Does anyone know what this is?

[dcolosio]

My brother found this at a California estate sale and was told it was a portable dark room from the 1930's? I am very curious and was hoping someone here could help? I was guessing it is for developing some kind of exotic black and white print?

Anyways thanks so much for helping a newbie out!!

Sorry bout the long links..



Image Hosting Myspace

Image Hosting Myspace

 

[Paul Ron]

That is a contact printer. The paper was once a type that you would put your negative on top of it and leave it in the sun for an hour (not sure waht it was called) and you'd have a print. Your gizmo did the same as leaving it in the sun.

 

[compur]

The paper was called Printing Out Paper (POP) or chloride paper. It was used
for quick contact prints as it didn't require chemical development. The image
appeared after exposure alone though it did still need fixing.

I'm not aware of any current commercial supplier of POP. The last supplier I
know of in the USA was Chicago Albumen Works. However, the paper can be
home made.

 

[Mitica100]

You can make POP:

CLICK
CLICK
CLICK

 

[dcolosio]

Thank you so very much! I did a little research on my own and had sort of leaned toward the Albumen Print thing. I am not much of a photographer but I am a print collector of sorts. This is really interesting news, thank you sooooo much you all are great!!!

Doug