[W&B] What was in those Long ceramic tubes _

[Mark Baltor]

Milan, in the interest of scientific experimentation, you could buy those 
Gennert stoneware cylindrical crocks, pour in ALL of your lenses and see if 
every one "Fitz" inside.
Mark Baltor
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Milan Zahorcak" <milan.zahorcak at comcast.net>
To: "'Collectors of 19th Century Cameras &amp;Photographica'" 
<woodandbrass at kjsl.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 28, 2007 7:23 AM
Subject: [W&B] What was in those Long ceramic tubes _



Wow, very cool containers . . . you could set one or two of them in the
vestibule by the door and use them like an umbrella stand for your javelin
collection.

Or near your desk with a long handled dipping ladle to hold a week's supply
of M&Ms (plain).

I checked the chemical sections of a couple of olde catalogs.  Most of the
early amateur catalogs don't list anything over about a pound or a quart,
usually ounces, and almost all chemicals sold were in their separate forms
requiring the user to mix them.  That's understandable since the main
ingredient in so many darkroom products is water, and most solutions are
quite dilute.  You don't want to ship, or pay for the shipping of 10 gallons
of anything if 9.5 gallons are water.

But in later catalogs, such as Sweet & Wallach 1903, it's obvious that
commercial users are now more common, and some chemicals were sold in bulk
form.  The largest pre-packaged quantities sold were of Hypo which was sold
in granular form in large lots, see the link:

http://www.pacificrimcamera.com/milanpub/Misc/hypo.jpg

The next largest quantity of anything are 5 gallon containers of either
Velox or Nepera developers in full-strength pre-mixed 5-gallon kegs.  The
containers pictured earlier are much larger than that (7.5 gallons is about
1 cubic foot) but perhaps they were used for storage of the mixed dilute
solution.

The usual reasons for using a container of that tall and narrow shape is to
minimize the surface area exposed to air.  But if the product is in dry,
granular form, you also have to be able to reach in, or pour it out.  Same
contraction would apply to any solution after it had been mixed, but which
might oxidize or evaporate quickly.  If they were storage containers, as we
might guess, then they could be used for almost anything, but if glazed,
then probably liquids.

Makes you wonder how the contents were dispensed?  Were there any holes near
the bottom?  Could be that the square container had molded in pivot points,
or "grab holds" for tongs ???

Regards,

mz








> -----Original Message-----
> From: woodandbrass-bounces at kjsl.com
> [mailto:woodandbrass-bounces at kjsl.com] On Behalf Of Rob McElroy
> Sent: Saturday, January 27, 2007 4:39 PM
> To: Collectors of 19th Century Cameras &amp;Photographica
> Subject: Re: [W&B] What is it: Long ceramic tubes, marked
> Gennert Dark RoomEquipment
>
>
> Dan,
>
> Mark is correct, as is your guess.  The stoneware tanks were used for
> processing or stock chemical solution storage.  Several
> companies made
> them for the photographic industry, and they were popular in
> the 1920's
> - 40's, at which time stainless steel took over.  These
> glazed stoneware
> tanks were impervious to almost all chemicals and acids, and unless
> broken by physical damage, they will essentially last
> forever.  If they
> were to be used for the developer, they were often placed inside of
> another metal-lined wooden tank which provided a water jacket to keep
> the developer's temperature consistent.
>