The Multiphote is designed by Lucien Bize and introduced in 1908[1]. It’s a further development of the Minimus and adds a slide-tray to place and catch the slides. It’s a slightly bigger device compared to the Minimus, but it simplifies replacing the slides. Multiphotes were manufactured for the 45x107mm and 6x13mm format.
The top cover of the device needs to be removed to load the glass slides. It contains a short instruction manual on the inside. The slide-tray with 24 stereoviews is placed on the top section of the device. By removing a metal slide at the bottom of the tray, the slides fall into position. The empty tray is now placed in the bottom part of the device so it can catch the slides.
By turning the knobs on the left and right side, the viewer part with the lenses moves outward the device and the rearmost slide falls down and is placed in viewing position. By turning the knobs a little bit further, the slide drops into the slot of the slide-tray. This procedure is repeated for every slide. After viewing all the slides, the tray can be removed to reload the device. It’s a simple but clever and effective design.
The lenses of the Multiphote can be focussed with a ring which is positioned between both lenses. Its modest design offers no feature to adjust the distance between the lenses and it lacks a slide index.
References
- Announcement new stereoscopes by Maison Bize. Le Gaulois, July 29, 1908 – via: gallica.bnf.fr