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In 1954 the Kenprinter first appeared and was the first enlarging projection printer in the UK. Over the years many different models were made. They were an enprinter, namely a machine that projection printed enlarged prints onto 3 ½" paper. It had 3 Dallmeyer lenses A,B and C with various supplementary lenses to enable the number of different negative sizes that were around at the time to be printed. Negatives carriers from 8 on 120 down to 35mm were supplied. Focus was achieved by resting the lens assembly onto a spigot that was fitted onto the negative carrier. The spigot was threaded and had been adjusted by the manufacturer for optimum focus.A patent granted to K&B describes this more fully. The Kenprinter had a removable electronic unit that could be simply unplugged and replaced if a fault developed. Today this is a normal approach to servicing but in 1954 it was revolutionary.
Some Kenprinters like the above were enprinters and projection contact printers as well. For 1:1 projection contact printing the lenses were removed and a fixed lens could be brought into play by turning a knob. This type of Kenprinter could be used to make 35mm contact strip prints, although Kodak's Velox Projection Printer could do 1:1 contacts it did not have a paper advance facility of anything less than 2 ½" so was unsuitable for 35mm contact strips.
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