The Patent Portable is an odd design produced before the Hare '1882' and McKellen's 'Triple Patent' cameras were adopted as standard patterns. The Patent Portable was intended as a light camera for use in the field, the baseboard is hinged to the rear standard in such a way that it can fold back and cover the focusing screen when not in use. The front standard clips onto a narrow focusing carriage equipped with rack and pinion movement, the carriage is removable from the baseboard to which it is fixed by sliding into slots, when in use the tripod screw passes through the baseboard and fixes to the focusing carriage. The front standard can be fixed to the carriage at different points to accommodate different focal length lenses.

The Patent Portable was available in sizes from half-plate to 15" x 12". Different versions exist: some have only rising front without cross front; a reversing back was optional, the alternative was to turn the camera on its side; a swing back could be fitted at extra cost; brass binding was optional and varies in extent. Early models were supplied with a wet-plate slide.

The camera was advertised into the early 1890s but most of its sales must have been much earlier. The short lived Improved Patent Portable with a conventional focusing frame and front standard fixing was introduced around 1893. The camera was revived as late as 1898 in a stereo version. Some models carry serial numbers.