Motion picture photography (1927)

MOTION PICTURE PHOTOGRAPHY cess with makeshifts in the first instance is to court failure. Many of the utensils employed in the dark room can be fashioned by any handy man. They may lack finish but so long as they perform their work properly, nothing more is necessary. The following small outfit which has a capacity of little more than 50 feet of film will go into a space about 32 by 32 inches by 8 inches thick, including a dozen racks. Figure 15 shows the construction of the arms of the rack which are made of some hard close-grained wood like maple, the pins are made of what is called dowel-pin stock, small rods of hardwood used by cabinetmakers to pin the edges of boards together in fine cabinet work. •27 [ooooooooooco ocoooooooo©ol &3SL~ Fig. 35 They may be obtained from almost any lumber yard or mill. The ones used in the rack described were 3/16 inch in diameter and protrude two inches from the rack arm. Two rack arms crossed make a rack on which a little more than 50 feet of film may be wound spirally, beginning at the center. They are fastened together with two screws so that they may be readily taken apart for greater convenience in transporting. By a little calculation, if one wished a rack of larger capacity, a 75 or 100-foot rack may be constructed in the same manner. A rack of 100 feet capacity is about the limit of this form of developing apparatus, as anything larger becomes too cumbersome and the swelling action of the developer causes the film to loosen and gives trouble, as the film seems bound to stick together. Still racks of larger capacity have been made with four cross arms instead of two. This only reduces the trouble to a slight extent, so that it is not advisable even in the hundred-foot racks, unless the film is stretched very tightly, for one is apt to exper 136