RE: Morse Contact Printer
NMAA.JOHN@ic.si.edu
Tue, 31 May 1994 17:34:12 -0400
The Morse Instrument Co. is still in existence but they do not make photographic equipment anymore. We
have been using two of these for a specific project here at the Smithsonian for over ten years. The primary
problem has been the break down of the rubber air bladder (or puncture by glass plates). While a bicycle
tube patch would usually do the trick we eventually ended up with too many patches and too many cracks.
When I got in touch with Morse I was first told that no one remembered such a piece of equipment. Then
they asked a "mature" employee who had been there "forever" and indeed she remembered that the
photographic section had been sold to a firm in California some 20 or 30 years earlier. When I tried to track
that company down, I could not find any trace of them. We ended up just sticking a chunk of foam rubber to
the top and it woks fine. The bulbs are also hard to find. We have a stock of old ones around so that hasn't
been a problem. Otherwise the unit are pretty bullet proof. Good Luck!