Scientific American Supplement, No. 362, December 9, 1882Various
Science
Scientific American Supplement, No. 362, December 9, 1882
Various
Science -- Periodicals
_The Negative to be Printed from_.--The sensitive film being upon the
surface of a thick glass plate, it is necessary that the cliché or
negative employed should be upon patent plate, or not upon glass at all,
so as to insure perfect contact. Best of all, is to employ a stripped
negative, in which case absolute contact is insured in printing. It is
only in these circumstances that the most perfect impression can be
secured. If the negative is otherwise satisfactory, and only requires
stripping, it must be upon a leveling stand, and fluid gelatine of a
tolerable consistence is poured over it. When dry, a pen-knife is run
around the margin, and the film leaves the glass without any trouble.
Herr Obernetter says that many of the negatives he receives have to be
reproduced before they can be transformed into Lichtdruck plates, and
he employs either the wet collodion process or the graphite method,
according to circumstances. If the copy is desired to be softer than the
original, collodion is employed; if vigor be desired, graphite is used,
and here is his formula:
Dextrine. 62 grains.
Ordinary white sugar. 77 "
Bichromate of ammonia. 30.8 "
Water. 3.21 ounces.
Glycerine. 2 to 8 drops.
The film is dried at a temperature of 130° to 140° F. in about ten
minutes, and while still warm is printed under a negative in diffused
light for a period of five to fifteen minutes. In a well-timed print
the image is slightly visible; the plate is again warmed a little above
atmospheric temperature in a darkened room, and then fine levigated
graphite is applied with a fine dusting brush, a sheet of white paper
being held underneath to judge of the effect. Breathing upon the film
renders it more capable of attracting the powder. When the desired vigor
has been attained, the superfluous powder is dusted off, and the plate
coated with normal collodion. Afterward the film is cut through at the
margins of the plate by means of a sharp knife, and put into water. In a
little while--from two to five minutes--the collodion, with the image,
will be detached from the glass; the film is at once turned over in the
water, and brought out upon the glass plate. Under a soft jet of water
any air-bubbles that may exist between the collodion and the glass are
removed, and then a solution of gum arabic (two grammes of gum dissolved
in one hundred grammes of water) is poured over, and the film is allowed
to dry spontaneously.
_Exposure of the Printing Block under the Negative_.--The exposure
is very rapid. Any one conversant with photolithographic work will
understand this. At any rate, every photographer knows that bichromated
gelatine is much more rapid than the chloride of silver he generally has
to do with.
There is no other way of measuring the exposure than by the photometer
or personal experience, and the latter is by far the best.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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