Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for use in Washing, Drying, or otherwise Treating Photographic Plates.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 6th July, 1899-Accepted, 12th Aug., 1899
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for use in Washing,
Drying, or otherwise Treating Photographic Plates.
I, GUSTAV GEIGER, Pharmaceutical Chemist, 2, Maximilianplatz, Munich,
Bavaria, Empire of Germany, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
The washing drying or other treatment of photographic plates is generally
carried out at the present time by simply placing them in vessels or troughs
of suitable dimensions, the plates being hold in position in various ways. This
method of washing suffers from the drawback that the washing out of the salts
etc. takes place very slowly, and is frequently not carried out completely, inas-
much as the water charged with or affected by the salt solution coming from
one plate can scarcely effectively treat another plate, and besides the films are
often injured owing to the frequent handling involved in the process. All these
draw-backs are avoided by the present invention. The invention relates to an
apparatus which makes it possible to wash or treat a larger number of plates
simultaneously, and always with fresh quantities of liquid, after which the plates
are rapidly dried without any necessity of handling them again.
The apparatus consists of a frame constituted by a bottom plate having an
undulating, corrugated or ribbed upper surface, provided with lateral guide rods,
and a water reservoir adjustably arranged on said guide rods and provided on
its under surface also with undulations corrugations or ribs which undulations are
provided with a series of small oblique perforations arranged close to each other
and directed towards one side, through which the liquid is intended to issue in
spray against the film side of the plate, which plates are held between the two
corrugated plates.
In the accompanying drawings: the invention is represented by way of
example:
Figure 1 being a front view of the apparatus,
Tira sido via

page_text: between the bottoms of the upper and lower corrugations a and I respectively.
On one side of the sides of the water reservoir d is arranged a bent metal strip.h
provided with a longitudinal slot by means of which it can be adjusted as regards
length and secured by a screw k in order to support the apparatus in an inclined
position which metal strip is secured, when not required, by a small screw n, as
shown in Figures and 4. When the washing or treatment of the plates pis
finished the apparatus is tilted into an oblique position for the purpose of allowing
the water to run off and the air to pass freely through and is propped up by means
of the metal strip h, the latter having been fixed to the required height, as shown
in Figure 6.
In order to treat in this way, and simultaneously, several plates of different
heights, a special device is provided which consists, as represented in Figure 2,
of a metal strip we bent so as to fit into a corrugation of the plate a. This metal
strip is provided with two or more tubes r projecting upwards provided with
rods s, the height of which, is made adjustable by means of set screws t. These
rods carry at their other ends a bent metal strip corresponding in direction with
the corrugations of the lower 'supporting plate.
It is obvious that the invention is capable of being carried out in various
modified ways, as regards both the means for keeping the plates separate and
the construction of the combined water reservoir and holder and method of sup-
porting the same, and is not to be restricted to the particular form and arrange-
ment herein described and shown..
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1. A device for use in washing, drying or otherwise treating photographic
plates comprising a water reservoir adjustably supported in relation to an under
plate between which and the water reservoir the plates. to be treated are held
separate one from the other, the water reservoir being provided with a series of
small perforations through which water is sprayed against the film side of the
plates, substantially as described.
2. In combination with apparatus of the kind described, for the purpose of
simultaneously treating plates of different heights, a device consisting of a metal
strip bent so as to fit the undulation of the under plate, and a second strip con-
nected thereto in such manner as to be adjustable in height relatively thereto,
substantially as described.
3. Apparatus for use in washing, drying and otherwise treating photographic
plates with or without the means for holding plates of different sizes substantially
as described or illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 6th day of July 1899:
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.