The Van Buren press., 1897-01-23
making "soopE" PICTURES.
Interesting Process of Photogra phing q
Moving Street Crowd.


Interesting Process of Photogra phing q
Moving Street Crowd.
a few days ago an unpretentiouS-
looking vehicle was standing 2car the
curb ON Pennsylvania avenue near the
Seventh street transfer station. In the
wagon was a large pine box, and upon
this a smaller box of cherry, This
smaller box proved, upon inquiry, to be
a camera for making the long bands
of pictures used in phantosaape, cine
photographic, yitascope and all the "ari-
Gus members of the constantly grow
ing family of scopes" and graphs"
devices for exhibiting a series OF rap
idly-shifting Photographic Transparent
eies, arranged successfully, SO that one
blends into the other uninterruptedly,
giving the impression of objects in mo-
ton, \ photograph of the moving
crowds at the transfer was being made
by Mr.. c. Francis jenkins, who told a
reporter about the methods and mech
anism employed in the process.
In company with Mr.. Jenkins, who
carried the box in his hand, the re-
porter visited the lahratery, which was
q dark room, where the strip contain
ing the pictures was removed from the
box. And dark the room is, too, after
being out in the bright sunlight, the
only light visible being a red globe
swinging from the ceiling.
Upon entering the room a tick, tick,
tick, not unlike the sound of clock,
is noticed, ard as soon as the eyes be-
come accustomed to the semi-darlness
of the subdued illumination it is found
to proceed from the far side of the room,
where a little machine is busy stamping
out the tiny square holes along the
edge of the tape, or "film," as it is
called. These little holes are punched
along the edge of the film to insure per-
feet register, as was explained.
The punching must be done with eX-
IRENE accuracy, but so sllillfully is the
mechanism designed, and so delicately
made that it can be trusted to care for
itself, running all night, when occasion
requires, without attention, punching
out myriads of little squares of celluloid,
which for all the world resembles in
miniature the piles of asawdust in the
mills. The pictures are three-quarters
by seven-eighths inches, and are laid
on, in the camera, at the rate of 1000 a
minute and up
After the photographs are made the
film is developed and dried and auto
matically fed, in contact with a like
strip of sensitive film, beneath 4 power
ful incandeseent lamp and 'positives"
printed therefrom, very much as a
cylinder press prints the long strips of
newspaper. This exposed film is taken
into another dark room, where it is
spirally laid on to a large cylinder TO
ated by an electric motor. This cylin-
Ter is supported in half-moon shaped
bearings at the ends of large trough
resembling the great wooden sugar
roughs in which our grandfathers used
,ocatch the sap of the naples.
The developer" a dark-colored fluid,
S poured on from pitcher the film
continuing to rotate therein until fully
developed. The end of the film first
aid ON is then fastened to another cylin-
Ter, which quickly rolls it off the first
ind passes it through another bath I'M
ii it is fixed" whatever that may
mean. Then the film is given a thor
)ugh washing under long tube pierced
With dozens Of little holes from which
he water is projected in tiny streams
against the passing film. The washing
s continued for half an hour, when the
lin is reeled off onto drying rack and
lung up, where under the forceful ac-
ion of electric fans, it is soon converted
nto hard-surfaced, flexible band, 80
'eet long, containing 500 pictures, but
which is rolled up until it is scarcely
larger than double spool of cotton.
Aside from the extreme simplicity of
the apparatus, its automatic character
most fascinating feature. The chem
ist in charge stated that he would rather
develop 100 feet of this film than two
dry plates. "And then" said he, you
take pardonable pride in knowing that
your pictures are going all over
the world. An American who is
so fortunate as to be elsewhere
than in Washington, either at
home or abroad, on the 4th of next
March, may, shortly after step into a
convenient theater and see the tri-
umphant march of the inaugural party
along the avenue, with the capitol of
his country in the distance. And yet,
for all this, the art of photography is
still said to be in IT'S babyhood. Wash
ington Star.