International photographer (Jan-Dec 1934)

sensitive to light from various parts of the spectrum, or photographically responsive in still other significant ways. Combinations of these properties in various degrees result in the production of nearly 100 types of Him by Kodak Park. Most types of x-ray film, and the popular Verichrome Film for use in Kodaks, are actually double coated, with two separate emulsions. In the years following the first Eastman production of transparent, flexible film base, that material was made and sensitized on glass-surfaced tables 200 feet long. Now this work is done on great continuous machines. Of photographic paper there are even more varieties than of film — 250 types, distinguished by purpose, degree of contrast, color, weight, texture, and action under development, produced under conditions similar to those of film-manufacture. It is a remarkable fact that even the red and black paper sheathing the familiar cartridges of Kodak Film, only to be thrown away after the film is developed, is of a higher grade than the best stationery of discriminating business houses; yet a similar paper sensitized to print photographs would degenerate rapidly. Because the highest-grade commercial paper stock is unsuitable, Kodak Park -manufactures its own paper for sensitizing. Paper is not ready to receive the emulsion simply after manufacture and a period of seasoning. Baryta coating intervenes — treatment with a substance containing principally barium sulphate — and accomplishes two main objects. It helps to separate from the paper the chemical constituents of the emulsion later to be applied, serving as a barrier against the possible deterioration of paper that already has been made as proof against deterioration as possible. Secondly, it gives the necessary gloss to glossy paper and controls the degree of gloss on matte-surface papers. One of the most important tests at Kodak Park, to the traveler, occurs in an incubator that simulates equatorial temperatures, from the cool of morning to the heat of noon and back again. A military metaphor suggests itself for Kodak Park. An army is helpless without its services of supply. The production forces of this city of light and darkness need constant support from large and elaborately regimented auxiliary "troops." Cores and reels are needed to wind film on. A metaland wood-working plant makes them. . . . Cartons and containers are necessary. A large printing shop and a paper-box factory are complete within the Park. . . . Artificial leather is required to cover hundreds of thousands of cameras. Kodak Park produces it. . . . The red and black paper mentioned earlier is essential for the protection of roll film, as well as black paper for packing other light-sensitive materials. A second paper mill, the "commercial mill," supplies these needs. Think of the machinery repair work to be done, of the 6,000 electric motors to be serviced, of the plumbing and steamfitting and carpentry activity involved in maintaining a plant of 80 buildings, of the special machinery to be constructed for Kodak Park's unique manufacturing purposes. A large corps of men skilled in these functions is on the job constantly and the various mechanical shops are a story in themselves. Mixers require hours to bring about the proper solution of treated cotton in wood alcohol and other solvents. The resulting "dope" is passed through filter presses before being turned into film base. Vast quantities of supplies, from coal to platinum, must be bought and tested. One department buys, another tests. The Kodak Company has its own waterworks with a capacity for drawing 31,000,000 gallons a day from Lake Ontario, five miles away, a filtration plant on the lake shore, and a 5,000,000-gallon reservoir at the Park. The shipping departments are important, for the Park's great production must be kept on the move. Truck ing, maintenance of roads and grounds and 15 miles of railroad trackage, even janitor service, constitute major projects. A hundred freight cars a day are "spotted" at the loading and unloading platforms. Kodak Park has its own fire department. A laundry is maintained. A safety department acts continually to eliminate hazards to employees and property. In further ramification of this plant's activity, numerous materials must be provided in addition to film and paper to satisfy the photographic needs of a hemisphere — chemicals for developing, fixing, toning, bleaching, intensifying, and other mysterious manipulations of photographers, amateur and professional. One photographic chemical known as "Pyro" is made of "gallnuts" brought from China. These "nuts," imported in large quantities, are really excrescences resulting when oak trees are stung by flies. Nearly 3,000 organic chemicals are stocked by the Kodak Research Laboratories. Although this aspect of the Kodak Company's activity is not widely known in nonscientific circles, the chemicals provided are used in hundreds of universities and research laboratories where the future progress of science and industry is steadily being worked out. Sheeting similar to film base, and solutions similar to the "dope" from which it is made, are sold to many customers manufacturing a diversity of products ranging, say, from cakes and aeroplanes to poultry supplies and electrical equipment. Among the Eastman Kodak Company's employees 245 of the 572 principal occupations listed by the census are represented, in addition to many jobs peculiar to the photographic industry. That numerical statement is scarcely needed to send us out from Kodak Park conscious that we have felt the pulse of a complex industrial organism. Henceforth, also, we shall find new meaning in the historic Kodak slogan, "You pres: the button, we do the rest." Please mention The International Photographer when corresponding with advertisers.