Movie Makers (Jun-Dec 1928)

OUT of the TROPICS The Romantic History of the First Amateur Home Developing and Printing Apparatus By Herbert C. McKay, A.R.P.S. IT is a far cry from steaming jungles to the modern American homes of amateur movie fans but the twain are strangely joined together in the unique history of the development of the first economical apparatus devised for the developing and printing of 16mm film by amateurs themselves. When professional cinematographers began to travel to the far corners of the world they were faced with a seemingly unanswerable problem. Atmospheric conditions were such in many tropical countries that films had to be developed shortly after exposure or they would be ruined. It was manifestly impossible to carry the bulky equipment then available into uncharted jungles and over lofty mountain ranges. Nor, in most cases, could the film be shipped out to civilization for development. So the problem of devising a compact and portable developing outfit for explorers and scientists was attacked by R. P. Stineman, a cameraman of many years experience. After many discouraging experiments he finally perfected a system of spiral racks and compact tanks. With this easily portable equipment it was possible to develop one hundred feet of motion picture film in a tank about twenty inches in diameter and some three inches deep, using only two gallons of bath. This device met with immediate welcome by traveling cinematographers, and was adopted by the United States War and Navy Departments. Since its invention, it has been used by practically all of the major expeditions to every part of the world, and results with this equipment have proven satisfactory in every way. The developing apparatus thus proven, a demand was made for a successful portable printer. Such a printer required several characteristics which are difficult to combine. It had to be continuous to avoid the bulk and complexity of the intermittent printer; able to handle 100 foot lengths of film, at least; so designed that it would give good prints from green film without creeping, and, above all, had to be small and light. To meet these requirements Mr. Stinemann designed his portable printing machine with the patented curved printing platen which makes possible the printing of stretched film without creeping. The printer is designed for use with hand or electric drive. The light is controlled by a small lever which changes the size of the light aperture. Two detachable magazines on the top of the printer hold the raw positive stock and the negative, while the exposed film and negative may be caught in baskets or taken up on a special take-up device. It is axiomatic among cinematographic technicians that neither a continuous nor a portable printer will give satisfactory results, yet this printer which is both, has innumerable times made positives which could not be distinguished from laboratory prints. The printer was adopted by those who had used the tanks, with the result that travelers were enabled to print their positives, make a trial run and, when necessary, make re-takes before leaving their territory. Such was the status of the Stineman equipment, when the 16mm movement began. Mr. Stineman became interested and started work on a small scale outfit. The result was that soon after the announcement of 16mm negative and positive film the Stineman equipment was ready for the market. The new equipment is identical in every way with the standard equipment except in the changes necessitated by the small film gauge. Thus the apparatus called into being by the difficulties and perils of jungle exploration has proven the foundation for the first complete equipment offered the home laboratory man. The developing rack is a spiral of metal ribbon. This ribbon is made of a metal especially alloyed for this purpose. It is chemically inert, yet it has the necessary physical qualities for its purpose. This spiral is soldered to supporting cross arms. In use, the rack is placed upon a rewind and the film rolled into the spiral. The two ends of the film are secured to the spiral, and the rack is ready for the tank. The tanks are merely shallow, cylindrical pans holding about two gallons of solution. The rack of film is grasped by the handle in the center and lowered into the developer. It is raised and lowered a few times to clear the film of air bubbles. It is then left in the developer for the proper time. It is then rinsed and placed in the fixing bath where it remains for about fifteen minutes. It is then placed in the water tank and washed in running water for from fifteen to thirty minutes. At the end of this time the ends of the film are freed from the rack, a circular metal screen, which is a part of the outfit, is placed over the film in the rack and the whole reversed. The rack is now lifted off leaving the film loosely coiled upon the screen. One end of the film is now secured to the drying rack and this rack turned until the film is wound upon it. When dry, the film is polished by rubbing the celluloid with a chamois pad moistened in C.P. wood alcohol. This film is then placed in the rear magazine of the printer and a roll of positive stock in the front magazine. The two films are passed over the (Continued on page 545) A SUITCASE It Holds a Complete Dev LABORATORY eloping and Printing Outfit. 531