Frederick Charles Luther Wratten (1840,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

– 8 April 1926,Macmillan Biographical Encyclopedia of Photographic Artists & Innovators. By Turner Browne and Elaine Partnow. London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, . (MacBEP)

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

inventor. Wratten started his career as a school teacher and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

, and moved to

in 1861 to become a clerk at Joseph Solomon's Photographic & Optical Warehouse. His work at the warehouse stimulated his interest in

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

, and while there he learned how to use

gelatin Gelatin or gelatine (from la, gelatus meaning "stiff" or "frozen") is a translucent, colorless, flavorless food ingredient, commonly derived from collagen taken from animal body parts. It is brittle when dry and rubbery when moist. It may also ...

in a sensitized emulsion and began experimenting on his own. In 1876, Wratten developed the use of

alcohol Alcohol most commonly refers to: * Alcohol (chemistry), an organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom * Alcohol (drug), an intoxicant found in alcoholic drinks Alcohol may also refer to: Chemicals * Ethanol, one of sev ...

in drying gelatin emulsion and removing unwanted

silver nitrate Silver nitrate is an inorganic compound with chemical formula . It is a versatile precursor to many other silver compounds, such as those used in photography. It is far less sensitive to light than the halides. It was once called ''lunar caustic' ...

. This process was described in the ''

British Journal of Photography The ''British Journal of Photography'' (BJP) is a magazine about photography, published by 1854 Media. It includes in-depth articles, profiles of photographers, analyses, and technological reviews. History The magazine was established in Liverpo ...

'' of 1877 and 1878. During the course of his experiments, Wratten formed a partnership with Henry Wainwright (1877~) for the manufacturing and sale of photographic supplies. ''Wratten & Wainwright'' were the first firm in England to offer prepared

photographic plate Photographic plates preceded photographic film as a capture medium in photography, and were still used in some communities up until the late 20th century. The light-sensitive emulsion of silver salts was coated on a glass plate, typically thinn ...

s. Wratten is also credited with introducing the noodling process for pre-washed gelatin emulsion in 1878, which substantially increases the surface area of the emulsion and thus the efficiency of the process. This allowed creating more sensitive photographic plates than previously possible. In 1906 Wratten incorporated his company with his son, S. H. Wratten, and

C. E. Kenneth Mees Charles Edward Kenneth Mees FRS (26 May 1882 – 15 August 1960) was a British scientist and photographic researcher. Early life and education Mees was born in Wellingborough, England, the son of a Wesleyan minister. He attended the Univ ...

as owners. Mees, a recent graduate of

London University The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree- ...

, was placed in charge of new product development, and soon introduced

panchromatic Panchromatic emulsion is a type of black-and-white photographic emulsion that is sensitive to all wavelengths of visible light. Description A panchromatic emulsion renders a realistic reproduction of a scene as it appears to the human eye, altho ...

plates sensitive to longer wavelengths. To allow photography using particular wavelengths of light, Mees developed dyed gelatin

filters Filter, filtering or filters may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Filter (higher-order function), in functional programming * Filter (software), a computer program to process a data stream * Filter (video), a software component tha ...

which were placed between the plate or lens and the subject matter. These colored filters, later known as Wratten filters, began with yellow filters dyed with

tartrazine Tartrazine is a synthetic lemon yellow azo dye primarily used as a food coloring. It is also known as E number E102, C.I. 19140, FD&C Yellow 5, Yellow 5 Lake, Acid Yellow 23, Food Yellow 4, and trisodium 1-(4-sulfonatophenyl)-4-(4-sulfonatop ...

( CAS # 1934-21-0), but were soon available in many more colors.

George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Kodak, Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the ...

purchased Wratten and Wainwright in 1912, to be merged with Kodak Ltd. Frederick and S. H. Wratten continued working at Kodak's branch in Harrow, while Mees moved to

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

to found

Eastman Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

's Research Laboratories.

References

External links

Frederick C. L. Wratten Biography
a
Historic Camera
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wratten, Frederick 1840 births 1926 deaths English inventors English educators English organists

See also

References

External links