Tiranti
There was also a better-known French camera maker, see Tiranty.
Cesare Tiranti was an engineering lecturer in Rome, Italy, who started his own company together with his son Flaminio in the 1940s, making optical devices for the armed forces.[1] After the Second World War, the company (like many others) sought to develop products for civilian markets. Tiranti is known for only three cameras, all of rather unusual design:
- The Cinefoto, a camera of simple photographic specification (with a single-speed guillotine shutter and fixed focus), which made up to 48 pictures, each 13x14 mm, on a single 9x12 cm plate, the plate being moved in a grid pattern between exposures, by a hand-operated reciprocating lever on the side.[1]
- The Summa, a camera for plates up to 9x12 cm, with three lenses mounted on a turret at the front. Dario Mondonico states that the Summa could make four 3x4 cm exposures on a single 6.5x9 cm plate.[1]
- The Summa Report, a high-specification 6x9 cm press camera, with lenses mounted on a turret, in a design similar to that of the Summa. The Patent for this camera was held by Flaminio Tiranti, who also held later patents for a microfiche reader.
The company did not last many years beyond Cesare Tiranti's death in 1958.[1]
Notes
Links
Patents, at Espacenet, the Patent search facility of the European Patent Office:
- US Patent 2812698, Camera, describing the Summa Report, filed 1954 and granted 1957 to Flaminio Tiranti.
- Belgian Patent 583641, Appareil optique pour la lecture en grand format de microimages ou microfiches (Optical device for reading microfilm or microfiche at large scale), filed 1959 and granted 1960 to Placido Belfiore and Flaminio Tiranti.
