For Kodachrome Fans, Road Ends at Photo Lab in Kansas - NYTimes.com

[Philip Miller Tate]

>
> Of course someone has to manufacture the spectacular Polapulse  
> battery that is an integral part of the film pack.  That battery  
> was the source of power for countless projects when I was a kid.   
> Its capacity was nowhere near extinguished when the last picture  
> was shot.
>
> Joe, N6DGY
>

Yes, those flat batteries were great. I had a bunch of them about  
fifteen years ago and used some for various projects. I ended up with  
about six or seven left and made them up into emergency lights for  
power cuts using 6V MES bulbs, holders and paper clips for contacts.  
Of course, 15 years later I still have them - only two were used and  
only for about half-an-hour. Guess what? I tested them last night and  
they all still work.

I was a keen photographer as a student in the late '70s and did my  
own processing (mainly black-and-white, but some Ektachrome and  
direct slide-to-print positive colour processing). I also picked a  
photography book on my first trip to the States in 1979 which  
contains recipes for making your own emulsions and processing  
chemicals, so if anyone gets desperate...

Meanwhile, does anyone else remember Nelson Bunker Hunt's illegal  
attempt to corner the world silver market in the late '70s? It scared  
the bejabus out of the photographic industry, I recall.

Regards,

Phil M1GWZ