Glass Negatives from Early 1890's to Late 1900's

I don't know enough about glass negatives to know how he managed it; in the last group on page one, Photo #10 and #12 are the same photo except flipped 180°

I believe #12 is the correct orientation.

The big overhead beam is a gantry crane.

Those three big machines against the wall are steam engines.
Unless they have shafts out the other end, protruding through the wall, and are thus driving something on that side, I believe them to be driving generators.
They are oriented wrong to be driving a line shaft, unless the room we see is actually the end of a long building and not a side.

I have no idea what the machine nearest the lady at the desk is.
I can see the shaft of the center engine protruding through it; and, the only set of governors I see in the room are on that shaft; which leads me to believe that all three engines are coupled together and the speed of all three in governed by that single set of governors.

The top photo here has a lady sitting at a desk, pen in hand, writing.
I believe this photo to be the correct orientation, especially if the lady is right-handed; if you look closely, you can see that she is holding the pen in her right hand.

4 More World's Fair Pictures


Worlds Fair 07 Scan 031-a by inspeqtor, on Flickr


Worlds Fair 08 Scan 031-c by inspeqtor, on Flickr


Worlds Fair 09 Scan 031-d by inspeqtor, on Flickr


Worlds Fair 10 Scan 053-c by inspeqtor, on Flickr

Here are what some of the original boxes looked like the Glass Negatives came in

There was one box that I have that had the information on the BOTTOM that I thought was interesting enough to share here

Glass Box Set 01 by inspeqtor, on Flickr

Glass Box Set 02 by inspeqtor, on Flickr

I am showing here the 2 different size negatives: 4 X 5 and 3 1/4 X 4 1/4

4 X 5 PLUS 3 1-4 X 4 1-4 by inspeqtor, on Flickr

A Caution Paper placed in a couple of boxes

Caution by inspeqtor, on Flickr

Part of a Seed's Chemical paper (not all shown too long)

(Please do not mind the weights on the paper)

Seeds Chemical by inspeqtor, on Flickr

Here is a Glass Negative hand held by my wife

Glass Negative Hand Held by inspeqtor, on Flickr

Here is the image from that Glass Negative

Building 31 Scan 057-b by inspeqtor, on Flickr

That last photo shows how amazing the technology was. You have a little part of history right in your hand 😊

Think of these glass negatives the same way you would think of 35mm B&W film, but just a LOT larger.  I think to get an actual print back in Albert's day he would have laid the glass negative directly on top of the printing paper.

This is what I used to scan all my negatives.  My Epson Perfection 4990 Photo Scanner.  This will do regular scanning of any paper letters or anything else with the top WHITE reflective screen in place.  To do the Glass Negatives or modern 35mm film or slides I have to remove the WHITE reflective screen. The scanner LIGHT has to shine THRU the negative to do it's work.





When I scanned the smaller 3 1/4 X 4 1/4 negatives I could get up to 5 negatives on the scanner at one time.



When I scanned the larger 4 X 5 negatives I could only get 2 negatives which you have already seen.

For the Glass Negatives, being different sizes there are no templates or special holders that I am aware of.  My scanner DID come with templates for 35mm processed film or 35mm slides.   Yes for the glass negatives I DID just lay them on the bed of the scanner.

I love that stove; I bet it is a coal stove.

I don't see how people back in those days got away with having their stove so close to the wall and to other furniture; I see it all the time in old photos and movies.

My wood stove is a good four feet away from anything and I still have sheet-metal reflectors between it and the walls and ceiling; without them, the walls would burst into flames when that baby is popping and cracking and whoof-whoof-whoofing at the dampers.

A few nights ago, it got down to 7° American for three nights in a row; our three politically correct environmentally friendly 18,000BTU - total 54,000BTU - mini-split ductless heat-pumps were froze up and blowing ice-cold air (I didn't pay for them; the electric company actually paid me to put them in; I would not have paid for them and recommend that no one else does either)
It was down to 51° in the house when it was 20° outside; I knew from experience that if we didn't want to wake up as icicles, I had better build a fire.
Within ten minutes of striking the first match, I had it up to 75° in the far room; and, a couple times during the night, I saw it past 100° --- and the people down at the electric company probably wondered why our meter barely moved during those three days/nights.

A stove like the one in the picture would cost a small fortune today; but then, it probably cost a pretty penny back then; that is a rich man's stove; we always had to settle for a poor man's stove.