Fig. 175.—A Negative-rack.
For chemicals, supplies, and apparatus, make
A Cabinet similar to the one described for tools in Chapter I, or the curio-cabinet in Chapter V. This makes it possible to keep everything in order and in places where they can easily be reached. Such a cabinet is shown on the wall in [Fig. 169].
The best scheme for a dark-room
Ruby-light is shown in [Fig. 169]. This is practicable, however, only when you build the dark-room itself and can cut a window in the partition. It makes it possible to have your source of light outside of the room, and does away with the heat caused by having a lamp within, where you are working.
First, cut a ten-by-twelve-inch window opening in the partition on a level with the top of the work-table. Then make a frame a little larger than this opening and either set a piece of ruby or orange glass in it, or paste a sheet of ruby or orange paper over it. Build a track above and below the opening for the frame to slide in, doing the work neatly, so there will be no possibility of light leaking through.
The light, which may be a candle or lamp, should stand upon a shelf supported upon a bracket outside of the window. It is convenient to have the window slide, as it enables you to open it and have white light to work by when a ruby light is not necessary.
This window furnishes light for developing, which will be done upon the table, but none for the shelf below, where the sink is located and where the fixing tray should be kept (that there will be no danger of getting hypo into the developer). In order to have light for this shelf, you had better follow the scheme shown in [Fig. 170]. Cut an opening four by six inches in the work-table directly in front of the window, and make a half-inch rabbet around its upper edge to receive a five-by-seven camera plate (see [Fig. 170]).