This little apparatus, invented by Prof. Mora, of Senlis, permits of dividing circumferences or circles into equal or proportional parts. It consists (Fig. 2) of a rule, A, divided into equal or proportional parts, which pivots in the manner of a compass around a rod, T, that serves as a central rotary point. Along this rule moves a slide, R, provided with an aperture, C, which is made to coincide with one of the divisions. This division corresponds to the number of equal or proportional parts into which the circle is to be divided. The slide is provided with a wheel, E, that carries a point which serves at every revolution to trace the points that indicate the divisions of the circumference.
FIG. 1.—MODE OF USING THE CIRCLE DIVIDER.
FIG. 1.—MODE OF USING THE CIRCLE DIVIDER.
The apparatus operates as follows: Suppose, for example, that it becomes necessary to divide a circumference into 19 equal parts: We make the aperture, C, coincide with the 19th division of the rule, and fix the point of the rod, T, in the center of the circumference, and cause the rule to revolve around it. The wheel, E, will revolve upon its axis, g, and, at every revolution, its point will make a mark which corresponds to the 19th part of the circumference—
Circumf. c / Circumf. C = r / R
It is always necessary that the extremity of the wheel, E, and the center-point, T, shall be at the same height in order to have the divisions very accurate.
FIG. 2.—THE CIRCLE DIVIDER.
FIG. 2.—THE CIRCLE DIVIDER.
Although the manufacture of soluble glass does not strictly belong to the glass maker's art, yet it is an allied process to that of manufacturing glass. Of late soluble glass has been used with good effect as a preservative coating for stones, a fire-proofing solution for wood and textile fabrics. Very thin gauze dipped in a solution of silicate of potash diluted with water, and dried, burns without flame, blackens, and carbonizes as if it were heated in a retort without contact of air. As a fire-proofing material it would be excellent were it not that the alkaline reaction of this glass very often changes the coloring matters of paintings and textile fabrics. Since soluble glass always remains somewhat deliquescent, even though the fabrics may have been thoroughly dried, the moisture of the atmosphere is attracted, and the goods remain damp. This is the reason why its use has been abandoned for preserving theater decorations and wearing apparel. Another application of soluble glass has been made by surgeons for forming a protecting coat of silicate around broken limbs as a substitute for plaster, starch, or dextrine.
The only use where soluble glass has met with success is in the preservation of porous stones, building materials, paintings in distemper, and painting on glass. Before we describe these applications, we will give the processes used in making soluble glass.
The following ingredients are heated in a reverberatory furnace until fusion becomes quieted: 1,260 pounds white sand, 660 pounds potash of 78°. This will produce 1,690 pounds of transparent, homogeneous glass, with a slight tinge of amber. This glass is but little soluble in hot water. To dissolve it, the broken fragments are introduced into a iron digester charged with a sufficient quantity of water, at a high pressure, to make a solution marking 33° to 35° Baume. Distilled or rain water should be used, as the calcareous salts contained in ordinary water would produce insoluble salts of lime, which would render the solution turbid and opalescent; this solution contains silica and potash combined together in the proportion of 70 to 30.
Silicate of soda is made with 180 parts of sand, 100 parts carbonate of soda (0.91), and is to be melted in the same manner as indicated previously.
Soluble glass may also be prepared by the following method: A mixture of sand with a solution of caustic potash or soda is introduced into an iron boiler, under 5 or 6 atmospheres of pressure, and heated for a few hours. The iron boiler contains an agitator, which is occasionally operated during the melting. The liquid is allowed to cool until it reaches 212°, and is drawn out after it has been allowed to clear by settling; it is then concentrated until it reaches a density of 1.25, or it may be evaporated to dryness in an iron kettle. The metal is not affected by alkaline liquors.
The glass is soluble in boiling water; cold water dissolves but little of it. The solution is decomposed by all acids, even by carbonic acid. Soluble glass is apparently coagulated by the addition of an alkaline salt; mixed with powdered matters upon which alkalies have no effect, it becomes sticky and agglutinative, a sort of mineral glue.
To apply soluble glass for the preservation of buildings and monuments of porous materials, take a solution of silicate of potash of 35° Baume, dilute it with twice its weight of water, paint with a brush, or inject with a pump; give several coats. Experience has shown that three coats applied on three successive days are sufficient to preserve the materials indefinitely, at a cost of about 15 cents per square yard. When applied upon old materials, it is necessary to wash them thoroughly with water. The degree of concentration of the solutions to be used varies with the materials. For hard stones, such as sand and free stones, rock, etc., the solution should mark 7° to 9° Baume; for soft stones with coarse grit, 5° to 7°; for calcareous stones of soft texture, 6° to 7°. The last coating should always be applied with a more dilute solution of 3° to 4° only.
Authorities are divided upon the successful results of the preservation of stone by silicates. Some claim in the affirmative that the protection is permanent, while others assert that with time and the humidity of the atmosphere the beneficial effects gradually disappear. It might be worth while to experiment upon some of the porous sandstones, which, under the extreme influence of our climate, rapidly deteriorate; such, for instance, as the Connecticut sandstone, so popular at one time as a building material, but which is now generally discarded, owing to its tendency to crumble to pieces when exposed to the weather even for a few years.
Soluble glass has also been used in Germany to a great extent for mural painting, known as stereochromy. The process consists in first laying a ground with a lime water; when this is thoroughly dry, it is soaked with a solution of silicate of soda. When this has completely solidified, the upper coating is applied to the thickness of about one-sixteenth of an inch, and should be put on very evenly. It is then rubbed with fine sandstone to roughen the surface. When thoroughly dry, the colors are applied with water; the wall is also frequently sprinkled with water. The colors are now set by using a mixture of silicate of potash completely saturated with silica, with a basic silicate of soda (a flint liquor with soda base, obtained by melting 2 parts sand with 3 parts of carbonate of soda). As the colors applied do not stand the action of the brush, the soluble glass is projected against the wall by means of a spray. After a few days the walls should be washed with alcohol to remove the dust and alkali liberated.
The colors used for this style of painting are zinc white, green oxide of chrome, cobalt green, chromate of lead, colcothar, ochers, and ultramarine.
Soluble glass has also been used in the manufacture of soaps made with palm and cocoanut oil; this body renders them more alkaline and harder.
Interesting experiments have been made with soluble glass for coloring corals and shells. By plunging silicated shells into hot solutions of salts of chrome, nickel, cobalt, or copper, beautiful dyes in yellow, green, and blue are produced. Here seems to be a field for further application of this discovery.
Soluble glass has also been applied to painting on glass in imitation of glass staining. By using sulphate of baryta, ultramarine, oxide of chrome, etc., mixed with silicate of potash, fast colors are obtained similar to the semi-transparent colors of painted windows. By this means a variety of cheap painted glass may be made. Should these colors be fired in a furnace, enameled surfaces would be produced. As a substitute for albumen for fixing colors in calico printing, soluble glass has been used with a certain degree of success; also as a sizing for thread previous to weaving textile fabrics. Thus it would seem that this substance has been used for many purposes, but since its application does not seem to have been extended to any great degree, the defects here pointed out in its use as a fire-proofing material perhaps also exist, to a certain degree, in its other applications. In painting upon glass, for instance, it is asserted that the brilliancy and finish of ordinary vitrified colors cannot be obtained.—Glassware Reporter.
KORTING'S JET VENTILATOR.
KORTING'S JET VENTILATOR.
Messrs. Korting bros., of London, induced by the interest that has been directed to the separate ventilation of mines in which fire-damp is apt to form, have adopted for this purpose their jet ventilator. The instrument, which we illustrate in Fig. 1, has been, we understand, considerable simplified, and adapted for the special object in view. The ventilators are worked by compressed air, and are so arranged that, without stopping their action, the quantity of air they deliver can be rapidly increased or diminished. This ample power of control has been arranged for by the special wish of the mining authorities, who wish to regulate the ventilation according to the development of fire-damp or the greater or less number of men at work. Under circumstances of this kind the quantity of air taken into the mine can be changed instantly. The illustrations, Figs. 2, 3, and 4, show different modes of fixing the jet ventilator. In Fig. 2, it is arranged to blow the air forward; in Fig. 3, it is shown exhausting the air; and in Fig. 4, it is represented as exhausting and blowing simultaneously, the efficiency in each case being always the same. Any bends in the conduit affect the result to a very slight degree, and the ventilator may be used with advantage when the conduit is divided as in Fig. 4, in order to get the fresh air to different points. The ventilators are easily fixed to the air conduits. If they are to be connected to zinc air pipes, the pipe is simply slipped over the point, L. in Fig. 1, and if to wooden conduits the apparatus is simply put into them, and if no other support is required. Furthermore, they are so light that it suffices for one man to fix them or change their position.
Messrs. Korting Bros. advance the following claims for this mode of ventilating mines: Certainty of action, no moving parts whatever, and, consequently, no need of lubrication; no need of attention.--Mech. World.
From trials conducted by Ledebur, it appears that cast iron is rendered suitable for foundry purposes—i.e., to fill the moulds well and to yield sharp and definite forms free of flaws, to be cut with a chisel, and turned on a lathe—through a certain percentage of graphite, whose presence depends on that of carbon and silicium. Cast iron free of silicium yields on cooling the entire amount of carbon in the amorphous state, while presence of the former metal gives rise to the formation of graphite, and, consequently, causes a partial separation of carbon. Iron suffers on casting loss of graphite, assumes a finely-grained texture, becomes hard and brittle, and is changed from gray to white. In view of the fact that samples of cast iron with equal percentage of silicium and carbon yield on casting a different product, it has become necessary to institute experiments as to the cause of this behavior. Samples of cast iron were therefore repeatedly melted, and thin sections of each melt examined; these sections exhibited a gray color, though less apparent than in the unmelted sample, and possessed sufficient softness to admit boring and filing. During these processes of fusing, the amount of silicium, carbon, and manganese had been gradually decreased, and amounted to 12.7, 17.6, and 24.4 per centum for silicium in the three samples examined. It also was observed that the more manganese the iron contains the less readily the percentage of silicium is diminished; and since manganese is more subject to oxidation than silicium, it is capable to reduce silicic acid of the slag or lining to metal, and thus to augment the amount of silicium in cast iron. The percentage of carbon also suffers diminution by oxidation, which latter process is impeded by presence of manganese, a fact of some importance in melting of cast iron in the cupola furnace. An excess of manganese renders cast iron hard and brittle, and imparts to it the properties to absorb gases, while an amount of 1.5 per centum, as found in Scotch iron, undoubtedly has the effect to produce those properties for which this iron is held in high repute. The amount of copper is not visibly altered by fusion, but that of phosphorus and sulphur slowly increased.
Experiments in regard to the relation between chemical composition and strength of the material have established that a large amount of silicium, graphite, manganese, and combined carbon reduce the elasticity, strength, and tenacity of cast iron, and that a limited percentage of silicium counteracts the injurious influence produced by an excess of combined carbon. On remelting of cast iron, increase in tensile strength was observed, which attained its maximum in iron with a small percentage of silicium after the third, and in such with a large amount after the fourth melting. The increase in tensile strength was accompanied by a loss of silicium, graphite, and manganese coupled with a simultaneous augmentation of combined carbon. A fifth melting of the cast iron renders it hard, brittle, and white, through oxidation of silicium and subsequent lowering of the amount of carbon. On lessening the percentage of combined carbon with formation of graphite the injurious influence of the accessorial constituents of cast iron is diminished, especially that produced by the presence of phosphorus.—Eisenhuettentechnik.
One of the most important things to be considered in boiler construction is the position and arrangement of the feed apparatus, but it is, unfortunately, one of the elements that is most often overlooked, or, if considered at all, only in a very superficial manner. Many seem to think that it is only necessary to have a hole somewhere in the boiler—no matter what part—through which water may be pumped, and we have all that is desired. This is a very grave error. Many boilers have been ruined, and (we make the assertion with the confidence born of long experience) a large number of destructive explosions have been directly caused by introducing the feed water into boilers at the wrong point.
On the location and construction of the feed depends to some extent the economical working of a boiler, and, to a great extent, especially with certain types of boilers, its safety, durability, and freedom from a variety of defects, such as leaky seams, fractured plates, and others of a similar kind. And it is unfortunately true that the type of boiler which from its nature is most severely affected by mal-construction, such as we are now speaking of, is the very one which is the oftenest subject to it. We are speaking now more particularly of the plain cylinder boiler, of which there are many in use throughout the country.
Plain cylinder boilers are, as a rule, provided with mud drums located near the back end. As a rule, also, these boilers are set in pairs over a single furnace, and the mud drum extends across beneath, and is connected to both, and one end projects through the setting wall at the side. Our illustrations show a typical arrangement of this kind. Fig. 1 shows a transverse section of the boilers and setting, while Fig. 2 shows a longitudinal section of the same. It is a favorite method to connect the feed pipe, F, to the end of the mud drum which projects through the wall, and here the feed water is introduced, whether hot or cold; and there is really not so much difference after all between the two, for no matterhoweffective a heater may be, the temperature to which it can raise water passing through is quite low compared with the temperature of the water in the boiler due to a steam pressure of say eighty pounds per square inch. The difference in the effect produced by feeding hot or cold water at the wrong place is one of degree, not of kind.
When a boiler is under steam of say eighty pounds per square inch, the body of water in it will have a temperature of about 324 degrees Fahr., and the shell plates will necessarily be somewhat hotter, especially on the bottom (justhowmuch hotter will depend entirely upon the quantity of scale or sediment present). Now introduce a large volume of cold water through an opening in the bottom, and what becomes of it? Does it rise at once, and become mixed with the large body of water in the boiler? By no means. Itcannotrise until it has become heated, for there is a great difference between the specific gravity of water at 60°, or even 212° Fahr., and water at 324°. Consequently, it "hugs" the bottom of the boiler, and flows toward thefrontend, or hottest portion of the shell. Now let us examine the effect which it produces.
We know that wrought iron expands or contracts about 1 part in 150,000 for each degree that its temperature is raised or lowered. This is equivalent to a stress ofone tonper square inch of section for every 15 degrees. That is, suppose we fix a piece of iron, a strip of boilerplate, for instance, ¼ of an inch thick and 4 inches wide, at a temperature of 92 degrees Fahr., between a pair of immovable clamps. Then, if we reduce the temperature of the bar under experiment to that of melting ice, we put a stress of four tons upon it, or one ton for each inch of its width.
FIG. 1
FIG. 1
Now this is precisely what happens when cold water is fed into the bottom of a boiler. We have the plates of the shell at a temperature of not less, probably, than 350° Fahr. A large quantity of cold water, often at a temperature as low as 50° Fahr., is introduced through an opening in the bottom, and flows along over these heated plates. If it could produce itsfulleffect at once, the contraction caused thereby would bring a stress of 300 ÷ 15 = 20 tons per square inch upon the bottom plates of the shell. But fortunately it cannot exert its full effect at once, but itcanact to such an extent that we have known it to rupture the plates of a new boiler through the seams on the bottomno less than three times in less than six weeksafter the boilers were started up.
The effect in such cases will always be the most marked, especially if the plant is furnished with a heater, when the engine is not running, for then, as no steam is being drawn from the boilers, there is comparatively little circulation going on in the water in the boiler, and the water pumped in, colder than usual from the fact that the heater is not in operation, spreads out in a thin layer on the lowest point of the shell, andstays there, and keeps the temperature of the shell down, owing to the fires being banked or the draught shut, while the larger body of water above, at a temperature of from 300 to 325 degrees, keeps the upper portion of the shell atitshigher temperature. It will readily be seen that the strain brought upon the seams along the bottom is something enormous, and we can understand why it is that many boilers of this class rupture their girth seams while being filled up for the night after the engine has been shut down. To most persons who have but a slight knowledge of the matter, we fancy it would be a surprise to see the persistence with which cold water will "hug" the bottom of a boiler under such circumstances. We have seen boilers when the fire has been drawn, and cold water pumped in to cool them off, so cold on the bottom that they felt cold to the touch, and must consequently have had a temperature considerably below 100° Fahr., while the water on top, above the tubes, was sufficiently hot to scald; and they will remain in such a condition for hours.
FIG. 2.
FIG. 2.
The only thing to be done, where feed connections are made in the manner described, is to change them, and by changing them at once much trouble, or even a disastrous explosion, may be avoided. Put the feedpipe in through the front head, at the point markedpin Fig. 1, drill and tap a hole the proper size for the feed pipe, cut a long thread on the end of the pipe, and screw the pipe through the head, letting it project through on the inside far enough to put on a coupling, then screw into the coupling a piece of pipe not less than eight or ten feet long, letting it run horizontally toward the back end of the boiler, the whole arrangement being only from 3 to 4 inches below the water line of the boiler, and hot or cold water may be fed indifferently, without fear of danger from ruptured plates or leaky seams. In short, put in a "top feed," and avoid further trouble.—The Locomotive.
Blue Prints.—The best formula for this process, of many that I have tried, is that furnished by Prof. C.H. Kain, of Camden, N.J., in which the quantity of ammonio-citrate of iron is exactly double that of the red prussiate of potash, and the solutions strong. This gives strong prints of a bright dark blue, and prints very quickly in clear sunlight.
Dissolve six grains of red prussiate of potash in one drm. of distilled water; in another drm. of distilled water dissolve twelve grains of ammonio-citrate of iron. Mix the two solutions in a cup or saucer, and at once brush over the surface of clean strong paper. Cover the surface thoroughly, but apply no more than the paper will take up at once; it should become limp and moist, but not wet. The above quantity of solution, two drms., will suffice to sensitize ten square feet of paper, or three sheets of the "regular" size of plain paper, 18×22. As fast as the sheets are washed over with the solution, hang them up to dry by one corner. The surplus fluid will collect in a drop at the lower corner, and can be blotted off.
Black Prints.—Wash the paper with a saturated solution of bichromate of potash, made quite acid with acetic acid. After printing, wash the prints in running water for twenty to thirty minutes, then float them face down on a weak solution (five to ten per cent.) of protosulphate of iron for five minutes, and wash as before. If preferred, the iron solution may be washed over the prints, or they may be immersed in it, but floating seems preferable. After the second washing, wash the prints over with a strong solution of pyrogallic acid, when the print will develop black, and the ground, if the washings were sufficient, will remain white. A final washing completes the process.
If a solution of yellow prussiate of potash be used in place of the pyro solution, a blue print is obtained. Bichromate prints can be made on albumenized paper by floating it on the solution, and by using a saturated solution of protosulphate of iron and a saturated solution of gallic acid. Very fine prints can be so produced nearly equal to silver prints, and at somewhat less cost, but with a little or no saving of time or labor.
Chief Proof Solution.—If old oxalate developer be exposed in a shallow vessel in a warm place, a deposit of light green crystals will be formed, composed of an impure oxalate of iron. If these crystals be dissolved in water, and paper washed with a strong solution, when dry it may be exposed in the printing-frame, giving full time. The image is very faint, but on washing in or floating on a moderately strong solution of red prussiate of potash for a minute or less, a blue positive is produced, which is washed in water as usual to fix it. The unused developer produces the best crystals for the purpose, and the pure ammonio-oxalate is vastly better than either.
All of the above operations, except the printing, should be carried on in the dark room, or by lamp or gas light only. The solutions and the paper should also be kept in the dark, and prepared as short a time as possible before use.
In photographing with the microscope, it frequently occurs that the operator, instead of devoting a negative to each of two or more similar objects for comparison, printing both upon the same print, prefers to have the whole series upon one negative, and taking from this a single print. There is often room for two or more images upon the same plate. If the center of the plate is devoted to one, obviously no more can be accommodated on it, but by placing one at each end, or one on each quarter of the plate, both economy of plates and convenience of printing are secured. The end may be readily accomplished by matting the plate as a negative is matted in printing.
Suppose it be desired to photograph four different species of acari on one plate, the image of each when magnified to the desired extent only covering about one-fourth the exposed area of the plate. First, a mat is prepared of card-board or thick non-actinic paper, which is adjusted to exactly fill the opening of the plate holder, lying in front of and close against the plate when exposed, and having one-quarter very exactly cut out. A convenient way to fit this mat is to leave projecting lugs on each side at exactly the same distance from the ends, and cut notches in the plate-holder into which the lugs may closely fit. If this work is carefully done, the mat may be reversed both sidewise and endwise, and the lugs will fit the notches; if so, it is ready for use. The object being focused upon the focusing glass or card, the camera is raised one-half the vertical dimension of the plate and displaced to one side half the horizontal dimension, when the image will be found to occupy one-quarter of the plate. The mat being placed in the plate holder, a focusing glass is inserted in the position the plate will occupy, and final adjustment and focusing made. The plate is then marked on one corner on the film side with a lead pencil, placed in the holder without disturbing the mat, and the exposure made. When the plate is replaced for a second exposure, either the mat is reversed or the plate turned end for end; but it is best to always place the plate in the holder in the same position and change the mat to expose successive quarters, but this requires the camera to be moved for each exposure.
With similar objects, and some judgment in making two exposures, negatives may be made with almost exactly the same density in each quarter, and by cutting out slightly less than one-quarter of the mat the four images will be separated by black lines in the print; by cutting out a trifle more than the exact quarter, they will be separated by white lines instead of black.
When the season for out-door work closes, amateurs begin to look about for means of employment during the dark evenings. There is, fortunately, no necessity for being idle, or to relinquish photographic pursuits entirely, even though the weather and light combine to render out-door work almost impracticable; and most amateurs will be found to have some hobby or favorite amusement which enables them to keep in practice during those months when many channels of employment are closed to them; and probably one of the most popular as well as the most pleasing occupations is the production of transparencies for the lantern.
It is not my desire to enter into any discussion as to this or that being the best means of producing these delightful pictures, but merely to describe a way by which a pleasant evening can be spent at photography, and slides produced of much excellence by artificial light.
To-night I propose, by the aid of artificial light, to make a few slides with Beechy's dry plates. On the whole, I have been most successful with them, and have obtained results more satisfactory than by any of the other processes I have tried. I do not say that results quite as good cannot be obtained by any other method, for I know manipulative skill plays a most important part in this class of work.
When I first took up the making of transparencies with wet collodion, I was told that my sorrows would not be far to seek, and so I soon found out. Need I tell you of all my failures, such as films floating off the glass, oyster-shell markings, pin-holes, films splitting when dry, etc., etc., not to speak of going to business with fingers in fearful state with nitrate of silver and iron developer? Now all these miseries have gone, and I can, with dry collodion plates, work with the greatest of comfort, and obtain results quite equal to the best products of any method.
It may be interesting to some to know the formula by which the emulsion is made, and as the making of it is by no means a difficult operation, I may be pardoned if, before going fully into the more practical part of my paper, I describe the formula, and also the manner in which I coat and dry the plates. The formula is as follows, for which the world is indebted to Canon Beechy:
In 8 ounces of absolute alcohol dissolve 5 drachms of anhydrous bromide of cadmium. The solution will be milky. Let it stand at least twenty-four hours, or until perfectly clear; it will deposit a white powder. Decant carefully into an 8-ounce bottle, and add to it a drachm of strong hydrochloric acid. Label this "bromide solution;" and it is well to add on the label the constituents, which will be found to be nearly:
Alcohol.             1 ounce.Bromide of cadmium. 32 grains.Hydrochloric acid.   8 drops.
This solution will keep for ever, and will be sufficient to last two or three years, and with this at hand you will be able in two days to prepare a batch of plates at any time. In doing so, you should proceed thus: Make up your mind how many plates you mean to make, and take of the above accordingly. For two dozen ½-plates or four dozen 3¼ by 3¼, dissolve by heat over, but not too near, a spirit lamp, and by yellow light, 40 grains of nitrate of silver in 1 ounce of alcohol 0.820. While this is dissolving in a little Florence flask on a retort stand at a safe distance from the lamp—which it will do in about 5 minutes—take of the bromized solution ½ an ounce, of absolute ether 1 ounce, of gun-cotton grains; put these in a clean bottle, shake once or twice, and the gun-cotton, if good, will entirely dissolve. As soon as the silver is all dissolved, and while quite hot, pour out the above bromized collodion into a clean 4-ounce measure, having ready in it a clean slip of glass. Pour into it the hot solution of silver in a continuous stream, stirring rapidly all the while with a glass rod. The result will be a perfectly smooth emulsion without lumps or deposit, containing, with sufficient exactitude for all practical purposes, 8 grains of bromide, 16 grains of nitrate of silver, and 2 drops of hydrochloric acid per ounce. Put this in your stock solution bottle, and keep it in a dark place for twenty-four hours. When first put in, it will be milky; when taken out, it will be creamy; and it will be well to shake it once or twice in the twenty-four hours.
At the end of this time you can make your two dozen plates in about an hour. Proceed as follows: Have two porcelain dishes large enough to hold four or six of your plates; into one put sufficient clean water to nearly fill it, into the other put 30 ounces of clear, flat,not acid,bitter beer, in which you have dissolved 30 grains of pyrogallic acid. Pour this through a filter into the dish, and avoid bubbles. If allowed to stand an hour, any beer will be flat enough; if the beer be at all brisk, it will be difficult to avoid small bubbles on the plate. At all events, let your preservative stand while you filter your emulsion. This must be done through perfectly clean cotton-wool into a perfectly clean collodion bottle; give the emulsion a good shaking, and when all bubbles have subsided, pour it into the funnel, and it will go through in five minutes. The filtered emulsion will be found to be a soft, smooth, creamy fluid, flowing easily and equally over the plates. Coat with it six plates in succession, and place each, as you coat it, into the water. By the time the sixth is in, the first will be ready to come out. Take it out, see that all greasiness is gone, and place it in the preservative, going on till all the plates are so treated.
A very handy way of drying is to have a flat tin box of the usual hot plate description, which fill with hot water, then screw on the cap; on this flat tin box place the plates to dry, which they will do rapidly; when dry, store away in your plate box, and you will have a supply of really excellent dry collodion plates.
Just a word as to the preparation of the glasses before coating. It is very generally considered that it is better the glasses receive either a substratum of albumen or very weak gelatine. I use the latter on account of the great ease of its preparation. After your glasses are well cleaned, place them in, and rub them with a weak solution of hydrochloric acid of the strength of 2 ounces acid to 18 ounces water.
Prepare a solution of gelatine 1 grain to the ounce of water, rinse the plate after removal from the acid mixtures, and coat twice with the above gelatine substratum; the first coating is to remove the surplus water, and should be rejected. Rear the plates up to drain, and dry in a plate rack or against a wall, and be careful to prevent any dust adhering to the surface while wet.
Having now described the plates I intend to use, let us next consider what a transparency is, that we may understand the nature of the work we are undertaking. You are all aware that if we take a negative, and in contact with it place a sheet of sensitized paper, we obtain a positive picture. Substitute for the paper a sensitive glass plate, and we obtain also a positive picture, but, unlike the paper print, the collodion or other plate will require to be developed to bring the image into view. Now this is what is termed making a transparency by contact. It often happens, however, that a lantern slide 3¼ by 3¼ has to embrace the whole of a picture contained in a much larger negative, so that recourse must be had to the camera, and the picture reduced with the aid of a short focus lens to within the lantern size; this is what is called making a transparency by reduction in the camera. Both cases are the same, however, so far as the process being simply one of printing.
Those who have never made a transparency will have doubtless printed silver prints from their negatives, and when printing, how often do you find that to secure the best results you require to have recourse to some little dodge.
Now, let us bear this in mind when using such a negative for the printing of a transparency, for, as I have said before, it is only a process of printing, after all. Although we cannot, when using a sensitive plate, employ the same means of dodging as in the case of a silver print, still we are not left without a means of obtaining the same results in a different way, and this just brings me to what I have already hinted at previously, that a deal more depends on the manipulative skill of the operator than in the adoption of any particular make plate or formula; and not only does this manipulative skill show itself in the exposure, development, etc., but likewise comes into play in a marked manner even in the preparation of the negative for transparency printing.
Let me deal with the latter point first. You will at once understand that a negative whose size bears a proportion similar to 3¼ by 3¼ will lend itself more easily to reduction; thus whole plate or half plate negatives are easy of manipulation in this respect, and require but little doing up. But as other sizes have at times to be copied into a disk¼ by 3¼, recourse must be had to a sort of squaring of the negative. Now, here I have a negative 7¼ by 4½, which is perhaps the worst of all sizes to compress into the lantern shape, so I have, as it were, to square this negative, and this I do by simply adding to sky. I take a piece of card-board and gum it on to the glass side of the negative, and this addition gives me a size that lends itself easily to reduction to the lantern disk, and in no way detracts from the picture.
Having said so much about making up the size, let me add a few words as to other preparations that are sometimes necessary. In a good lantern transparency, it is, of all things, indispensable that the high lights be represented by pure glass, absolutely clean in the sense of its being free from any fog or deposit, to even the slightest degree; it is also necessary that it be free from everything of heaviness of smudginess in the details. To obtain these results, I generally have recourse to the strengthening of the high lights of my negatives, and this I do with a camel's hair brush and India ink, working on the glass side.
I nearly always block out my skies, and so strengthen the other parts of my negatives, that I can rely on a full exposure without fear of heaviness or smudginess. This blocking out is easily done.
Haying said so much about the preparation of the negative, let me now describe the apparatus I use. I have here an ordinary flat board, and here my usual camera; it is the one I use both for outside and inside work. It is a whole-plate one, very strongly made, and has a draw of twenty-three inches when fully extended; but this is not an unusual feature, as nearly all modern cameras have their draw made as long as this one. The lens I use is a Ross rapid symmetrical on five inches focus, and here I have a broken-down printing frame with the springs taken off, and here a sheet of ground glass. This is all that is required. I mention this because I find it generally believed that a special camera is required for this work, such as to exclude all light between the negative and the lens; in my practice I have found this unnecessary. There is nothing to hinder the use of ordinary cameras, provided the draw is long enough, and the lens a short focus one.
Now let me describe how to go to work. I take the negative and place it in the printing-frame, holding it in its place with a couple of tacks, film-side next the lens, just as in printing; then stand the printing frame on its edge on the flat board, and place the ground glass in front of it—when I say in front of it, I mean not between the negative and lens, but between the light and the negative. The ground glass can conveniently be placed in another printing frame, and both placed up against each other. I then bring my camera into play, and so adjust the draw and distance from the negative, till I get the picture within the disk on my ground glass. I find the best way is to gum a transparency mask on the inside of the ground glass; this permits of the picture being more easily brought within the required register. This done, focus sharply, cap the lens, and then proceed to make the exposure.
Now, what shall I say regarding exposure? Just let us bear in mind again that it is merely a printing process we are following up, as you will all know that in printing no two negatives are alike in the time they require. So in this case no two negatives are the same in their required exposure. Still, with the plates I am going to use, so wide is their range for exposure that but few failures will be made on this score, provided we are on the safe side, and expose fully.
Although these plates are not nearly so fast as gelatine plates, it may surprise you to be told that working with a negative which to daylight at this dull time of the year required an exposure of sixteen minutes, will, I hope, give me good results in about a tenth of this time; and this I obtain by burning magnesium ribbon.
At first the error I fell into when using magnesium ribbon was too much concentration of light. I now never allow the ribbon, when burning, to remain in one position, but keep it moving from side to side, and up and down, in front of the ground glass while making my exposure; and if there be any dense place in the negative which, as in printing, would have required printing specially up, I allow the light to act more strongly on that part; the result, as a rule, being an evenly and well exposed plate.
I must not forget to explain to you the manner in which I coil up the ribbon before I set it alight. I take an ordinary lead pencil, and wind the ribbon round and round, thus making a sort of spiral spring; this done, I gently pull the coils asunder. I then grasp the end of the ribbon with a pair of pincers, light the other end, and make my exposure.
Having said so much regarding exposure, I shall now proceed to deal with development. You will see me use a canary light, with which I can easily see to read a newspaper. It may cause some of you surprise to see me use so much light. It is the same lamp that I use for developing all my rapid bromide plates; it is the best lamp I ever used. The canary medium is inserted between the two sheets of glass 7¼ by 4½, the two glasses are then fastened on to the tin with gummed paper, a few holes are bored in the back for air, a funnel let in, and the thing is complete.
The formula for development is as follows:
Pyro.               96 grains.Methylated spirits.  1 ounce.Bromide of potash.  12 grams.Water.               1 ounce.Carbonate ammonia.  60 grains.Water.               1 ounce.
Mix 30 drops pyro with from 30 to 60 drops bromide, then add 2 drachms ammonia solution and 2 drachms of water.
I find a thin negative requires a slow development, and so gain contrast; while hard negatives are best over-exposed and quickly developed.
The plate is first placed in water or rinsed under a gentle stream from the tap till all greasiness has disappeared, it is then placed in a flat dish, and the developer applied. Should it be found that some parts of the picture are denser printed than should be by the ribbon acting more strongly on some particular part—this is often the case if the negative has been thinner in some parts than others, through uneven coating of the plate—the picture need not be discarded as a failure, for I will explain to you later on how to overcome this difficulty.
Fix the plate in hypo—the fixing takes place very quickly—then examine the picture for the faults above described; if they are found, wash the plate under the tap gently, and bring into operation a camel's hair brush and a weak solution of cyanide of potassium. Apply the brush to the over-printed parts, taking care not to work on the places that are not too dense. Do not be afraid to use plenty of washing while this is being done; let it be, as it were, a touch of the brush and then a dash of water, and you will soon reduce the over-printed parts. It only requires a little care in applying the brush.
After this wash well, and should it be deemed necessary to tone to a black tone, use a weak solution of bichloride of platinum and chloride of gold, or a very weak solution of iridium, in equal quantities, allowing the picture to lie in the solution till the color has changed right through to the back of the glass. Should a warm pinkish tone be desired, I tone with weak solutions of ferri cyanide of potassium, nitrate of uranium, and chloride of gold in about equal quantities.
After toning, wash well and dry; they dry quickly. Varnish with Soehnee crystal varnish, then mount with covering glasses, and mark. Bind round the edges with paper and very stiff gum, and the picture is complete.
The making of a really good transparency is by no means an easy or pleasant task with a wet collodion plate, but with these dry plates an amateur can, with a little practice, produce comfortably slides quite equal to those procurable from professional makers.
[5]
Abstract of a paper communicated to the Glasgow and West of Scotland Amateur Photographic Association.—From thePhotographic News.