Crown shutter
The Crown are Japanese leaf shutters made by Molta Shōkai, then Chiyoda Kōgaku Seikō (the predecessors of Minolta), in the 1930s and early 1940s. They exist in many models and in three different sizes.
Contents
Crown in #0 size
The Crown first appeared as an everset shutter in #0 size, successor of the Lidex. Three versions were made, differing by the range of speeds and by the presence or absence of a self-timer. On all three, the release lever is at the top left (as seen from the front). On the early examples, the shutter plate is all black, engraved Patents(J.N.)–Pending then Patents-Nippon at the top and CROWN at the bottom, and having an MTS logo on the right. On the late cameras, the shutter plate has three metal stripes on each side, the words PATENTS–NIPPON in capital letters at the top and no MTS logo; the name CROWN is now inscribed on a larger aperture scale screwed to the bottom.
The Crown A, mounted on the Minolta and Auto Minolta, gives T, B, 1, 2, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100, 200 speeds and has no self-timer.
 
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| Crown A on the Auto Minolta. Left: old shutter plate. Picture courtesy of S. Montagna. (Image rights)'' Right: new shutter plate. Picture courtesy of A. Apra. (Image rights) |
The Crown B, mounted on the Happy, has a slightly reduced speed range, omitting the 1s and 1/2s settings.
 
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| Crown B on the Happy. Left: old shutter plate. Right: new shutter plate. Pictures courtesy of eBayer hbpartner. (Image rights) |
The Crown S is similar to the Crown B with an added self-timer; it was available as an option on the Happy.
Crown in #00 size
The Crown E
 
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| Left: Crown E with 1/100 top speed on a Semi Minolta, early shutter plate. Right: Crown E with 1/200 top speed on a Semi Minolta, late shutter plate. Pictures courtesy of eBayer hbpartner. (Image rights) |
The Crown E is an everset shutter in #00 size, with the release lever on the top left. It exists in two variants, giving first T, B, 5–100 speeds and later T, B, 5–200.
It is equipped with a small disc acting as an exposure counter. This disc advances each time the release is tripped and it can be manually reset. It is graduated from 1 to 8 with an intermediate stop between two consecutive numbers so that each number is used twice, as it appears in the red windows. The disc makes two full turns during the 16 exposures and each numbered position is shared by two numbers: 5/1, 6/2, 7/3 and 8/4. The patent for this device was filed on April 16, 1934 and published on October 13 of the same year.[1]
The Crown E only equips the original Semi Minolta. On all the examples except the very late ones, the shutter plate is black, engraved Patents-Nippon at the top, CROWN at the bottom with an MTS logo on the right. The late shutter plate is black with three metal stripes on each side, engraved PATENT NIPPON at the top and CROWN at the bottom in block letters, with no MTS logo.
Crown-Rapid, in #0 and #1 size
Other versions
To be continued.
List of cameras equipped (not exhaustive, and not implying that all the versions have a Crown shutter):
Notes
- ↑ Patent reproduced in Tanimura, pp.5–7 of Camera Collectors' News no.131. An extract is also reproduced on p.19 of Kurashikku Kamera Senka no.12.
Bibliography
- Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Semi Minolta I-gata gaibun." (セミミノルタⅠ型外聞, "Things heard about the Semi Minolta I") In Camera Collectors' News no.131 (May 1988). Nishinomiya: Camera Collectors News-sha.
- Tanimura Yoshihiko (谷村吉彦). "Supuringu kamera <semi minoruta>" (スプリングカメラ<セミミノルタ>, "Semi Minolta" self-erecting camera). Kamera Rebyū: Kurashikku Kamera Senka (カメラレビュー クラシックカメラ専科) / Camera Review: All about Historical Cameras no.12, October 1988. No ISBN number. Minoruta kamera no subete (ミノルタカメラのすべて, special issue on Minolta). Pp.19–24.
