Page 6 - 2022-06

through a rubber hose into a large stoneware the "white" light. "Look at that. A beautiful
demijohn on the floor. A quick rinse with wa- negative". Fred was right, it was.
ter, tap off, and in goes the hypo fixer. A few
more turns of the drum and the "white" light After washing in running water for half an
clicks on. As the film clears an excited in- hour Fred slackens the film on the drum and
spection takes place. A short length of film is runs it through a damp goat skin chamois.
lifted from the drum and viewed against The negative is then left on the drum to dry.
PRINTING THE NEGATIVE
The blacked out darkroom window now be- In the bottom of the camera is another of the
comes the focus of our attention. A small 'S' shaped light traps mentioned earlier in the
round hole is uncovered in the saga. The negative passes through the
blackout material and I'm slightly dazzled as a trap, then through a slot in the shelf, and falls
bright shaft of light enters the room. Fred into the large wicker basket under the window.
explains that a white reflector outside is set at So that's what the basket's for! No take-up
45 degrees to the window and is reflecting sky needed. It was a common practice in the
light into the hole. Now the Lumiere Cinema- first 30 years of our cinema history to
tographe, minus its lens, is pushed against the run printing rolls, both negative and positive,
hole. It is screwed to a small shelf attached to
the window frame which aligns the hole exact-
ly with the camera's optical axis. A square of
black velvet material on the window protects
the front of the camera and prevents light from
leaking into the room when the camera, now in
printing mode, is pushed against it.
Now Fred attaches a tall double magazine to
the top of the Lumiere. It holds a roll of unex-
posed printing stock and the negative roll we
processed earlier. The negative and the print
stock protrude through the magazine light trap
and into the camera's film channel. Fred
carefully threads the negative down
through the film chan-
nel. It disappears
and finally emerges-
under the
window shelf!

This early drawing of a
Lumiere Cinematographe
in printer mode is inaccu-
rate in some respects but
the negative film path is The Lumiere in printer mode with the double feed
shown correctly. Note the magazine (the sliding door is normally closed). The
negative passing through Positive stock takes up in the internal magazine
the "S" shaped light trap while the Negative exits through the base into a
in the base of the basket underneath. With the back door closed, the
machine. machine could be used as a printer in daylight with-
out fogging the print.
6 REEL DEALS June 2022