Previous | Next
Part: 123456789 Session: 1 Page na123456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930313233343536373839404142434445464748495051525354555657585960616263646566676869707172737475767778798081828384858687888990919293949596979899100101102103104105106107108109110111112113114115116117118119120121122123124125126127128129130131132133134135136137138139140141142143144145146147148149150151152153154155156157158159160161162163164165166167168169170171172173174175176177178179180181182183184185186187188189190191192193194195196197198199200201202203204205206207208209210211212213214215216217218219220221222223224225226227228229230231232233234235236237238239240241242243244245246247248249250251252253254255256257258259260261262263264265266267268269270271272273274275276277278279280281282283284285286287288289290291292293294295296297298299300301302303304305306307308309310311312313314315316317318319320321322323324325326327328329330331332333334335336337338339340341342343344345346347348349350351352353354355356357358359360361362363364365366367368369370371372373374375376377378379380381382383384385386387388389390391392393394395396397398399400401402403404405406407408409410411412413414415416417418419420421422423424425426427428429430431432433434435436437438439440441442443444445446447448449450451452453454455456457458459460461462463464465466467468469470471472473474475476477478479480481482483484485486487488489490491492493494495496497498499500501502503504505506507508509510511512513514515516517518519520521522523524525526527528529530531532533534535536537538539540541542543544545546547548549550551552553554555556557558559560561562563564565566567568569570571572573574575576577578579580581582583584585586587588589590591592593594595596597598599600601602603604605606607608609610611612613614615616617618619620621622623624625626627628629630631632633634635636637638639640641642643644645646647648649650651652653654 of 654
Yards and yards and yards of film of different widths comes out of the digestors where it's chemically made and then is put through a machine that presses it out in a long, thin strip. This collodion strip must be dried over rollers that look like bars of a towel rack, only there are hundreds of them. A great long gallery is draped with these. The gallery is long enough so that by the time this film has passed slowly, with all this draping up and down, through this long gallery it is dried and is ready to be rolled on to rollers at the other end. It has to be unrolled again to be inspected, but it's now ready to be put into a usable form.
That drying room is the place of extra-super hazards. They just hate to take anybody through there under any circumstances because it is so hazardous. They have a minimum number of employees in there. It practically is operated from the outside. People do have to go into it, but they have very few exposed to it at one time, because it is so hard to control the static.
Every thing in the whole works is grounded. They've taken every known precaution against static. I've never seen so much fire protective and fire fighting apparatus and devices. Every new kind of fire extinguishing chemical that will put out a gasoline fire is on the premises. There
© 2006 Columbia University Libraries | Oral History Research Office | Rights and Permissions | Help