Please can anybody help me to identify this unusual type of developing tank? Thank you.

mallenman1977 · Nov 3, 2023

Hello

I have found this unusual developing tank and am looking to find out anything about it, especially what type of film it would be used to develop, and the age of it. I cannot find any reference to a tank like this on Google. It is made of porcelain / ceramic. It is very solid. There are 2 very sturdy winding handles on the top, and these connect directly to the film spindles / spools inside the tank. There is a little chute at the back for pouring in the developing chemicals. The film spindles / spools inside are very chunk and solid - they are 64mm length - this is the size of the gap where the film can wind onto the spindle.

I would really appreciate any assistance at all on identifying this.

Many thanks in advance.

Martyn

Sirius Glass · Nov 3, 2023

Welcome to Photrio.

I have never seen a tank like that but I would suspect someone here has.

MattKing · Nov 3, 2023

Welcome to Photrio.
I'm afraid you may have entered the contest for who can post the smallest photos in support of a question - and you may win .
But hazarding a guess based on very small information, I don't know that that is a tank. It may be a film back/magazine?

Focomatter · Nov 3, 2023

Pix are a tad small but this does remind me of the Morse processor for long rolls of 70mm and other sizes.

mallenman1977 · Nov 3, 2023

Thanks all - sorry about that - I have just tried to attach larger images - I was struggling as the image size was too big, but hopefully they are a bit better now.

MattKing · Nov 3, 2023

No problem - thanks for making them larger.
As a general rule, if you resize photos to 1000 pixels on the long dimension and upload them as jpegs with quality 80% they upload easily. There is room for a bit more, but that works reliably.
And I would agree that that looks like a Morse cine film developing tank, or a competitor.

George Collier · Nov 3, 2023

I've never seen one, but it reminds me of a manual tank used mid to late 20th century for processing motion picture film manually, just crank back and forth for each step till done, then change the chems and repeat. I used one once for 16mm as a student.

Kino · Nov 3, 2023

Looks like a WWII circa aerial imaging developing tank when they were using Monobath developers.

It's about the smallest one I have ever seen, so it might have been made for in-flight developing on large bombers or dedicated aerial recon planes.

Interesting.

awty · Nov 3, 2023

I have the same tank in luscious red.
I use it to develop 120 holga negatives if want an extra degree of flavour.
The little clips hold the film and you continually wind till you get to the end, then wind the opposite handle, best to change directions regularly ( counter-clockwise, then clockwise) and keep a continuous speed if you want any consistency.
It's made of cast iron, so don't drop it.

mshchem · Nov 4, 2023

Very nice. I have something similar designed to develop huge wide rolls of aerial film up to 9 1/2" wide. This is a common method, I've never seen one of these. Simply wind the film back and forth slowly. Should work great.

mallenman1977 · Nov 6, 2023

Thank you SO much everyone

Mr Flibble · Nov 6, 2023

Kino said:
Looks like a WWII circa aerial imaging developing tank when they were using Monobath developers.

It's about the smallest one I have ever seen, so it might have been made for in-flight developing on large bombers or dedicated aerial recon planes.

Interesting.

I was thinking the same thing. The numbers reminds me of an Air Ministry designation code, but Google came up empty on that.

eli griggs · Nov 16, 2023

It looks like another Bakelite product.

mallenman1977 · Nov 16, 2023

eli griggs said:
It looks like another Bakelite product.

It’s 100% not bakelite, it’s solid porcelain / ceramic.

Please can anybody help me to identify this unusual type of developing tank? Thank you.

mallenman1977

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Please can anybody help me to identify this unusual type of developing tank? Thank you.

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