American Hand Book of the Daguerreotype [35]
in solution, as in chloride of bromine solution. Those having Humphrey's Journal at hand, can refer to vol. i. p. 142.
To use Bromine Water or other Accelerators in Hot Weather.-- An excellent plan for using bromine water is as follows:
Fill a two-ounce bottle quarter full of it, and then fill the bottle with fine sand, which serves to preserve a low temperature; then place the bottle in a porous cup, same as used in the battery; fill this also with sand, and close the end with plaster of Paris. Place this in a coating-box, and it will be found to act with great uniformity and be quite permanent.
Bromide of Lime, another accelerator, can be used in the same manner, except it is, only necessary, when a solid sensitive is used, to mix it with the sand without placing it in a bottle. This method is employed with great success by a few, who have regarded it as a secret worth keeping.
A Combination, requiring the Use of only One Coating-box.-- It is often wondered by beginners, why some solution requiring only one coating cannot be employed. This can be done, but the results are not so satisfactory as when two or more are employed. Such an accelerator may be produced by adding alcoholic solution of iodine to a solution of chlorate of potash, until the latter will take up no more of the former, and to each ounce, by measure of this solution, ten drops of a saturated solution of bromide in water are added. The solution of chlorate of potash is made by diluting, one part of a saturated solution of the salt with ten parts of water. The use of the chlorate is simply as a solvent of iodine.
Fats as Accelerators.--The use of fats, oils, or greasy substances, has been one of the most emphatic prohibitions about the Daguerreotype plate. Yet it has been proved that its presence in a small quantity upon the silver surface has the effect of reducing the time of exposure in the camera from two-thirds to three-fourths. An application may be made as follows: Pour sweet oil, or rub beef or mutton fat, on a common buff, which is free from all polishing powders. With this, buff a well-cleaned plate, and it will leave a scum, which should be mostly removed by using another buff, which should be clean. Coat the plate in the usual manner, and the result will be a great reduction in the time of exposure in the camera. The impression produced upon a plate so prepared presents, when coming from the vapor of mercury, a grey, scummy appearance, which, on the application of heat in gilding, does not improve; hence its use is not generally adopted.
We have instituted some investigations upon this subject, and in the present volume, we shall not refer to it further. Those wishing to learn more fully the effect of light upon organic substances will find Robert Hunt's "Researches on Light" an invaluable work.
LIGHT AND OPTICS.
CHAPTER IV.
Light--Optics--Solar Spectrum--Decomposition of Light--Light, Heat, and Actinism--Blue Paper and Color for the Walls of the Operating Room-- Proportions of Light, Heat, and Actinism composing a Sunbeam-- Refraction--Reflection--Lenses--Copying Spherical Aberration-- Chromatic Aberration.
It is advisable that persons engaging in the Daguerreotype art should have at least a little knowledge of the general principles of light and optics. It is not the author's design here to give a full treatise on these subjects, but he only briefly refers to the matter, giving a few facts.
It has been well observed by an able writer, that it is impossible to trace the path of a sunbeam through our atmosphere without feeling a desire to know its nature, by what power it traverses the immensity of space, and the various modifications it undergoes at the surfaces and interior of terrestrial substances.
Light is white and colorless, as long as it does not come in contact with matter. When in apposition with any body, it suffers variable degrees of decomposition, resulting in color, as by reflection, dispersion, refraction, and unequal absorption.
To Sir I. Newton the world is indebted for proving
To use Bromine Water or other Accelerators in Hot Weather.-- An excellent plan for using bromine water is as follows:
Fill a two-ounce bottle quarter full of it, and then fill the bottle with fine sand, which serves to preserve a low temperature; then place the bottle in a porous cup, same as used in the battery; fill this also with sand, and close the end with plaster of Paris. Place this in a coating-box, and it will be found to act with great uniformity and be quite permanent.
Bromide of Lime, another accelerator, can be used in the same manner, except it is, only necessary, when a solid sensitive is used, to mix it with the sand without placing it in a bottle. This method is employed with great success by a few, who have regarded it as a secret worth keeping.
A Combination, requiring the Use of only One Coating-box.-- It is often wondered by beginners, why some solution requiring only one coating cannot be employed. This can be done, but the results are not so satisfactory as when two or more are employed. Such an accelerator may be produced by adding alcoholic solution of iodine to a solution of chlorate of potash, until the latter will take up no more of the former, and to each ounce, by measure of this solution, ten drops of a saturated solution of bromide in water are added. The solution of chlorate of potash is made by diluting, one part of a saturated solution of the salt with ten parts of water. The use of the chlorate is simply as a solvent of iodine.
Fats as Accelerators.--The use of fats, oils, or greasy substances, has been one of the most emphatic prohibitions about the Daguerreotype plate. Yet it has been proved that its presence in a small quantity upon the silver surface has the effect of reducing the time of exposure in the camera from two-thirds to three-fourths. An application may be made as follows: Pour sweet oil, or rub beef or mutton fat, on a common buff, which is free from all polishing powders. With this, buff a well-cleaned plate, and it will leave a scum, which should be mostly removed by using another buff, which should be clean. Coat the plate in the usual manner, and the result will be a great reduction in the time of exposure in the camera. The impression produced upon a plate so prepared presents, when coming from the vapor of mercury, a grey, scummy appearance, which, on the application of heat in gilding, does not improve; hence its use is not generally adopted.
We have instituted some investigations upon this subject, and in the present volume, we shall not refer to it further. Those wishing to learn more fully the effect of light upon organic substances will find Robert Hunt's "Researches on Light" an invaluable work.
LIGHT AND OPTICS.
CHAPTER IV.
Light--Optics--Solar Spectrum--Decomposition of Light--Light, Heat, and Actinism--Blue Paper and Color for the Walls of the Operating Room-- Proportions of Light, Heat, and Actinism composing a Sunbeam-- Refraction--Reflection--Lenses--Copying Spherical Aberration-- Chromatic Aberration.
It is advisable that persons engaging in the Daguerreotype art should have at least a little knowledge of the general principles of light and optics. It is not the author's design here to give a full treatise on these subjects, but he only briefly refers to the matter, giving a few facts.
It has been well observed by an able writer, that it is impossible to trace the path of a sunbeam through our atmosphere without feeling a desire to know its nature, by what power it traverses the immensity of space, and the various modifications it undergoes at the surfaces and interior of terrestrial substances.
Light is white and colorless, as long as it does not come in contact with matter. When in apposition with any body, it suffers variable degrees of decomposition, resulting in color, as by reflection, dispersion, refraction, and unequal absorption.
To Sir I. Newton the world is indebted for proving