Practical Film Cleaning for Safety and Effectiveness

D. W. Fassett, F. J. Kolb, E. M. Weigel

Because the various kinds of dirt that can accumulate on motion-picture film degrade the image quality of negatives and positives, film cleaning has always been an important operation. This paper reviews the problems of cleaning current color and black-and-white films, and classifies possible cleaning solvents on the basis of inertness to film, hazards to personnel, risk of fire, physical properties and cleaning efficiency. No solvent meets all requirements but commercial operation is possible with carbon tetrachloride, Freon-113 and hexane. Methyl chloroform, now commercially available, has some advantages over each of these. As a matter of fact, practical cleaning can also be accomplished with water. The importance of good technique in film cleaning is emphasized.

Print ISSN
Published
1958-09
Content type
Original Research
DOI
10.5594/J14457