Sanderson Regular hand & stand, build variations, detail differences

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whilst in no way do I claim this is a definitive study of all the small detail changes that Houghtons made to the Sanderson construction, it does serve to illustrate some of the differences in the first four to five years of the Regular Hand and Stand model. And will hopefully aid in dating. These are observations over a relatively small sample, any additions/amendments are welcomed

Starting on the outside, the catches that lock the hinged part of the case. This is to allow a large lens panel rise for tall buildings, the catches seem to be of three types. Initially the design comprised two awkward internal locks in conjunction with two brass strakes fitted to the outside that rested on a short corner piece, prone to splitting. The panels had metal hinges. This aspect of the design was simplified progressively, to eliminate as many parts as possible.
	Early type, internal catches, outer brass strakes, metal hinges and 'proper' corner.	Internal catch replaced by neat lug, metal hinges deleted and panel now hinges with the leather covering, eliminating 20 components.	Continuing the panel right across the top, the corner splitting was avoided as well as allowing a further simplification of the catch, saving a further 8 parts.

The early strap lugs were quite rounded and had a shallower hole, this accelerated caused wear in the handle ends and seems to have been replaced by a deeper design quite quickly. In the first picture are also the fairly rare neck strap lugs first fitted to indicate that this was a hand camera, as well as a stand camera. The strap itself consists of two pieces sewn together, the padded centre simply being a piece of thick string sandwiched within.
	Shallow carry strap lug, as well as neck strap sometimes seen.	Deeper design of carry strap lug.	Same design, but strap removed

Initially the internal bottom corners didn't have these brass plates. In the first picture you can also see the rear focus pinion that was retrofitted to this particular camera. Also the struts on the earlier models have two screws and are prone to bending, as can be seen. Within a couple of years the strut mount had altered to the three screw type.
	No brass plate, two screw strut mount	Brass plate, three screw strut mount

Earliest waist level finders were noticeably cruder in their construction, particularly the brackets. There is a knurled surround around the front lens. For a time some are stamped Adams & Co, London, presumably bought in, the one shown has much better made brackets.
	1902/1903? Sns C2000	1905? Sns C6000

Early 5x4" Hand and Stand Sandersons were fitted with twin rack and pinions, a feature presumably deemed as unnecessary and subsequently reduced to a single rack. The third picture shows a quarter plate model whose lens bed construction is completely different as it has metal rails as well as a single rack.
	Early twin rack and pinion.	Later single rack	Single rack of the quarter plate

Looking down on the same lens beds as above. Also the later ones had two tripod mounts in the lens bed and these were the then standard 1/4" fitting. The earlier ones had just the one mount and whilst the diameter was the same the screw pitch was different.
	Early twin rack and pinion.	Later single rack