Queen & Co. lens clamp

[Jim C.]

I recently acquired one of these and was wondering if any one else
owns one that may be complete and could post pictures and perhaps give me
some measurements ?

I've looked online and don't seem to see much info on it, not even in the
Queen catalogs posted online.

It arrived with one wrong sized screw and after machining one to
match the other I realized that the wrong sized screw must have
been at one time a clamping screw, or thumb screw to hold the
leaves in place. It holds lenses fine but I'm leery of moving my camera
without some sort of way to hold the leaves.

141242

[Steven Tribe]

This is the "flush front" type of universal iris front clamp, which is the less common of the two types.

These seem to have badged by the import/selling organisation, in your case, Queen. C & G (Clement and Gilmer in Paris) are the probable originators and many bear their name.

I don't know how reliable they are compared with the more usual "raised" frame type. It depends on how fine the flange mounting thread is on the lens you want to mount. I always remove the lens when moving the tripod.

Don't be afraid of servicing the leaves - they stand up to flattening quite well!

[Jim C.]

Thanks for the info Steven, they do seem very uncommon, but they are very good looking compared to the raised frame type.
Most of what I've test mounted are older brass barrel lenses with coarse threads, and the leaves move hold pretty good.
I have to re-bend one of the slots since it looks to have been dinged slightly causing a little sticking when opening up to the
widest opening.

I'm curious at the knob that's in the right side of your picture, is it a thumb nut or a thumb screw ?
It's not too clear what's projecting from it, looks like it could be a little ball finial or the end of a threaded rod.
Yours seems to be a much larger one, mine ranges from an inch to 2.375".

[Steven Tribe]

"Yours....". Not quite. This is an image from Corrado D'Agostini's book which has an interesting section on Clement & Gilmer.

I think it would of some interest for others if you do a reconditioning of this universal lens clamp type (that is, with posted photos!).

[Jim C.]

"Yours....". Not quite. This is an image from Corrado D'Agostini's book which has an interesting section on Clement & Gilmer.

I think it would of some interest for others if you do a reconditioning of this universal lens clamp type (that is, with posted photos!).

In thought the picture looked odd. :)

I don't think there's much servicing involved for this lens clamp, seem like the previous owner cleaned it up
and added a wrong sized screw to replace the missing one.
I may machine a thumb screw to replace the screw I made, I'll have to hammer on Google to spit up more info
on Clement & Gilmer and Queen & Co. , so far Queen seems to be known for scientific optics like microscopes
but sold photographic equipment too.