瑞士人Michel制造的信鸽相机 1937年

由瑞士人Christian Adrian Michel在1937年手工制造的信鸽相机。B型，序列号B 995。尺寸为39x37x57mm，约70g, 供16mm胶卷用。时间刻度由0 到1小时10分钟。曝光时间可由1/300到1/500任意调整。带3个转片轴。镜头光圈为F2.5的Anastigmat 带90度的调整范围。帘幕式快门。可拍大约12到15张规格为10x22mm的全景负片。曝光间隔大约为每15秒左右。弹簧机构驱动，快门可以延时至70分钟后开启。内带2个胶卷轴。安装板上带有原装的带弹性的绑带。 正面印有  Schweizer Kreuz/PAT./D.R.P. (德意志帝国专利)。 底板上刻印有 Michel. 附带德语和法语的说明书。

Christian Adrian Michel （1912.1.6-1980.3.27）在30年代在瑞士 Walde设计并手工制造了这款信鸽相机。他的公司Adrian Michel原是一家制表公司。这款信鸽相机他一共就制作了很少量的几款样机，为了能吸引到其他的客户。据他当时的工人回忆，这款相机最多制作了不超过10台。同款相机在2007年6由佳士得拍卖过一次。

Michal的信鸽相机在技术上大大领先于Julius Neubronner 博士在1903年设计的相机。Michal的信鸽相机在原理上基本是按照钟表的构造来设计的。这个可以通过附带的设计图纸上看出。

Hand-made by Christian Adrian Michel in Switzerland. Size 39 x 37 x 57 mm (without mounting plate), weight 70 g, for 16mm film. Timer scale: 0–1 hr 10 minutes, exposure time scale: variable 1/300 to  1/500 sec., 3 winding spindles, f/2.5 anastigmatic lens rotated through 90 degrees, with rubberized cloth bellows, 12–15 negatives of panoramic format 10 x 22 mm, at approx. 15sec. intervals,focal-plane shutter, clockwork motor for up to 70 minutes delayed first exposure, 2 internal film spools, mounting plate with original elastic straps, stamps on top plate: Swiss cross/PAT./D.R.P. (Deutsches Reichspatent), stamps on top and base plate: MICHEL. The whitish particles on the alloy-metal indicate that no restoration work has been carried out. During the years, the rubberized cloth bellows has stiffened. Therefore, this camera is sold "as it is" without any guarantee on the mechanics. Along with this camera the buyer receives: Photocopies of French and German instruction booklets, photocopy of Swiss patent no. 192864 (with detailed technical drawings). Provenance: Michel family, thence to a private collector. Christian Adrian Michel (6. January 1912, Biel, 27. March 1980, Walde) constructed his pigeon cameras in the 1930s at Walde in Switzerland. His company Adrian Michel was in the watch production business. He handmade only a few sample pigeon cameras, to demonstrate to prospective clients. He contacted A. Schild S. A. concerning formal   manufacture, but this was never carried out. The former employee  Franz Bühlmann confirmed that fewer than ten cameras in total were made. On 3. February 1936 Michel applied for a Swiss patent, which was granted (no. 192864) on 15. September 1937. Subsequent patents were obtained: German patent no. 656666, French patent no. 803039, and Belgian patent no. 419488.

Until 2002 this pigeon camera was totally unknown to photo-historical experts, to the pigeon communities, and to ex-officers of the Swiss army's homing pigeon unit (disbanded in 1995). The Musée Suisse de L'appareil Photographique in Vevey,  Switzerland, launched an exhibition on the Michel pigeon camera on 21. February 2007, showing the archival material that the Michel family had donated to them. An exhibition catalogue "Des Pigeons Photographes?" was published:http://www. cameramuseum.ch /e_basis.php 

Only very few examples of this camera are known to havesurvived. The Camera Museum in Vevey houses one A-and one B-model, plus one prototype. An A-model was sold at Christie's South Kensington on 6. June 2007: http://www.christies.com/LotFinder /lot_details.aspx?int ObjectID=4917606.
The Michel camera is technically more advanced than the camera designed 1903 (and marketed from 1912 onwards) by Dr. Julius Neubronner of Kronberg, Germany. The Michel camera is constructed like a watch (see the blueprint): indeed world-renowned Swiss watch making expertise went into it. The father of Adrian Michel had founded 1898 the watch producing company Michel S.A. in Grenchen, Switzerland, which was taken over by the Swatch group in 1984. Adrian's mother also founded 1925 another watch company in Walde, which Adrian himself ran from 1935 onwards. 

Interestingly, this   specific   camera   B995 has embossed on the top plate the Swiss cross with "PAT.", referring to the  Swiss patent. As it  does  not  say   "PAT.ANG." (Patent angemeldet/patent applied for) like the one sold at  Christie's on 6. June 2007, it  must have been made after the Swiss patent was granted (15. Sept. 1937). In addition camera B995 shows the inscription "D.R.P." (Deutsches Reichspatent), thus indicating that it must have been made after the German patent  had been granted.  In addition it has the Michel company's logo embossed on the top and base plate; the camera sold at Christie's on 6. June 2007 did not show this logo. Most possibly camera B995 is the actual camera that Adrian Michel presented to A. Schild S.A. with the idea of formal manufacture (which was never carried out)