Lot Essay
John Kershaw of 10 Quadrant, Buxton, Derbyshire, was granted British patent number 5014 for Improvements in the Shutters of Photographic Cameras on 21 November 1885. Kershaw's shutter relied on a gravity lever and the design was further refined under Kershaw's patents 10,594 of 1 July 1889 and 10,798 of 25 June 1891. J. E. Thornton was also patenting his own designs for a similar roller blind shutter during the same period which were sold by the Thornton-Pickard company. This example is Kershaw's first pattern of shutter.