Patent GB-190419164-A (GB)
Title: Apparatus for Introducing, Developing, Washing, and Fixing Photographic Plates Films, or Sensitised Surfaces, without the use of a Dark Room
Inventor: TIRMANN HANS
Filed: 1904-09-05
Granted: 1905-08-24
Abstract: 19,164. Tirmann, H., and Tirmann, H. Sept. 5. Dark boxes; developing; fixing; washing; lifters or holders, plate and like.-An apparatus for developing, fixing, and washing plates or papers consists of a large chamber for transference of plates to a holder, and a second chamber in which development takes place in transparent tanks and may be watched by aid of light admitted through non- actinic glass screens. One form of apparatus is shown in Fig. 1. The dark slides with exposed plates are introduced through the hinged lid 7 into a large chamber 4, separated from the chamber 5 by a hinged door 3 which makes the chamber 5 light-tight when the box 13 is in the position shown. The box 13 is fitted with a slide 14 which is withdrawn to allow the plate-carrier to enter the chamber 5. The plate-carrier consists of a frame to support the plate, with slots in the two sides which fit on to a horizontal bar carried at the lower end of the rods 16. The plate being introduced into the plate-carrier, the rods 16 are lifted and the shutter 14 closed, and the box 13 is then transferred to its position above the tank 9, which has sides of glass or other transparent material and contains the developing-solution. The slide 14 being withdrawn, the plate is lowered into the solution and its development may be watched through the lens 11, which is fitted with a slide 30 and also has a guard 29 to fit the eye so as to make a light-tight joint. The slide 23 has an opening the size of the plate to be developed, the slides 24, 25, 26, 27 are respectively of ground glass, yellow glass, red glass, and some opaque material such as cardboard. By the use of suitable screens, light may be admitted for examination of the plate. The bellows 10 allow adjustment of the lens 11 for viewing the plate. Development may be stopped by raising the plate into the box 13 and the acid bath in the tank 9 may then be replaced by water for washing and again by fixing- solution. The slide 6 may be replaced, if desired while loading dark slides, by non-actinic glass to give light for manipulation of the plates, which may be watched through an eyehole, protected by a slide on the inside of the box. For developing large plates, in order to prevent excess of light from reaching them, a conical bellows is fitted immediately behind the tank 9, and at the back end, which is small, the screens 24-27 are fitted. For developing papers, in order to obtain front light instead of transmitted light, these screens are fitted at the sides of a rectangular box of which the tank 9 forms the back and the bellows 10 the front. In a modification, the development, washing, and fixing are performed in three separate tanks which are provided with hose and cocks for introduction of the liquid-, and the developing and fixing tanks are provided with saparate inspection devices. The plate-carrier 16 is supported on a sliding shutter at the top of the apparatus, and the manipulating-chamber is above the bellows 10. In order to make the apparatus more portable, the front and back are connected by folding bellows.