Daily Herald Photograph: Ilford factory, coating photographic plates with emulsion

One photograph titled ‘Seeing the unseen’. Caption from the published photograph is attached to the back and reads: ‘This remarkable “Daily Herald” picture is the first ever taken of the actual manufacture of photographic plates. Made possible by the use of infra-red apparatus it shows the process of coating the plates with emulsion which is highly sensitive to all light except infra-red. This work is done in almost total darkness – in fact, Messrs. Ilford’s laboratory, where this experiment was carried out, was so dark that our photographer was led by the hand. Other than the fitting of infra-red screens to three lamps, which were thus rendered practically invisible, no special preparations were made. The plates seen on the conveyor were not spoilt and are to be sold in the usual way.’ Image includes crop marks.

[Ilford acquired various sites and merged with many smaller manufacturing companies over the decades. By the 1930s, manufacturing seems to have been consolidated into three main sites: Ilford for glass plates, Brentford for film and Mobberley for paper, although paper was sent to Ilford for cutting, packing and distribution. However, they also had laboratories to deal with raw materials, cine films etc. This photograph was probably taken at the Ilford laboratory.]