I got a Pacemaker Speed Graphic and have some questions now:
(Sorry for my english I hope you can understand what I mean)

1.) What is the silver thing left at the bottom of the lensboard?
Hope that is no silly question, but I don´t know what to do with it..

2.) On the side there is FRONT,BACK and TRIP.
What is TRIP for? (the others I know).

3.) On the same side at the bottom there is a small silver lever. What is this for?

4.) Is it possible to leave the back shutter open all the time (not all the time, but while photografing)?

This are the questions for the moment.
Thanks very much for your help,
lg
Christina

I think the silver thing on the lower corner of the lensboard probably is a solenoid. This is an electromagnet that was powered by three 1.5-V. dry cells in an attached flashgun, and that can release the shutter remotely.

At one time, solenoids were used to add flashbulb synchronization to an unsynchronized shutter. They survived into the "Pacemaker" era because they are handy remote releases, if you have a suitable flashgun. Such a flashgun will have a red switch that closes the circuit to energize the solenoid. They are not hard to come by.

The "Trip" setting on the focal plane shutter selector allows you to release the focal plane shutter from the side, which is handy when you want to set a slower speed.

Related to this is the small silver lever that you observed at the bottom. That is used to select one of the two shutter speeds available at each "curtain aperture." When positioned for the slower speed, it engages a mechanical governor that retards the travel of the shutter curtain.

You can and certainly should leave the FP shutter open when shooting with the front shutter. The "O" in the little indicator window on the FP shutter mechanism housing indicated this Open position. The majority of users set it and forget it.

I assure you that a great many "Speed Graphics," including two that I used for years and years, never had their focal plane shutters closed, and many people who used the cameras too did not know that those FP shutters were there!

Christina,

In the focal plane shutter window, you'll see the shutter speeds go by as you wind the shutter up, the slowest postions are "O" and "T" Officially it's for Open and Time, but I tell my students "O is for Open and T is for trouble"


I have several Speed Graphic cameras and they are all set to O. Have been for years.

The slide switch says "Front/back/trip:" affects the silver side button. In theory you can push the slide switch to front (you really need to push in and slide) and then the silver button will trip the front shutter. Set it to back and the silver button trips the back shutter. Or push it to Trip and it trips the back shutter on it's own.

The linkage to the front shutter isn't well designed and most cameras are missing parts because they got in the way at one time or another.