US1608939A - Print-developing tray - Google Patents

Description

0. N. HOGUE PRINT DEVELOPING TRAY Nov. 30 1926.

Filed March 23. 1925 Patented Nov. 30, 1926.

UNITED STATES ODIE NOLLIS HOGUE, OF LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS.

PRINT-DEVELOPING TRAY.

Application filed March 23, 1925. Serial No. 17,754.

This invention relates to trays such as used by photographers in developing prints.

In developing photographic prints, it is usually necessary that from eighteen to twenty sheets of paper be placed in the tray holding the developing solution, and these papers are handled at one time and remain in the developer from one to four minutes and while therein must be kept separated. This is commonly done by more or less continuously pulling out the bottom print from beneath the pile of wet sheets and placing this print on top. The constant rubbing of the nails of the fingers against the bottom of the tray tends towear out the finger nails or require the finger nails to be covered, and in either case the result is the same, a print gets on the flat bottom of the tray and cannot be picked up in time to save it from over-development and loss.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a tray which is grooved in such a manner as to permit the fingers to be slipped under the lower print with speed and certainty.

A further object is to provide a tray in which the rim of the tray is so turned or extended outward and then curved inward adjacent the top that as the tray is tilted back and forth to cause the solution to sweep over the prints there will be no tendency of the solution to slop over the tray.

A still further object is to provide means whereby the tray may be readily emptied of its contents without losing any of the solution.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, wherein Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of a print developing tray constructed in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is a top plan view of the tray shown in Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Referring to this drawing, it will be seen that my improved tray has a bottom 10 and the side walls 11 and that in one of the side walls there is formed an opening 12 having an outwardly extending, relatively short but relatively large spout 13 which is intended to be closed by a rubber stopper 1% removable from the inside of the tray.

The sides of the tray extend upward and outward, as at 15, nearly to the rim of the tray and then extend upward and inward in a curve, as'at16, the upper edge or rim of each side wall being approximately in line with the line of junction between the bottom of the tray and the corresponding side wall. The bottom 10 of the tray is formed at intervals with relatively deep and relatively wide grooves 17. These grooves are preferably about three-quarters of an inch deep and seven-eighths of an inch wide, thus being of sufficient depth and sufiicient width to permit the fingers to be inserted within the grooves to the second joint.

This tray is intended for use for developing prints and while it may be used for developing plates and celluloid negatives, it is primarily intended for prints which are particularly flexible after having been soaked in the solution. A plate, being a rigid object, may be pushed against one end of the tray and a small groove which will merely accommodate the finger tips will permit the plate to be lifted up because of the rigidity of the plate, but the small grooves which will not accommodate the fingers are not capable of use in removing a print, as in order to remove a print the fingers must be slipped under the print to the second joint, the thumb placed on top of the print holding it against the finger B and thus the print is pulled through and gradually out of the solution. To attempt to raise the print vertically will tend to break the print and ruin it. The grooves or channels 17 in the bottom of my tray extend preferably the entire length of the tray in any direction and, as before remarked, are of such width and such depth as to permit the ready insertion of the fingers beneath the prints. These grooves 17 are placed just close enough to each other so that the smallest print placed in the tray will lie across one groove.

In developing prints, any desired number are placed in the solution, then they must be kept separated to insure even development, handled so not to break the backing, and watched and removed at the right time, this being highly important, since it is the goal for which the photographer is working. This tray is designed to be particularly advantageous in the above operations. Not only is this tray particularly adapted for developing prints but the tray would have advantages whenever it was used in a dark room, particularly where negatives are being developed. A film mg ative may be scratched and damaged on either side and this is often done on the back by grit in the bottom of the tray and over Which the film passes. These grooves Will allow this grit as Well as chemical sediments to settle out of the Way. It Will be understood that While I have illustrated these grooves as running parallel to one side Wall of the tray that they may run in any direction as, for instance, diagonally in some trays, from end to end in others, or crosswise. Preferably the spout is di.s' posed in the left hand corner of the tray so as to permit the ready pouring or the solution.

Under various conditions the trays. are rocked back and forth, and by forming the sides of the tray as Ihave illustrated in Figure 1, there Will be no splashing oi the solution When the tray is rocked but the solution Will strike the returned rim 16 or the tray and Will be directed back into the solution and will not slop over. By pushing inward on the stopper 1st, complete control of the pouring may be had Without any loss of the solution, it being an easier matter to set the spout Within the mouth of the-bottle and then force in on the cork or stopper and permit the ,contents to run oft than Where the ordinary tray is provided With a pouring lip, and it is not easy when this tray is full to pour off the solution Without loss.

I claim A developing tray for prints having a bottom formed With transversely extending channels extending entirely across the tray and having a width and depth greater than the Width and thickness of the average finger, the tray having upwardly and outwardly inclinedside Walls and the upper margins of the side Walls being turned inward and upward and terminating approximately in the same plane as cent the corner thereoi and adjacent the bottom having an outwardly extending relatively short spout, the spout being out Wardly and centrally tapered and having a stopper fitting Within the inner end of the ODIE N. HOGUE.

the lower edge I or the Wall, the side Wall of the tray ad ;a

Images