W. S. Standiford

The amateur photographer, at the beginning of his experience with the camera, usually has an idea that a costly outfit of trays for developing, toning and fixing, is necessary for the making of good pictures. Now nothing could be further from the truth, as cheap but excellent trays can be made by any person who can handle the few tools needed for their construction.

The writer of this article is an amateur of years experience, and knows that many prospective amateurs are deterred from purchasing a camera on account of the expense of the outfit, as they naturally do not care to put much money in their first camera and photographic material - not knowing whether they will like the work.

To the prospective amateur photographer the writer would, therefore, recommend the following trays as being extremely handy, easy to make and cheap, they being able to stand considerable rough usage. The lighter pasteboard dishes could be made of sufficient lengths and diameters, to fit one within the other, thus occupying small space, and also being light in weight for traveling. We will first make a tray out of a card-board box that contained two dozen sheets of writing paper and the same amount of envelopes. Both bottom and cover can be-used, thus making two dishes - one for developing and the other for fixing. The average size of a box containing letter paper is 5 1/4 in. wide, 6 3/4 in. long and 1 1/4 in. deep. Take the lid off a cigar box, cut two pieces one-quarter of an inch wide an 6 3/4 in. long, and glue them lengthwise in the pasteboard box - each strip being one inch from the sides. After this is dry paint the inside and outside with asphaltum varnish and let dry.

Take a piece of white paper 1 in. square, and with pen and ink mark the letter "D", pasting the paper on the side of the box. Buy one-half pound of paraffine and one-half pound of beeswax at a total cost of 30 cents. Melt both in an old tin tomato can or dish, pour it into the tray so as to make the wax flow over the bottom and up the sides, getting it as near the top as possible. Then take a brush dipped in the melted wax and finish waxing the inside, sides and bottom. When cold it is ready for use, being unaffected by the usual acids and alkalies in the developing, fixing and toning baths used in photography. Fig. 1 shows the tray as finished, the strips S S being used to keep the plate from sticking to the bottom ; they also strengthen the tray The letter D on the side shows that the tray is to be used for developing. The letter paper box of the indicated size makes a most admirable dish for 4x5 negatives and smaller, being compact and light. Of course various sizes of cardboard boxes could be used to make trays suitable for different sizes of negatives.

There should be no difficulty in getting suitable boxes of heavy cardboard, as most all of the large dry goods stores are, generally speaking, only too glad to get rid of them. When a larger box is to be made into a tray, should the sides be higher than desired, they can be cut down - first marking with a pencil a line on the side of box, line to be of equal distance measured from the bottom, and then cutting with a knife or scissors along the line.

We will now take up the construction of wooden trays which, although heavier than pasteboard, are more durable. They are also far superior to the hard rubber and fibre goods sold in the stores, which are very brittle and have to be handled carefully lest a piece should be broken out. From this fault the thin flexible rubber trays made in small sizes up to 4 or 5 inches are excepted, it being very difficult to break them.

To make a good developing dish of wood proceed as follows ; Suppose it is desired to make a 5x7 in. tray. The first article needed is the wood, which we get by making a raid on the cellar of our grocer, or some cigar dealer. The dealer generally has a fine collection of boxes with thin boards and is found willing to give away a few of them. Selecting boards about 1/4 or § in. thick and 5 or 8 in. wide, free from knots, smooth them off with a plane or if one is not handy, take a piece of coarse sandpaper and tack it around a block of wood and smooth the piece with that. After the roughness is taken off, two strips 1 1/4 in. wide, 1/4 in. thick and 5f in. long are made. Also cut two more strips of wood the same thickness and width, and 8 in. long.

Now take the two 8 in. strips, one of the 5 3/4 in. strips, fasten the latter across the top of the longer pieces, one on each end, by the aid of wire brads; then nail the other strip across the other end. You then have a frame shaped like Fig. 2. Next we cut a piece for the bottom of the tray, 8 1/4 in. long and 5 3/4 in. wide; if a board of the correct width is not at hand use two narrow pieces of sufficient width to be level with side of dish when the bottom is nailed on with the 3/4 in. brads, spacing about 1/2 in. apart.

Take your knife and cut in one corner on the inside of tray, diagonal to the sides, a lip for pouring out the solution. Cut two narrow strips 1/4 in, wide and 5 1/4 in. long out of a cigar box lid and glue them on the bottom at a right angle to the sides, each strip being placed l 1/2 in from the end of tray. Carpenter work finished, we next proceed to mark the letter "D" on a piece of paper one inch square, and then glue it on the side. Also glue a heavy piece of writing paper across the joint, if two boards have been used instead of one.

Coat the top, bottom and sides with asphaltum varnish; when dry, coat with the mixture of par-affine and beeswax in the manner previously described. Fig. 3 shows the finished tray. The construction of various sizes of wooden dishes for developing, toning and fixing baths can be designed by the amateur photographer to suit his needs by following the above methods of procedure.

These articles, if carefully made, will last many years and give good satisfaction. A fixing tray should be made to hold six to twelve negatives. Those living in tropical climates will find it best to use the following composition to coat the trays with instead of using the wax: Put litharge, finely powdered, into glycerine to make a semi-liquid paste. Mix the two thoroughly and pour into the bottom of dish, levelling it with a piece of pasteboard bent into L shape. Grease the piece with oil or vaseline to prevent it from sticking. This cement will be found to be water-proof. Mix the ingredients as needed, as it hardens very rapidly. When the bottom is hard coat the sides in the same way. When the cement is thoroughly dry give it a couple of coats of as-phaltum varnish. After that has set wash the tray well, putting in a pinch of washing soda with the first wash water to cut the grease. It is not necessary to put the cement on the outside, the varnish being sufficient to keep it from rotting.

At a recent meeting of the Academy of Science of France, held at Paris, M. Henri Moissan presented a paper concerning the preparation and characteristics of a new carbon compound containing molybdenum. This compound is obtained by heating charcoal with melted molybdenum and aluminum in an electric furnace. The resultant metallic mass is treated with a concentrated solution of potash, and needles of well-defined crystals of the new carbon compound are obtained.

The substance is very hard, is hardly attacked by acids other than nitric and is not decomposed by water or steam at a temperature below 600° C. It resembles the carburet of tungsten, already known, which is not considered surprising, as the metals tungsten and molybendum are much alike. It is thought that this new compound may play a role in molybdenum steels.

The method of preparation shows that even at a rather high temperature (that of boiling aluminum) a molybdenum compound is obtained which contains twice as much carbon as the compounds formed at the highest heat obtainable in an electric furnace.