The Optical Magic Lantern Journal (June 1899)

70 The Optical Magic Lantern Journ#l and Photographic Enlarger. Middlesex County Council.—The Middle sex County Council have decided that no | cinematographic entertainments can be given in premises licensed by them until they are perfectly satisfied that every precaution has been taken against accidents or danger. days’ clear notice must also be given to the clerk of any intended exhibition. am bead oad The ‘‘ Optical Lantern.’”’—A new edition of the ‘‘ Optical Lantern,’ by Mr. Andrew Pringle, has been published by Hampton & Co., 18, Cursitor Street, London, W.C.; price 2s. 6d. It is thoroughly up-to-date. ead > ~ Golden Colour for Brass.—For the production of a golden colour for brass articles a German authority prescribes the following method :—Dissolve 50 grammes of caustic soda and 40 grammes of milk-sugar in 1 litre of water and boil a quarter of an hour. The solution finally acquires a dark yellow colour. Now add to the mixture, which is removed from the fire, 40 grammes of concentrated cold blue vitriol solution. A red precipitate is obtained from blue vitriol, which falls to the bottom at 75 deg. C. Next, a wooden sieve, fitting in the vessel, is put into the liquid with the polished brass articles. Towards the end of the second minute the golden colour is usually dark enough. The sieve with the articles is taken out, and the latter are washed and dried in sawdust. If | they remain in the copper solution they soon | assume a green colour, which in a short time passes into yellow and bluish green and finally into the iridescent colours. These shades must be produced slowly at a temperature of 56 deg.—57 deg. C. ~ ~*~ * A New Film.—A material that is pliable, will neither stretch nor contract, is not acted upon by developers, will lie perfectly flat, and is fireproof, is promised shortly under the name of Flexoid. ad Ad ee Development after Fixing.—Messrs. Fuerst Brothers recommend the following as the latest formula for development with metol after fixing :—Take 4 oz. to 1 oz. of the following solution : Metol, 120 grains; sulphite of sodium, 24 oz.; water, 20 oz. After an hour or two, according to the exposure given (the plates should be strongly over-exposed and all traces of hypo removed) the positive image appears full of detail, visible by reflected light, but scarcely perceptible by transparent light. At the end of two hours the image has grown sufficiently to be intensified with mercury. Six | Have you any old Slides to give away ?— In the course of a letter received from Mr. F. J. Scrimgeour, Edinburgh University Union, he says :—‘‘In conversation with Dr. Cousland, a medical missionary returned from China on furlough, he told me that the magic lantern is a great source of attraction and enjoyment to the natives, and that lantern services are in great demand. Unfortunately his stock of slides is small, and those he has have been shown over and over again, until they are now painfully familiar. These are of all sorts, Scotch and English scenery, groups, etc.—a scratch lot in fact! but they have pleased the ‘Celestials ’ immensely. Now, I have promised to give him some of my oldest slides, slides which have served their purpose but are now lying useless, / and I feel quite sure that there are some of your readers who might care to follow my example in this matter. They may perhaps have odd slides, possibly amateur in origin, lying away in dusty boxes, which they will never use again. These they might be glad to have utilised in such a commendable way. If any reader would simply drop a post card to me at the University Union, I should be only too glad to communicate with him and pay all expense of transit.” Bead Sad ~ New Companies for Gas Compressing and Lime Making.—A company has recently been registered with a capital of £2,000 to take over the business of T. Evans, near Swansea, for the production and compression of gases. A company has also been registered with a capital of £8,000 in the name of the Nottingham Incandescent Lime Cylinder Syndicate, Limited, to take over a business which had been carried on at Egerton Street, Nottinghan. Two of the directors are Messrs. F. Brown and C. W. Locke. & od he ‘' A Friend in Need is a Friend Indeed."*— Lantern or photographic workers in the vicinity of Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A., who may require advice, either as to the working or purchase of apparatus, can rely on getting it conscientiously from the veteran expert, Mr. Jex Bardwell, 93, Cass Street, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. Few persons know more on such subjects than Mr. Bardwell, and many who have called upon him in their photographic or lantern troubles consider that in him ‘a friend in need is a friend indeed.” Of course, it is not to be expected that one can send several questions and expect detailed answers by return for nothing. The amount of “ consideration,” which is small in return for the information given, can be obtained on application.