Old Paterson Enlarger?

Someone gave me an old enlarger. It has no markings on it, but it came
with a set of Paterson trays, Paterson tongs and a Paterson 3 element
lens, so I'm guessing it is a Paterson enlarger.

I have no data on it's age, but it came with a bulk loader still contaning
film with the flap from a roll of Tri-X with a 1990 expiration date.

It consists of a plastic base, a metal pole that screws into a threaded
cap which fits into the base and the enlarger itself. The enlarger has a
push botton on the bottom of the arm to relase a clamp against the pole,
a red knob to slide a red filter in and out and the a hidden push botton
which allows the entire top of the enlarger to pivoit backwards allowing
you to move a negative in the carrier.

There is a metal housing for a regular size enlarging bulb which locks
in place with a twist. The condenser at the bottom of it has a frosted
flat side, which can be moved by twisting to hold the negative in the
carrier.

It came with 35mm and 126 carriers. The lens has a regular leica thread,
and screws into a larger threaded ring for focusing. There is wire bail
that looks like it holds up strips of negatives if they are in the carrier.
This took a while for me to figure out, it rotates but seemed to have
no function. At first I thought it was the release for a missing top
of the negative carrier, but then I figured out the condenser can
be rotated to hold the negative in place.

There was a drawer for filters, but it's missing.

Any information about it would be appreiciated.

Thanks, Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:
Someone gave me an old enlarger. It has no markings on it, but it came
with a set of Paterson trays, Paterson tongs and a Paterson 3 element
lens, so I'm guessing it is a Paterson enlarger.

I found a photograph of it:

http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/
Paterson/Books_%26_Brochures/tn_Pat_Products.jpg

(sorry for the split link)

It's the enlarger on the left side of the photograph.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

On 5/15/2008 11:04 AM Geoffrey S. Mendelson spake thus:

Geoffrey S. Mendelson wrote:

Someone gave me an old enlarger. It has no markings on it, but it came
with a set of Paterson trays, Paterson tongs and a Paterson 3 element
lens, so I'm guessing it is a Paterson enlarger.

I found a photograph of it:

http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/
Paterson/Books_%26_Brochures/tn_Pat_Products.jpg

(sorry for the split link)

Looks as if you could use a better news reader, instead of whatever's on
that Linux box you're using:

http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/Pa...t_Products.jpg

It's the enlarger on the left side of the photograph.

In answer to your original query, no, I'm not familiar with this
specific enlarger, but have seen lots like it. Sounds cheap and flimsy,
but hey, it's an enlarger, and with a decent lens will make decent
prints. (I'm guessing that lens you got probably doesn't qualify.)


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill

On 5/15/2008 1:27 PM David Nebenzahl spake thus:

Sounds cheap and flimsy, but hey, it's an enlarger, and with a decent
lens will make decent prints. (I'm guessing that lens you got
probably doesn't qualify.)

To which I was going to add, just don't jiggle the table it's on while
making your exposures.


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill

David Nebenzahl wrote:

Looks as if you could use a better news reader, instead of whatever's on
that Linux box you're using:

I use SLRN. Works fine for me. The only thing I miss is a spelling checker.


In answer to your original query, no, I'm not familiar with this
specific enlarger, but have seen lots like it. Sounds cheap and flimsy,
but hey, it's an enlarger, and with a decent lens will make decent
prints. (I'm guessing that lens you got probably doesn't qualify.)

Actually it's fairly well made and stable. The only problem it has is that
the enlarger itself rotates on the pole if you are not careful. I probably
will put a small piece of stick on felt in there if I remember to buy it.

The lens was the standard 3 element cheapo enlarging lens of that era.
I use the past tense because it can not easily be opened and there is
a large star shaped splat of fungus on one of the elements.

Someone gave me a vivtar 50mm lens of the same era, without an enlarger
to go with it, now they are together.

To summarize the discussion that was here recently there are three classes
of lenses, both the Paterson and the Vivitar are probably the lowest.
For 5x7 or 8x10 prints from 35mm negatives they will do ok.

Better lenses may not in this case produce better results.

Geoff.

--
Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel N3OWJ/4X1GM

On 2008-05-15, David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 5/15/2008 11:04 AM Geoffrey S. Mendelson spake thus:
http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/
Paterson/Books_%26_Brochures/tn_Pat_Products.jpg

(sorry for the split link)

Looks as if you could use a better news reader, instead of whatever's on
that Linux box you're using:

Says the guy using a mail client; Geoffrey's just misusing a rather good
newsreader.

--
savvo orig. invib. man

On 5/16/2008 3:31 AM savvo spake thus:

On 2008-05-15, David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 5/15/2008 11:04 AM Geoffrey S. Mendelson spake thus:

http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/
Paterson/Books_%26_Brochures/tn_Pat_Products.jpg

(sorry for the split link)

Looks as if you could use a better news reader, instead of whatever's on
that Linux box you're using:

Says the guy using a mail client; Geoffrey's just misusing a rather good
newsreader.

What are you talking about? Thunderbird is both a mail and news client,
therefore as good a newsreader as any.

At least it doesn't stupidly chop URLs apart ...


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...
On 5/16/2008 3:31 AM savvo spake thus:

On 2008-05-15, David Nebenzahl
wrote:
On 5/15/2008 11:04 AM Geoffrey S. Mendelson spake thus:

http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/
Paterson/Books_%26_Brochures/tn_Pat_Products.jpg

(sorry for the split link)

Looks as if you could use a better news reader, instead
of whatever's on that Linux box you're using:

Says the guy using a mail client; Geoffrey's just
misusing a rather good
newsreader.

What are you talking about? Thunderbird is both a mail and
news client, therefore as good a newsreader as any.

At least it doesn't stupidly chop URLs apart ...


The handling of URLs depends on how word wrapping is
set on both sides. Usually a URL can be sent as one piece by
enclosing it in carets .


--
---
Richard Knoppow
Los Angeles, CA, USA

On 5/16/2008 10:36 AM Richard Knoppow spake thus:

"David Nebenzahl" wrote in message
s.com...

On 5/16/2008 3:31 AM savvo spake thus:

On 2008-05-15, David Nebenzahl
wrote:
On 5/15/2008 11:04 AM Geoffrey S. Mendelson spake thus:

http://www.photomemorabilia.co.uk/
Paterson/Books_%26_Brochures/tn_Pat_Products.jpg

(sorry for the split link)

Looks as if you could use a better news reader, instead
of whatever's on that Linux box you're using:

Says the guy using a mail client; Geoffrey's just
misusing a rather good newsreader.

What are you talking about? Thunderbird is both a mail and
news client, therefore as good a newsreader as any.

At least it doesn't stupidly chop URLs apart ...

The handling of URLs depends on how word wrapping is
set on both sides. Usually a URL can be sent as one piece by
enclosing it in carets .

With a decent newsreader at both ends, that should be completely
unnecessary. We should be well past the old days of BBS markup and such ...


--
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute
conversation with the average voter.

- Attributed to Winston Churchill

David Nebenzahl wrote:

What are you talking about? Thunderbird is both a mail and news client,
therefore as good a newsreader as any.

At least it doesn't stupidly chop URLs apart ...



Now if it'd only handle multipart binaries.....



erie