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the market place NEWS OF THE MICROFILM INDUSTRY
It’s the Service that Counts “Find a good supplier and stay with them” is a motto that can be aptly applied to the Merseyside and North Wales Electricity Board (MANWEB). The supplier in question is Office Equipment (John Dale) Limited who in the 1960s sold the Board a Microbox roll film camera and who this year, as exclusive UK distributors for SMA Schaut, replaced it with a Plandale SMA 106 aperture card processor camera. But Colin Boston, Senior Engineer, Technical Services Department and the reprographic team had an open mind when they approached all the 35mm camera suppliers for a replacement. Over the years microfilm has proved to be the only practical solution at MANWEB’s head office in Chester for reducing the storage space required for about 137,000 drawings of all sizes. These were previously held in a variety of racks and cabinets with 5,000 new drawings being added every year. All drawings over five years old have now been filmed and the bulky originals destroyed. Also as a safety precaution all the records from the ten district offices are also on microfilm. Last year, as the demand for microfilming increased but staffing levels remained the same, MAN WEB decided to replace their roll film with an aperture card processor camera which automatically processes, cuts and mounts the film in one operation. The increased requirement came from Districts to provide other utilities, such as Gas and Water Authorities, with copies of Ordnance Survey sheet cable records in the form of aperture cards. The output from the new CAD system also lent itself to microfilming. The schematic and wiring diagrams are of very high quality and as the information is stored on computer there is no need to retain the hard copy. Earlier this year two districts provided the engineers with portable viewers and aperture cards for on site reference and Mr Boston forecast that others may soon follow suit. Having approached each camera manufacturer, Mr Boston made a number of site visits to their customers. All manufacturers were required to produce microfilm copies of the same variety of drawings covering all MANWEB activities. Apart from camera performance, other important factors were price, technical quality of service and in this instance a very short delivery date.
AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 1987 No 6
The Plandale SMA 106 was very attractive. The most recent 35mm aperture card camera to join the Plandale stable, it does not have the “blow-back” facility of its big brother, the SMA-OK but has an integral density control and reader as standard. This was ideal for MANWEB who preferred to purchase a separate de Vere 507 AO reduction and enlargement unit which could be put to a number of other uses. Since its installation the camera has predominantly been used for the routine microfilming of Ordnance Survey Maps, records and diagrams, although Manweb photographer, Mike Hall, has found it very useful for other purposes. The camera he has already halved the time it takes to produce negatives for 35mm slides for lectures and seminars. Several jobs, such as helicopter surveys which were previously filmed on an old Statfile halfplate camera can now be filmed faster, more cheaply and to a higher resolution using the SMA 106 and enlarged or reduced very accurately with the de Vere Head. Enlargements are made on a clear transparent overlay which can be used with the Ordnance Survey map for navigation purposes. Mike Hall has a number of other projects underway now that he has a camera which meets the standards required for photographic enlargement and reduction. Contact: Office Equipment (John Dale) Ltd., Winchester Wharf Clink Street, London. SE1 9DQ. Telephone: 01 - 407 8511
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(0203) 383998 He saw the Plandale cameras in operation at BNFL in Risley and was very impressed with the quality of their reproduction. See Page 20 for Infomatics '87 Preview The M icrographics Market Place
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