Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1998/12/10
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]The original Barnack Leica design called for two "pin" bearings -- that is, each side of the shutter curtain was held on a roller which simply ended in a narrow metal pin which fitted into a corresponding hole in a metal plate, and the bearing surface was simply metal on metal. This worked magnificently until the winter of 1940 - 41. The German military had occupied Norway, and Leicas began failing, consistently up around Hammerfest. The Leitz solution was to redo the bearings as ball-bearings, on both sides: hence was born the "K" cameras, for "Kugellager", or ball-bearing. (Zeiss Ikon also made "K" cameras but, here, this stood for "Kaltfest", or "cold-fast", proofed for cold-weather operation. Zeiss Ikon, in their repetitive commitment to re-inventing the wheel, had almost always used ball or roller bearings.) This change occured early in the production run of the wartime IIIc cameras, though not all are so marked: only those intended for government use in rough weather conditions bore the engraving. After the War, Leitz discovered that only one side of the shutter needed to be a ball bearing to achieve maximum effect, and such has been the case from the late IIIc to the M6 TTL: one ball bearing and one pin bearing. And Leica says this is good enough for all terrestrial conditions, from the midst of the Antarctic plains to the hottest stretches of the Western Desert of North Africa. There are similiar tales for the VW Beetle, incidentally: you can still get a split Number 3 main bearing, originally intended to accomodate the Kafer to arctic conditions in that horrid winter of '40-'41. Marc msmall@roanoke.infi.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh bas fir gun ghras fir!