NEW RESEARCH SINCE THE BOOK WAS PUBLISHED

One of the major frustrations for any researcher is coming up against a dead end. So it was with me, at the time I wrote this book, as I searched for the truth about who originally designed the Wrayflex.

The patents clearly stated the inventor to be Commander Maurice Studdert, and yet I had heard stories from ex-members of Wray staff that Commander Studdert only brought the plans to England from Germany where he had been on a tour of duty following World War II, meeting German scientists.

The fact that Commander Studdert also introduced to Wray two German brothers – Harry and Werner Goebbels – who had a good working knowledge of the camera, led to the supposition by some that maybe they were the true designers.

Not being able to find firm evidence either way, when writing this book, I stated the two schools of thought and added that the facts were uncertain.

Then, in April 2010, I received a telephone call from Christopher Pearson, whose wife Helen was the daughter of Commander Studdert. With their help I pieced together new information which establishes at last that Commander Studdert was, indeed, the inventor.

Helen Pearson clearly remembered her father showing a diagram of his proposed camera with great excitement, and she still retained his original drawings. It was at a time when Commander Studdert was considering leaving the Navy and was looking for a manufacturing company to produce his camera. He might have considered offering them to a German manufacturer and Zeiss Ikon could have been a contender. But he really wanted to make contact with a company small enough to allow him to retain a measure of control. A mutual friend introduced him to Wray.

The Goebbels brothers were known to Commander Studdert who later brought them to Wray. Since he wasn’t a draftsman, it was they who drew up the plans for the camera, under his direction. They did this first at Minden in Germany, preparing the plans in metric measurements (possibly in preparation for presenting them to a German manufacturer). Then, on their later arrival at Wray, the brothers redrew the plans in imperial measurements for British engineers to work from.

Unfortunately, as we now know Wray proved not to be up to the task of building the camera proposed in the original designs. The Goebbels brothers were unwilling to learn English and, by this time, Commander Studdert was seriously ill, rendering him unable to play a significant role in any redesigns.

So the original design for the world-beating camera that Commander Studdert had envisaged was abandoned and the Wrayflex, as it finally appeared, was the version now known as the Wrayflex I.

Christopher and Helen Pearson also helped me unravel one other mystery: that of the two women named as inventors of the Wrayflex on the American patents. They were named as Katie Studdert and Helena Ruth. The truth is they were actually one person, namely Helena Ruth Katie Studdert, Commander Studdert’s widow and executrix.

My thanks to Christopher and Helen Pearson for bringing these facts to my attention and helping unravel several mysteries which have been mystifying photographic researchers like myself for many years.

 

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