Russian Ball Head Mount ... Space?

Hi All,

I bought this tripod head (photos below), or at least it is a ball-head for a camera, I think. The person I bought it from, a well-known professional photographer here in San Francisco, told me that it was left to him by a photographer he knew, and that man got it from a, Aeroflot stewardess who brought it from the Soviet Union about 40 years ago. The stewardess said that it was custom made for the Soviet Space Program.
Although this story sounds a bit strange, it does have a ring of truth to it, and I know that Aeroflot pilots and stewardesses did bring things over during that era and I have never seen something like this before.
All the parts are hand-machined, probably from aluminum or titanium ... nothing molded or stamped, and it did come in a bag with Cyrillic writing on it, although I don't really think the bag is original to the tripod head.
This piece is very, very strong, and very light, weighing only 11.5 oz. including a few extra parts that were stored in the ball, which is hollow and accessible when the top section that holds the camera is unscrewed. These parts were held in place by a ball of wool.
So, has anyone here seen anything like it? There are no markings on the piece itself. I bought it because I have some Soviet space cameras and I thought it would look good with them. Any opinions or observations would be welcomed!

http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent/ballhead1.jpg


http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent/ballhead2.jpg


http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent/ballhead3.jpg


http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent/ballhead4.jpg



Regards, Bill

These are educated guesses from an engineer. It appears to be aluminum to me, titanium has a really strange yellowish brown tint and this is bright and shiny with no tint. From my own experience with tripods it is a poor design because one of the three arms would be sure to be in the way every time you tried to use it. My best guess is that it mounts on something to put another item on it that needs to be calibrated to or used to calibrate the first item(I know "What the hell does that mean???"), an example would be a laser mounted to a big gun to set the initial calibrations and then adjust them to a "zero point".

Hi Nathan,

Thanks for your very perceptive ideas. I agree with all of them (aluminum - not titanium ... not for a tripod ... use for a calibrated or fixed device ... etc.) and it does lead to a conclusion that this ball-head would have a somewhat specialized purpose, compared to the purpose of fitting on a tripod for regular photography. Maybe it is a piece that was designed for the Soviet Space Program.

I have noticed over the years that regular tripod heads for photography are usually heavy, with no reason, or attempt, to make them lighter. This 'ball-head' is surprising light and strong, so it must have been designed with weight and strength in mind. Thanks and I would welcome other opinions or ideas if anyone has them.

Regards, Bill

Bill,
Whatever this is it's a wondeful thing. It looks to me as this is designed to act as an alignment/locking device between two other items, or some instrument and it's mount. So I totally agree with Nathan's idea that this would be used to align something initially with finer adjustment or calibration probably being made on the instrument itself. Perhaps a special camera, telescope, or transmitter of some kind.
Construction of the device shows that a reduced weight was given a high priority, and that strengnth was also an important factor.
It's also beautifully made and crafted, so cost was not an issue, meaning this thing seems to be a "one off" and would not have been mass produced.
One other interesting point is that it is appears to be made from aluminium and either brass or bronze. This combination is very reactive and corrosive in an oxygen atmosphere, so possibly this was made to be used long term in a vacuum, or in space.
My conclusion and best theory is that this was designed to be used on a sattelite either to help align a camera or some other device.
I don't recognise the word on the bag, but will try to find out. It looks to me like it is possibly a company name, and probably has nothing to do with the item itself. Best wishes, Jim.

The bag says "Racing". I think it's just a generic fancy bag and nothing to do with the item. Very refined machining in contrast to an average crude soviet parts.

Vlad

Thanks for your input too Jim. I think the black parts are not bronze as they are very light also. They seem to be black because they have been anodized or possibly painted with some sort of enamel, although I'm not sure.

Vlad, one thing I noticed about that bag is that the writing is meant to be read when the bag is placed up side down over something. And also there is no closure to the bag. I am wondering if the word, which may mean "racing" as you have said, might also be the name of a factory or something, but I agree that it probably has nothing to do with the 'ball-head' object.

All in all, the story I received with the ball-head did seem sort of believable and I actually met the man who sold the thing to me and I could tell he was not lying about it, but of course the story could still be different from reality after 40 years. I'm hoping to see a photo of one of these things being used somewhere ... someday!

Regards, Bill

Bill,
I wasn't referring to the black parts, these look to be aluminium coated with enamel.
The brass or bronze pieces that I was referring to are the little cups which actually grip the aluminium ball. These parts are in direct contact with the aluminium and unless kept clean or insulated from each other will probably start to react especially if the atmosphere is a little damp, (oxydisation). So I think that this device was designed to work outside of an oxygen atmosphere.
With regard to the bag, I think the name is most probably comercial because it has a logo. Best wishes, Jim.

Jim,
You are right that the cups are brass or bronze. I have spent several hours looking through books and the internet to try to find anything like this and have not been able to. Nothing even close in design, from any country. So, for now, and until I find some clue, I will happily consider the story I received with the piece to be true, and will display it along with my large porcelain hand-painted Soviet Space Station vase and my Leningrad FAS-1, Kiev FKR-01, and Kiev SKD space program cameras! Maybe you folks will want a photo of this neat little collection ;-)

Regards, Bill

Bill,
We definitely would like to see that! .

The bag looks like a cover for some performance automotive part like a seat headrest .

Vlad.

OK Vlad ... will post a photo later today! Probably too small for a head rest, but maybe for a carburetor. Thanks for your translation of the logo by the way.

Regards, Bill

Bob Shell, wrote an article at Shutterbug around 1992 showing this interesting Russian ball head. I was impressed. He told nothing about space programs and as I know, these heads were sold at KievUSA, and were very high priced.
regards
LP

Wow Luiz! This is some information!! Bill you may consider contacting Kiev USA maybe then can provide more info?

Vlad

Ok Vlad!

Very quick response! Saul Kaminski may probably locate Bob Shell. Once at Shutterbug editorial he often promoted KievUSA,(and various girls)seeming to me an enthusiast of Russian Cameras. But unfortunatedly all contacts I tried to do with Kaminsky were without any answers.
Good Luck. and cheers!
LP

Isn't Bob Shell in prison????

I believe Bob Shell is in prison having been convicted of manslaughter in the death of one of his models. However, his web site is still active. I will investigate this tripod head in connection with Kiev USA.

Regards, Bill

Hi Bill,

this soviet book (1989) could be interesting to you ...


http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent/konstruktor_1989.jpg


http://www.ussrphoto.com/UserContent/konstruktor_1989_2.jpg

Best Regards,
Aidas

Thanks Aidas! Maybe someone can translate what the title and page of the book says so I can finally identify the tripod head ... now for sure it is not a 'Space" item, as Luiz has said!

Regards, Bill

Wild guessses, niet ponimaju po russkij but I know most of the alphabet and many other languages...

Something about friction and stativ (tripod in many european languages), end is horizontal 360° and 135° vertical. Massa and apparatura = weight of equipment max 16kg.

Best regards,
Juhani

The name of the book is "Photo-lover constructor" (Constructor in a sense that you build stuff).


The paragraph says "Frictional tripod ballhead is installed on floating supports on a powerful swivel(?) mount. It provides 360 degree turns on horizontal plane and 135 degrees on vertical. Supported weight is up to 16kg."

Vlad

Thank you Vlad and Juhani! Now I know the tripod head is at least Russian! And thanks again Aidas, for remembering the tripod head. Now I can add it to the WIKI when I get a few free moments.

Regards, Bill

Dear all.

I came across this topic.. it's a kind of relict by now but I have a lot to add.

So what you are asking about is a home-made photo head from Soviet Union.

About 1/2 of all heads produced (estimated around 800) gone to USA with the help of stewardess, a close friend of the master who manufactured them.



The man on the photo is Vladimir Ivanovich Besedin, USSR space industry milling machine operator and inventor of the device in question.

Be aware, the device is patented.

The heads were produced in his kitchen and have about 1 micron error in ball dimensions.
Device is lighter than water and should weight less then 300g. There was a lighter version that was less then 200g.

The head is capable to hold 20kg in 90 degree position and a light one (for mountain climbers) will hold 10kg in 90 degree position.

Major advantage of the device is that it allows operator to freely rotate\move the camera without loosing it's stability. If unscrewed about 1\2 of a full circle the ball will be loosened enough for the camera men to move the assembly, but will still fix camera and optics even if operator forgets to screw the locking nut back.
That means one can panoramic or move the camera and then just take a hand off it - the camera will stay without dropping.

The holes that are made in legs surrounding the ball are actually for ultra-low tripods, we call them spider legs now.



The head had several accessories including 3m high tripod (less than 3 kg) made of aluminium boat paddles (a material of great favor among Soviet home based inventors).



As you can use google chrome to translate Russian go with the following link to read all and above regarding the head.

http://forum.ixbt.com/topic.cgi?id=20:26026

Hope you will find the info interesting and feel free to ask for more =)

Yours, Kaim