Radio age research, manufacturing, communications, broadcasting, television (1941)

Electrofax Enlarger for Microfilm A high-speed machine which employs the RCA Electrofax process to turn out standard-size engineering drawings from microfilm originals at the rate of fifteen per minute has been developed by RCA and was demon- strated for the first time on February 14. The new enlarger-printer, which is expected to revo- lutionize today's techniques of storing and reproducing vital engineering drawings, is the first commercially- designed machine to utilize Electrofax, the swift and economical electrostatic dry-photographic process de- veloped at RCA Laboratories. Arthur L. Malcarney, General Manager, RCA Commercial Electronic Products, announced that RCA is now accepting orders on the machine, which is priced at $85,000. The device was developed under contract with the U. S. Navy, Bureau of Aeronautics, which has now taken delivery on the first machine at the Overhaul and Repair Department of the Naval Air Station at Alameda, California. The base is a typical repair center for naval aircraft, and the Electrofax enlarger will be used for jobs described this way by Mr. Malcarney: "This enlarger-printer will be combined with Film- sort equipment developed by the Dexter Folder Com- pany, under contract with the Bureau of Aeronautics, and other processing equipment, to provide for Navy evaluation of completely integrated system for low-cost storage and high-speed processing of engineering draw- ings essential for the maintenance and modification of naval aircraft. "The system will introduce at the Alameda repair center important savings in the cost of handling and reproducing engineering drawings and in the space re- quired for their storage. Equally important, the high- speed selection and reproduction system will make pos- sible rapid push-button availability of filed drawings for maintenance purposes and for reference by bidders and suppliers. The Bureau of Aeronautics estimates that the system's potential in direct savings to Naval aviation exceeds one million dollars annually in procure- ment, reproduction, and storage costs." Used with Filmsort Filing System The new machine is the first enlarger-printer de- signed for use with the Dexter-developed Filmsort sys- tem — a relatively new method for filing and selecting drawings for reproduction. Filmsort utilizes individual exposures of drawings on microfilm, and each exposure or microfilm frame is mounted on a separate electric accounting machine card to provide maximum freedom and speed of selection. Conventional methods involve the filing of full-scale drawings, or recording on con- tinuous rolls of microfilm. The Filmsort cards can be selected swiftly according to category by conventional electric punch-card machines. The RCA Electrofax ma- chine can also work with 35-mm roll microfilm if desired. The combination of Filmsort, which permits swift access to microfilm files, and the Electrofax machine, which provides short-order reproduction, offers new standards in speed, efficiency and economy to virtually all high-volume processors of engineering drawings, Mr. Malcarney said. Possible applications of the device ex- tend to government services and the aviation, building, engineering and other industries which employ large volumes of drawings. The particular features which distinguish the Elec- trofax machine include these: — It is the first equipment of its type which can be used with either Filmsort cards or microfilm rolls. — It is the only automatic enlarger-printer to use a direct dry-photographic process, printing direct from a microfilm original to paper. H. G. Reuter, Jr., supervising engineer on RCA Electrofax project, inserts Filmsort cards in the new enlarger-printer for engineering drawings. 8 RADIO AGE