This section is from "Scientific American Supplement". Also available from Amazon: Scientific American Reference Book.
Dr. Eder has recently published, in the Correspondenz, the first of a series of articles embodying the results of his more recent work on gelatino bromide; and we now reproduce the substance of the article in a somewhat abstracted form.
The "sensitiveness of a wet" plate continues to be used as a rough and ready standard of comparison; and, notwithstanding the fact that it is physically impossible to exactly compare the sensitiveness of a wet plate with that of a gelatino bromide film, it is convenient to refer to wet plates as some kind of a rough standard.
Experiments have shown that a gelatine plate which gives the number 10 on the Warnerke sensitometer, may be regarded as approximately corresponding to the average wet plate; and setting out from this point, the following table has been constructed:
| Sensitometer number. | Sensitiveness, expressed in terms of a "Wet Plate." |
|---|---|
| 10 | 1 |
| 11 | 1-1/3 |
| 12 | 1-3/4 |
| 13 | 2-1/3 |
| 14 | 3 |
| 15 | 4 |
| 16 | 5 |
| 17 | 7 |
| 18 | 9 |
| 19 | 12 |
| 20 | 16 |
| 21 | 21 |
| 22 | 27 |
| 23 | 36 |
| 24 | 48 |
| 25 | 63 |
The nature of the developer used has, of course, some influence on the sensitiveness of the plates; but in the above cases it is assumed that oxalate developer, without any addition, is used; or pyro., to which ammonia is added at intervals of about thirty seconds, so as to produce a slight tendency to fog; the time of development being from three to four minutes. The numbers are supposed to be read after fixation, the plate being held against the sky.
Schumann's statement that a gelatino bromide plate is less sensitive when developed at 30° C. than when developed at 5°, is contested; the more recent investigations of Dr. Eder serving to demonstrate that a developer at a moderate high temperature acts very much more rapidly than when the temperature is low; but when a sufficient time is allowed for each developer to thoroughly penetrate the film, the difference becomes less apparent. Here are examples:
| A. - Oxalate Developer. | ||||
| Temperature of developer | 4-8° C. | 16-17° C. | 26-28° C. | |
| Time of development | 1 min. | 3° W. | 8° W. | 13° W. |
| " | 2 min. | 9½° W. | 10° W. | 15° W. |
| B. - Pyrogallic Developer. | ||||
| Temperature of developer | 1-2° C. | 26-28° C. | ||
| Time of development | ¼ min. | 6° W. | 10° W. | |
| " | 3 min. | 14° W. | 15° W. |
 
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