PhotoHistory

From: THE PRACTICAL PRINTER
A COMPLETE MANUAL PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTING

By Charles W Hearn 1874

FIXING BATHS AND FIXING PRINTS

As has before been written in one of the preceding sections, the prints need a fixing agent to remove all trace of the silver in them. The fixing agent used is hypo-sulphite of sodium, and a bath of it is made of a certain strength by dissolving this in a quantity of water, and the prints are immersed therein for a number of minutes.

Cyanuret of potassium is never used in fixing the prints, although it is sometimes used in fixing the negatives. The reason of this is because it spoils the beauty of the tones, bleaching the prints fearfully, and on the whole is a miserable fixing agent to use for delicate photographs.

There is a diversity of opinion among photographers about the strength of the fixing bath, some using it much stronger than others do. I, myself, am inclined towards having a weak bath, and fixing a longer time than what I would with a strong bath, as the action will be more gentle, and on the whole better results are obtained by so doing, and blistering and bleaching are, in a great measure, cured. It is very important that the hypo bath should be made up every time you require its use, as old hypo baths are very injurious to the prints.

Take a two-gallon bottle, and place in it about one pound of the hypo crystals, fill up with water, shake well, and label this bottle “Sat. Sol. Hypo-sulphite of Soda,” and when you have made it saturated, you are then ready to make the bath as per formula given below. To be sure that this hypo solution becomes saturated, make it up at least two days before you wish to use it. Just before using, shake the contents in the bottle for about two minutes.

When you wish to make the bath, mix:

Sat. Sol. Hypo-sulphite of Sodium, 1 ounce.
Water, 8 ounces.
Sat. Sol. Bicarbonate of Soda, 1/4 ounce.

Larger quantities are made in the same proportions.

Make it up in a dish, which is kept expressly for this, and this alone.

The bicarbonate of soda is used in the fixing bath for the purpose of making alkaline any free acid there may exist in the solution. This is very important, for in case the solution should happen to be acid, it would finally be the means of liberating sulfur and forming sulphide of silver, and it would deposit itself on the prints, affecting them seriously in look, tone, and permanence.

Aqua ammonia is sometimes used for the same purpose, but if it is to be used, only a few drops of it are necessary, as any more will cause the albumen on the prints to become very tender, giving a look of transparency to the whole print. The prints are very easily torn when the ammonia is used to excess, on account of the softness of the paper. On the whole, I think it better to use bicarbonate of soda, as it is, as before said, a much milder alkali than ammonia.

During the cold months of winter, and also at all times when the water is cold, the soda solution should be heated to about a lukewarm state (no more), as the action of freezing hyposulphite of soda solution will be very slow, and also injurious to the prints, causing innumerable blisters all over the prints.

An assistant should pass the prints from the washing-tank, a number at a time (so as to get them in as near as possible at the same time), and place them in the hypo bath (without touching the hypo solution with the fingers while passing the hands from one to the other), and the operator at the hypo bath should separate and cover them with the solution as soon as he can, for if this is not done, and the prints are fixed imperfectly, they will then have mottled yellowish-brown spots all over them where they have been laid together, and which are very observable when washed and dried. More about imperfect fixing, &c., at some future time.

After you have had all the prints placed in the bath, then note the time by the clock.

Keep the prints in constant motion while in this bath, and do not allow one single print to stick to another, even for the space of ten seconds, if you wish to have them properly fixed.

Too much attention cannot be given to this little thing if you wish to have your prints fixed evenly, and not have them come out when finished full of darkish-brown spots, yellow stains, &c.

The reason why I have advised you to have an assistant place the prints in the bath for you is, because if you are inexperienced in doing it yourself, you will be apt to get some of the hypo on the prints before they are wholly placed in the bath and under the solution, and when you do that they will be spoiled, and all of the subsequent fixing will not remove it. They will be stained, and among other things there will be the so-called “finger-stains,” caused by the fingers having had hypo on them when the prints were taken up, just after toning and before fixing.

After the prints have been in constant motion for full eight minutes, look through them by holding them, one at a time, between you and the light, and after you have looked at a dozen or so, and the shadows, hair, &c., present a clear transparent appearance (and not at all mottled) to the critical eye, the prints are fixed. If they are not clear, let them remain in the bath until they are. An experienced “fixer” can tell in a few moments whether they are fixed or not by doing as has just been said.

If the prints are fixed, then pour off about one-half of the solution in the dish, and fill up with an equal quantity of water. Move the prints continually in this water for about five minutes longer, then pour off about three-quarters of this, and fill up again. The reason of this is to get the density of the liquid down gradually to that of water, so that the prints will not blister, which they would surely do if they were placed directly from the hypo into the water ready for washing. Alcohol placed in the hypo bath answers the same purpose.

Some printers (myself among them) place their prints, after they are removed from the hypo, in a bath of salt-water, made by placing a handful of table-salt to every gallon of water. Let them remain in this from five to ten minutes, and then set them to washing. The object of this salt is not only to displace the hypo from the prints so that they will wash better, but also to prevent them from blistering in the subsequent operations, and when already blistered to cure it.

WASHING THE PRINTS

The prints, after they are removed from the salt-water bath, are then to receive the final washing, which will render them ready for the further operations, such as mounting and finishing. I would here most earnestly advise all printers to allow their prints to soak about ten minutes in salt water, as written in the preceding section, before you proceed to wash them, as besides saving the annoyance of having blisters on them, they will also be much more easily washed.

This washing is the most important of any of the washings before mentioned, because if it is insufficiently done, the result will be much more disastrous than any of the others. The other washings were only to prepare the prints for other solutions, and it was not so important, as the silver would finally be removed in the fixing-bath. But in this case, when you discontinue the washing and proceed to mount the prints, they will then in the future be good, bad, or indifferent, according as to how the final washing was done. This destroying power which is so necessary to be removed is the hypo-sulphite of sodium, a considerable quantity of which still remains in the print. The theory of washing is that the water gradually displaces the hypo in the prints, providing the washing is permitted to continue long enough, and then the prints can be mounted and dried without any danger of bad results from further chemical action. The young beginner can thus see the necessity of frequent changes of water to remove this destroying agent, and hence it would be a good plan for the first half hour or so after the prints are fixed to wash them by hand, and then trust to the washing apparatus, whatever that may be. In small establishments this washing is done by permitting the water to run into a dish at one corner. When they are so done, it would be best to do as recommended, as they are likely to be all together the greater part of the time when thus washed.

The Moulton Rapid Print-washer is highly recommended, and is said to do the work very quickly and thoroughly.

Washing by hand can be done in the following simple yet effective way:

Take a suitably sized dish, fill about half full of water, and when the prints are removed from the salt water, place them in this bath of clear water with one hand, while with the other you place them under the surface. When the prints are all placed in this bath of water, then move them all about for five minutes, and then pour off the water and fill up again, and let them stay in five minutes more.

Do this for four or five times more, using lukewarm water, as it will do the work quicker than cold, and then they will be ready to wash in the dish, as above described, by arranging the hose so that the water will run through and between the prints. When there are only six or eight scores of prints, they will be washed in a short time.

The great secret in washing prints is to keep them separated from each other, thus permitting the fresh water to move between them all of the time.

In large batches of prints, say twenty, thirty, or forty sheets of paper, this washing cannot be done in so simple a way as the above, hence it becomes necessary to have a washing-tank that will, on account of its peculiarly adapted make, wash the prints perfectly, and a longer or shorter time is required according as to how thoroughly the tank does its work.

To keep the small cartes from getting between large prints, say 14 x 17, and even larger ones, and thus getting imperfectly washed, a series of washing-tanks are arranged, a large one of which is intended for the washing of large prints alone, and a smaller one for the cartes de visite, Victorias, and Imperials.

Every photograph gallery has some sort of a tank which is intended for this washing, and I will mention here that these final washing-tanks should never be used for any of the other operations, such as the other washings, fixing, &c.

These tanks are more or less perfect in performing their work, but there is one idea that is generally carried out in them all, and that is to have an outlet in the bottom of the tank or tanks so arranged that, without sucking the prints in, the water can be let out at the opposite side to where the fresh water is supplied.

To keep these prints in motion while washing, and thus make them “self-washing,” a rotary motion is given to them on account of the manner in which the water enters the tank. A half-inch pipe generally runs along the inside of the tank, suspended midway between the top and bottom, and having small holes so made in it that minute streams of water strike the water obliquely in the same direction and at different parts of the surface, thereby causing the water to rotate around the tank, carrying the prints with it.

The tank is so made that the diameter increases as it proceeds towards the bottom of the tank, so as to prevent the prints from sticking to the sides of it, and to be doubly sure that they will not adhere to the sides there is on the under surface of the pipe an array of small holes running the whole length of it, sending small streams of water down the sides of the tank driving away the prints which maybe there. To prevent the apparatus from overflowing an overflow is made, which, when the water has reached that level, it can be run off without danger of carrying the prints with it. But better still are those tanks which are got up on the siphon plan, and then when the water has reached the proper level (which you can regulate) it is all let off, leaving the prints on the bottom of the tank, which is, of course, so made as to prevent any hurt coming to the prints.

A washing apparatus got up on the siphon arrangement, and emptying itself every twenty or twenty-five minutes, is one which I used in a printing-room of an excellent gallery for a number of months.

It slanted outward as it proceeded towards the bottom, for the same reason as was stated above, i.e., to prevent the prints from sticking to the sides. The pipe in it was arranged as was described above, and the bottom of the tank was covered with small pebbles about two inches in depth, which are or should be evenly distributed. Close to the bottom of the tank, on the side, a hole was made (hid from the prints by a piece of glass, the edges of which were ground smoothly), which permitted the water to pass through by means of a little iron pipe (varnished) two inches in length, which fits in exactly close to the wood. About an inch of this pipe projects beyond the tub, and a piece of suitable rubber hose is fastened and bent in the form of a siphon, the higher level of which is fastened by a wire in its proper position. When the water in the tub has reached the highest level of the siphon, the water, which has been gradually working up in the hose, will flow therefrom, and in a few minutes the tank will be emptied of the water, although there is a stream running in all of the time. The prints will be gently let down into the pebbles, and the water, after it has ceased to run out, will again cover the prints, and set them afloat before they have hardly stopped draining.

The supply water never should enter the tank nearly as quickly as the siphon carries it off when it has once started. No danger need to be apprehended from the drying of the prints while the tank is filling up again after it has once been emptied.

For large prints this is not very good, especially if there are a quantity of them, but on the whole it is a very good arrangement.

In large establishments the prints are generally allowed to wash all night, and if there are many to be washed it had better be so done, unless the whole of the washing is done by hand, and then a shorter time will answer.

Prints which are toned and washed Saturday afternoon should be washed by hand and mounted up before you leave the establishment for the night, as remaining in the water over Sunday will very much affect the prints; for, of course, they are not to be mounted on Sunday. In some establishments the printers do not print photographs on Saturday, but spend the day framing, making porcelains, &c., &c.

The prints should be tested before they are removed from the tank for the purpose of being mounted, to see as to whether they are perfectly washed or not. Dr. H. Vogel, in his Handbook of Photography, recommends a mode of testing which we will here give.

First, we will give his mode of preparing the “Iodide of Starch,” which is used in testing:

“One grain arrowroot is mixed with a few drops of cold water; next about 100 parts of distilled boiling water are poured on it, and afterwards 20 parts of chemically pure saltpeter are added to make the paste keep. To the solution of starch 20 grains of a wine-yellow solution of iodine in iodide of potassium solution is added (a bit of iodine thrown into a solution of iodide of potassium 1:20 will furnish this in a few seconds). This will give a blue solution of iodide of starch, which will keep for about four weeks.”

“When the washing is finished,” says Dr. Yogel, “the pictures are separated under water, and a portion of the last water is taken from the box. For the purpose of testing, two test-tubes of equal size and perfectly clean should be selected; in each an equal quantity of a solution of iodide of starch should be filled; to the one tube fresh water from the reservoir is added; to the other an equal quantity from the last water in the wash-box. It remains only necessary to shake both tubes well, and to hold them against a piece of white paper in order to ascertain if in one of the tubes a discoloration has taken place. The greatest cleanliness of the hands and test-tubes is necessary. Even with a million-fold dilution the presence of soda can be detected. When the test shows that soda, or even a trace of it, is still present, the washing should be repeated. When we wish to test finished pictures by this method we must soak them first in water, and then test the water as described above.”

Before you proceed to remove the prints from the tank let off all of the water in it, and rinse them well in a bath of clean rain-water, so as to remove all traces of the iron-rust and settlings from the water, which may have been carried in the tank through the supply. Rinse the prints in two or three changes, so as to get them as clean as possible, and they will be much nicer and cleaner when they are finished. When the prints are removed from the tank always rinse it, and fill up again with fresh water, and it will be ready for use next time. If the pebbles are used in the tank they should be washed every day. If the tank is made of wood then once a week or fortnight let off all the water in the morning, and dry it thoroughly, and varnish all over the tank and pipe with some shellac varnish, and you will keep the tank in better condition by so doing, being more easily cleaned in the future from settlings, &c.

Once in every two or three months scrape off the old shellac with a broken piece of glass, and varnish it anew. Too much care cannot be given to this, and in fact to all your tanks and sinks, for they should all be shellacked.

All of these little things help towards making fine work.