Re: Dreaded fungus

This morning I remembered the name of the film treatment.
It was called the Peerless process. I googled the name and found
a query on the (Assoc.of Moving Image Archivists) AMIA list from a year
ago:

"Does anyone have any information about the "Peerless Process" a film
hardening treatment used in the 60's and 70's. It was a vacuum/oil
based
treatment developed by the "Peerless Film Processing Corporation" New
York.

mick

Mick Newnham
Engineering and Research Group
Preservation and Technical Services Branch
ScreenSound Australia - the National Screen and Sound Archive"

and the reply:

"Mick,

I remember this unit quite well. Being the "new kid" on the block during
my tenure at Allied Film Lab in Detroit in the late 60's, it was one of
my duties to treat finished prints
with the Peerless treatment. (I also got to to other fun projects, like
cleaning the Moy ink edge numbering machine!). The unit they owned was
about 20" in diameter, and
built like a vault (to withstand the pressure from the vacuum
extraction). I remember quite vividly the smell that would emanate from
the chamber when it was opened, but I
don't recall what the makeup of the fluid was (it was pretty messy
stuff). As this was somewhat "back in in the day", I wasn't very
sophisticated about my knowledge of
chemical compounds. I can, however, attest to the effects of some of
the solvents we used (carbon tetrachloride was everywhere). My brain has
never been the same since.

I do recall that the process involved a vacuum drawdown, at which point
the oil was introduced. The treatment lasted about 1/2 hour or so, at
which point the vacuum was
released, and the film removed. It wasn't a real sophisticated process.
We could treat about 10-15 rolls of film at a time.

If you need some further information, I might be able to direct you to
some laboratory personnal whose memory of this equipment might be
better than mine, and who may
have some information about the treatment itself.

Regards,
Scott D. Smith

Chicago Audio Works, Inc.
676 N. LaSalle Drive
Second Floor
Chicago, IL 60610 USA
Phone: (312) 337-8282
FAX: (312) 337-8292

It has been at least twenty years since I worked at the lab that
offered this process. I wonder if any film labs still offer it. It does
sound much like the "Vaporate-Vacuumate" process that Richard cited.
I wonder if Peerless licensed the process. Perhaps one of these
chambers will pop up on eBay.

-Phillip

Richard Knoppow wrote:

> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Phillip Murphy" <pmurf@bellsouth.net>
> To: <alt-photo-process-l@sask.usask.ca>
> Sent: Wednesday, December 17, 2003 8:59 PM
> Subject: Re: Dreaded fungus
>
> > Years ago, I worked in a motion picture lab in San
> Francisco where we
> > offered a treatment for film to halt and prevent mold
> growth. The name of
> > the device escapes me, yet, it consisted of a steel
> chamber in which large
> > film reels could be inserted. The front of the chamber was
> closed and
> > it had a strong pressure seal. A solution of formaldehyde
> or
> > para-formaldehyde was kept in a reservoir that fed the
> device. The
> > chamber was pressurized and after the film was left for a
> time it could
> > be removed.
> >
> > Has anyone on the list heard of something like this? It
> was a fairly
> > common practice at one time.
> >
> I wonder if this could be a process known as
> Vaporate-Vacuumate which was advertised in the late 1940's.
> It was supposed to harden film so that it would not scratch.
> I've never known what exactly it was. Most hardeners of the
> sort found in fixers harden the emulsion only when it is
> wet. I think formaldehyde may actually harden it when dry.
> Does the above name ring a bell?
>
> ---
> Richard Knoppow
> Los Angeles, CA, USA
> dickburk@ix.netcom.com
Received on Thu Dec 18 06:10:48 2003