mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Apr 22, 2006 11:10:47 GMT -5
It appears to be some kind of contact printer. It is made of wood and brass and glass. The film spools are, according to a chart that I have, size 124 (3-1/4" wide ) as is the cloth backing under the glass. The length of the fabric backing, however, is only 4" rather than the usual 4-1/4". The spools are under slight pressure exerted by those peculiar springs pressing against their ends. They are held in place with turned brass plugs. There is what seems to be a tension adjustment - a 1/8" strip of wood near the entry point of the sensitive material(s) that can be raised toward the glass by a small brass thumb screw on the back. The back has the usual two hinged panels and flat springs that are found on contact printing frames and that aforementioned small thumb screw. I can only guess that it is a contact printer for a roll of contact paper that is fed beneath the glass in contact with the roll film. Can anyone enlighten me? Mickey
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Apr 22, 2006 11:33:23 GMT -5
Nice piece of photographica, Mickey. I think you're right, in that it's a contact printer, one pair of spools for the negatives and one for a roll of paper. As the back is in two parts, and hinges, I would suspect that it was for POP, or Printing Out Paper, so that half of the paper could be lifted slightly to check on the exposure.
One thing that puzzles me is that there don't appear to be any winding-on knobs. I'll have a look through my old books but don't hold out a lot of hope of finding one like it as I'm sure I would have at least a faint memory of it.
Peter
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mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Apr 22, 2006 13:28:28 GMT -5
Peter,
There does not seem to be anything missing now. One of the brass plugs was absent so I turned a reasonably close match from a brass toilet bolt using my drill press and some files. It seems it would have been possible to turn only one of the rolls at a time which could have abraided the negatives and/or the paper. Its use for P.O.P. seems logical as does the use of ferro prussiate (blue print ) paper. It certainly seems that it would have been a tedious chore to use it. Nerve wracking as well because the spools make a nasty screeching noise when turned and I can't vizualize using a lubricant near any negatives. Perhaps it is a prototype that wasn't good enough to reach the production stage.
Mickey
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