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Claim 1

IN A CAMERA, A SINGLE BLADE MEANS FUNCTIONING BOTH AS A DIAPHRAGM AND A SHUTTER, SAID BLADE MEANS HAVING A NORMALLY CLOSED POSITION AND BEING DISPLACEABLE GRADUALLY AWAY FROM SAID CLOSED POSITION TO PROVIDE AN EXPOSURE APERTURE OF GRADUALLY INCREASING SIZE, SAID BLADE MEANS THEN BEING DISPLACEABLE BACK TO SAID CLOSED POSITION THEREOF FOR TERMINATING THE EXPOSURE, OPENING MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID BLADE MEANS FOR DISPLACING THE LATTER FROM SAID CLOSED POSITION THEREOF SO AS TO PROVIDE AN EXPOSURE APERTURE, RETARDING MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED WITH SAID OPENING MEANS FOR RETARDING THE OPERATION THEREOF TO PROVIDE A PREDETERMINED RATE OF OPENING MOVEMENT OF SAID BLADE MEANS IN RESPONSE TO ACTUATION THEREOF BY SAID OPENING MEANS, CLOSING MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID BLADE MEANS FOR DISPLACING THE LATTER RAPIDLY BACK TO SAID CLOSED POSITION THEREOF, MANUALLY OPERABLE COCKING MEANS CONNECTED WITH SAID OPENING MEANS FOR COCKING THE LATTER, RELEASE MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID OPENING MEANS TO RELEASE THE LATTER FOR OPERATION AFTER SAID OPENING MEANS HAS BEEN COCKED, ELECTROMAGNETIC MEANS COACTING WITH SAID CLOSING MEANS TO RELEASE THE LATTER FOR CLOSING SAID BLADE MEANS UPON ENERGIZING OF SAID ELECTROMAGNETIC MEANS, AND PHOTOSENSITIVE DELAY CIRCUIT MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED WITH SAID ELECTROMAGNETIC MEANS FOR ENERGIZING THE LATTER IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE LIGHTING CONDITIONS, SAID PHOTOSENSITIVE DELAY CIRCUIT MEANS ENERGIZING SAID ELECTROMAGNETIC MEANS IN A RELATIVELY SHORT PERIOD OF TIME UNDER CONDITIONS OF GREAT LIGHT INTENSITY TO PROVIDE A RELATIVELY SMALL APERTURE AND EXPOSURE TIME BY WAY OF SAID SINGLE BLADE MEANS AND SAID PHOTOSENSITIVE DELAY CIRCUIT MEANS ENERGIZING SAID ELECTROMAGNETIC MEANS AFTER A RELATIVELY LONG PERIOD OF TIME UNDER CONDITIONS OF RELATIVELY LOW LIGHT INTENSITY TO PROVIDE A RELATIVELY LARGE APERTURE AND EXPOSURE TIME, AND SWITCH MEANS OPERATIVELY CONNECTED TO SAID DELAY CIRCUIT MEANS TO CLOSE THE LATTER FOR OPERATION, SAID SWITCH MEANS BEING ACTUATED BY SAID RELEASE MEANS FOR CLOSING SAID DELAY CIRCUIT MEANS WHEN SAID RELEASE MEANS IS ACTUATED TO RELEASE SAID OPENING MEANS FOR OPERATION.