Question 526

X is the name of a class of compounds created from nitrocellulose and camphor. X is easily molded and shaped and is no longer widely used.

English photographer John Carbutt founded the Keystone Dry Plate Works in 1879 with the intention of producing gelatin dry plates. The X Manufacturing Company was contracted for this work by means of thinly slicing layers out of X blocks and then removing the slice marks with heated pressure plates. After this, the X strips were coated with a photosensitive gelatin emulsion. A 15 inch-wide sheet of Carbutt's film was used for the early Edison motion picture experiments on a cylinder drum Kinetograph. However, the produced by this means was still considered too stiff for the needs of motion picture photography.

By 1889, more flexible Xs were developed. This ability to produce photographic images on a flexible material (as opposed to a glass or metal plate) was a crucial step toward the advent of motion pictures.

What is X?