American cinematographer (Jan-Dec 1928)

February, 1928 AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER Developer Perfected Mr. Roy Hunter, Director of Universal Film Laboratories, Reports Revolutionary Advance in Development of Motion Picture Negative Film [In the December issue of THE AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER Mr. Frank E. Gar butt of the Paramount Laborities, expressed his belief in the advent of the developing of negative films by machine and gave an expose of the work conducted by him and his associates in this line of endeavor. The Universal Laboratories have devoted much time and energy to the same end under the guidance of Mr. Roy Hunter, and this system of development has in these laboratories outgrown the experimental stage and has been put into actual practice. THE AMERICAN CINEMATOGRAPHER is grateful to these up-builders of our industry for the opportunity of being made the medium through which such improvements are brought before the cinematographers and the public in general. — Editor's Note.~\ Mr. Roy Hunter, superintendent of the Universal Laboratories, announces an extremely important and very interesting advance in motion picture production. Mr. Hunter has been for several years working upon the solution of the momentous problem of eliminating all chances of imperfection in the development of motion picture negative film. The solution has been reached by Mr. Hunter through the adaptation of a developing machine which has been put into practical use in the Universal laboratories for over six months, during which time not less than 6,000,000 feet of negative film have been developed with a uniformity of results which cannot be surpassed and with an ease of operation which guarantees the maximum of safety in the physical handling of the valuable film. The rack and tank system of development which has been uniformly in use in all laboratories calls for a series of manipulations of the film after exposure, each one of which presents possibilities of mishaps, some chargeable to the actual handling of the film by the operator and some to physical and chemical influences very difficult if not impossible to control. In the rack and tank system the exposed film is put through the following series of operations: It is wound on the rack, submitted to a preliminary washing, dipped in the developing tanks, then it is rinsed, fixed, washed, transferred to the drying drum, polished and finally sent through the process of printing. All these operations up to and including the polishing are, in the Universal Laboratory, accomplished by the machine so that the film is never actually touched by human hands from the time it leaves the manufacturer to the time it is put through the printing machine. Let us analyze some of the most important advantages of this elimination of the human element in developing. The winding on the developing rack is subject to mishaps due to imperfect cleanliness of the rack — scratches during the guiding by hand of the film in the proper position on the rack — broken perforations while setting the film between the rack's pins — unnecessary exposure to the atmosphere from the time the film is wound on the rack to the time it is put in the developer— limitation of the length of the film that can be developed at one time. The following preliminary washing, which is at times dispensed with, should not present any particular chance of mishap if handled with care. The developing itself by rack presents the possibility of air bells, rack flashes (almost unavoidable), nonuniformity in the flow of the developer, oxidation of the parts of the film from time to time exposed to the air for inspection, the possibility on the part of the operator of pulling the film too short when appearing over-exposed, or inversely of forcing it by a longer time of development when appearing as under-exposed. This last question is of vital importance and has been the bug-a-boo of many cinematographers and laboratory experts. Its advisability has been discussed in practical and scientific circles, and Mr. Hunter apparently gives it the practical solution. We will return to it later. The rinsing after development should not present any uncontrollable chances of accident. The fixing may produce rack marks, and trouble due to physico-chemical effects created by the carryign of the fixing and hardening in a single solution, while the greatest possibility of serious accident, due to the physical handling of the film, lies in the transfer of the film to the drying drum, in "squeegeeing" out of it the excess of water, and the repeated handling on the drum itself called for by the shrinkage of the film during the drying process. All of these possibilities of harm to the extremely valuable negative film have been the cause of constant apprehension to even the most conscientious laboratory operators and have caused from time to time severe losses to the producers by the necessity of retaking scenes ruined by one or more of these enumerated causes, in spite of the greatest care exercised by the laboratory operator. Mr. Hunter's developing machine, which eliminates entirely such occurrences, is the result of some modifications brought forth into the positive film developing machines which have been in use in several laboratories for some time. The functioning of the machine has been so studied and timed that during the twelve minutes in which the film remains in the developer, the flow of the solution is regulated so as to avoid all possibility of uneveness of development. A recording tachometer registers the speeds of the machine and the motive force is so arranged that if the driving motor should suddenly stop functioning batteries enter into immediate play and, if the batteries should fail, the operator can have immediate recourse to man power, one hand being sufficient to drive the whole machine, the tachometer giving the means of checking for a constant and regular speed. From the developing troughs the film is sent through the rinsing process, the fixing, the hardening, the washing, which is carried in the most thorough and rational manner, the "squeegeeing" and the drying and polishing, without touch by hand, except in the rare cases in which a breakage of the film should occur, for which emergency the machine is so constructed that the broken parts of the film are within easy reach of the operator. Seven seconds only are necessary for repairing any breakage, and this time of interruption in the forward march of the film is absolutely negligible when set against the twelve miuutes necessary to complete the development. Any and all kinds of film have been developed by Mr. Hunter during a continuous run of the machine. Par and super-speed, Orthochromatic and Panchromatic films from Agfa, Eastman and DuPont have been simultaneously developed by the machine, giving a perfection of results seldom if ever obtained by the rack and tank system. Critical tests of different subjects photographed under the greatest imaginable scale of conditions of light and exposure, have given remarkably good results and