Waterhouse Stops

Made:
1880-1910 in unknown place
Waterhouse Stops

Waterhouse Stops
Science Museum Group
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Musuem

Four waterhouse stops in a small leather booklet.

Waterhouse stops were invented by pioneering Halifax photographer John Waterhouse in 1858. They are small interchangeable plates of metal with a precise sized hole designed to control the amount of light entering the camera. They are associate with a bellows plate camera made by James Furnivel of Ardwich Green, Manchester, around 1890.

Furnivel was in business as a maker of clock cases from 1855. In around 1857 he got into camera making while making camera cabinet work for J B Dancer, an early Manchester photographer. In 1842 the earliest known surviving photographic image of Manchester was taken by John Benjamin Dancer (1812 – 1887) from the roof of the Royal Exchange.

Mr J A Furnivel was a clock case maker by trade working in Ardwick just a mile southeast of Manchester city centre. During the mid 1800s, Manchester saw an explosion of pioneering scientific instruments and precision toolmakers. Furnivel’s skills as a clock case maker integrating precision mechanical pieces with intricate woodwork transferred well to creating cameras and camera equipment.

Furnivel gained a good reputation within the Manchester Photographic Society (founded in 1855), with one member stating, “Mr J A Furnivel’s deservedly well-known camera can only be obtained direct from the maker. We may add that the Manchester-made camera is a thoroughly sound affair, and we can recommend it, having used one for years past.” The Photographic Record. The organ of the Manchester Photographic Society. Vol 1 (1890).

Furnival was working during an exciting time in Manchester’s photographic technology development, being contemporary with James Mudd, photographer (1821-1906), J T Chapman, camera maker (1843-1907) and Thornton-Pickard, camera maker (founded 1888) and John Benjamin Dancer renowned scientific instrument maker and inventor of microphotography (1812 – 1887).

Details

Category:
Photographic Technology
Object Number:
Y2012.16.4
Materials:
leather, metal (unknown) and paper (fibre product)
Measurements:
overall (open): 2 mm x 129 mm x 91 mm,
type:
photographic equipment
credit:
Gift of Manchester Microscopical and Natural History Society