[LargeFormat] Air Power

[rstein]

Dear Friends,

     And for those of you that remember the television programs of the
1950's that should have jolted a memory...

    I wasn't jolted, but jiggled slightly, when I read a history of the
construction company my father worked for. It mentioned a number of the
devices he devised to do rock drilling or railway maintenance and commented
on how they mostly operated on compressed air. I reflected that it might
have been a genetic trait that lead me to chose air power and control
equipment for my surgery rather than electric versions.

     Of course, it may also have been the fact that when you get an air leak
you can find it and plug it - electricity is invisible. I think the reason
my dad liked air power was Ingersoll Rand kept making bigger and bigger air
compressors. You can do a great deal with 2000psi air....

    AH, but here is the point of the post. Do we do it in photography? I can
count only three uses for compressed air in this sport - canned air to shift
dirt around the surface of negatives, air releases for long distance
shooting and air pots in compound shutters to regulate speed. Can anyone
enumerate others? Is there an air powered belt-fed reciprocating enlarger on
an azimuth mount somewhere?

    Uncle Dick