W. Queen shutter to use their "Time & Instantaneous" name.

The shutter is engraved "Queen & Co. Pat'd.", the Queen & Co. name being used on several of their catalogue covers, even though the company was known as James W. Queen & Company during this period. In 1893, the company's name was formally shortened to Queen & Company. This suggests that the shutter may have been made as late as 1893, if in fact it's shown with what would have been the current company's name.

Introduced by late November, 1888 at least, per Queen's catalogue description the shutter was capable of instantaneous exposures by selecting either fast or slow, and timed exposures between 1 second and 1/10th of a second. It was available in three sizes covering 4x5-5x8, 6-1/2-8-1/2 and 8x10 or larger.

Although the engraving from James W. Queen's Price List and Catalogue of Photographic Lenses, Cameras, Apparatus and Materials, 1891, incorrectly shows the patent date as "Nov. 20, 88", the correct patent date of "Nov. 27 '88" appears on the shutter's casing on known examples:

Offered through at least 1891, Queen's Time & Instantaneous Shutter was no doubt made in small numbers as very few have surfaced. Again, as it is with so many of the shutters featured on this website, it can be considered rare.

Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Burrows also designed a magazine-style detective camera under Patent No. 463,284 dated November 17, 1891:

Source: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office