Photographing Electric Sparks
Electric sparks may be photographed with simple equipment, and the process offers a diversion from the common subjects for photography. The materials necessary are a spark coil and current source, a photographic plate, facilities for developing it, and a sheet of tin foil. The illustration shows a typical photograph of an electric spark, and the variety possible is unlimited.
Photoraph of electric spark
The process, which must be performed in a dark room with a ruby light, is as follows: Over the mouth of a small glass bottle, partly filled with talcum powder, tie a piece of cheesecloth, to act as a sieve. Arrange the material on a table, the sheet of tin foil lying flat, and a photographic plate on top of it, coated side upward.
Spread a thin layer of the powder on the plate, through the sieve. Attach a needle to an electric wire and fix the other end of the wire to one of the secondary posts of the spark coil. Attach a second wire to the other post of the spark coil and to the sheet of tin foil. Care must be taken in handling the needle that only the insulated portion, where it is joined to the wire, comes in contact with the fingers, or a shock may result. Place the point of the needle near the middle of the plate and turn on the current, permitting it to produce a spark of not more than one second’s duration. If the exposure is longer than that the result will not be satisfactory. Wipe off the powder and develop the plate. If care has been taken in the process, a photograph similar to the one shown in the illustration will result.
¶Shoulder hooks fixed about a shop, so that handsaws may be placed on them by the handle, will save damage to saws.
¶Shoulder hooks fixed about a shop, so that handsaws may be placed on them by the handle, will save damage to saws.