Photo Weigh booth & card identified

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gameswat
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Photo Weigh booth & card identified

Post by gameswat »

So spotted this very unusual photographic scale card and it's a new one to me. Just tried some internet searching plus our own Patent section and Espacenet Patent site with no luck. Anybody have any info on the machine that printed this card?
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scale photo.jpg
pennymachines
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Re: Photographic weighing scale query

Post by pennymachines »

What I found...

The card came from a Photo Weigh, produced and marketed by Photoweigh Ltd. (registered in the UK on 01/06/1933). No pictures of the machine unfortunately, but seems it may have required an assistant to operate.

They were around a few years before the company was founded (see card below, taken on 29th October, 1931) and as late as 1964!


photoboothphotoweighdidnt-win-10poundsebay.jpg

In his 1938 novel “Brighton Rock“, the writer Graham Green mentions the Photoweigh kiosk being located in the tunnel under the Palace Pier in “the noisiest, lowest, cheapest section of Brighton’s amusements”.
Sources:
Photo Booths and Photo Booth Photographs on the excellent Stickyback Photo website.

Photoweigh Photobooth At The Palace Pier, Brighton – A Guest Post by David Simkin of Sussex PhotoHistory

Photoweigh Photobooth

Automatic Portrait Photographs
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weigh1.jpg
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gameswat
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Re: Photo Weigh card identified

Post by gameswat »

Great work PM, thank you! Very interesting.
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john t peterson
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Re: Photo Weigh card identified

Post by john t peterson »

I can understand why these weight machines were doomed to fail. It's not bad enough that you had weighers that spoke your weight for all nearby to hear, now you had a card with your bloody picture on it and your weight printed. I'm sure it was a very popular machine with all the ladies.....NOT! :NBG:

J Peterson
Weighing my options in America
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Re: Photo Weigh card identified

Post by pennymachines »

Do you think the caption at the bottom of the card was to discourage gentlemen from photographing their genitals? :!?!:
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Re: Photo Weigh card identified

Post by pennymachines »

Possibly the elusive Photo Weigh booth?

Image
Automatic Photo, Weight & Date
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coppinpr
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Re: Photo Weigh card identified

Post by coppinpr »

A clever idea in its day. Interesting that rather than using a complex system to print out the weight and date it simply photographed (by means of mirrors I assume) the scale reading and the pre-set date as it took the person's photo.
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photography-emoji-300x300 s.jpg
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Re: Photo Weigh booth & card identified

Post by pennymachines »

Alan wrote:Just some info that some of you may find interesting that I just saw on my family photo from the 1960s (photoweigh LTD photo booth at Brighton palace pier) that I’m restoring.
Three of them squeezed in and on my grandad's shoulder was the booth's entrance curtain clearly visible.
So from this I can tell you that as you entered the booth the camera was to your right and the seat was to your left.
Nothing spectacular but if like in my photo you see something on the left of the image that you can’t tell what it is then it's possible it's the same curtain getting in on the action (if it's the same booth that is).
Photobooth Journal
This comment helps to confirm that the image above is indeed the Photo Weigh booth. Note also, that it advertises Weight & Date & Free Negative.
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photoweighnegposbrightonpierdavidsimkina.jpg
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