Process for determining exposure and developing times

Claim 1

METHOD FOR DETERMINING BY MEANS OF A TEST EXPOSURE AND A TEST DEVLOPMENT, THE LIGHT EXPOSURE AND THE DEVELOPING TIME OF A PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL ONTO WHICH AN ORIGINAL HAS TO BE REPRODUCED, WHICH METHOD COMPRISES THE STEPS OF MAKING A TEST PRINT GY MEANS OF A WEDGE GRADUALLY VARYING IN OPTICAL DENSITY FROM ONE END TO THE OTHER ON AT LEAST THREE STRIPS OF A PHOTOGRAPHIC MATERIAL, THE CHARACTERISTICS OF WHICH ARE ESSENTIALLY THE SAME AS THE MATERIAL TO BEAR THE REPRODUCTION, PHOTOGRAPHICALLY DEVELOPING THE SAID THREE STRIPS FOR DIFFERENT DEVELOPING TIMES, DETERMINING ON EACH STRIP THE POINT OF MAXIMUM DENSITY AND THE POINT OF MINIMUM DENSITY WHICH ARE TO BE ATTAINED IN THE FINAL REPRODUCTION, PLOTTING SAID POINTS TO A FIRST NOMOGRAPH WHERE THE AXIS OF ABSCISSAS IS A DENSITY SCALE CORRESPONDING TO THE WEDGE USED FOR MAKING THE TEST PRINTS AND THE AXIS OF ORDINATES IS A TIME SCALE OF DEVELOPING TIMES, JOINING ON THE SAID FIRST NOMOGRAPH THE POINTS OF MINIMUM DENSITY AND THE POINTS OF MAXIMUM DENSITY SO AS TO OBTAIN A CONTINUOUS CURVE FOR BOTH MINIMUM AND MAXIUMUM DENSITY, INDICATING ON A SECOND NOMOGRAPH, WHERE THE AXIS OF ABSCISSAS IS A DENSITY SCALE CORRESPONDING TO THAT OF THE FIRST NOMOGRAPH, THE MINIMUM AND THE MAXIMUM DENSITY OF THE ORIGINAL BY MEANS OF TWO STRAIGHT LINES RUNNING PARALLEL TO THE AXIS OF ORDINATES, ADJUSTING THE GENERAL POSITION OF THE NOMOGRAPHS IN THE DIRECTION OF THE AXIS OF ABSCISSAS, WHILE THE SAME ARE IN SUPERPOSED RELATION WITH THEIR ABSCISSAS PARALLEL, SO AS TO MAKE THE TWO CURVES OF THE FIRST NOMOGRAPH INTERSECT THE STRAIGHT LINES OF THE SECOND NOMOGRAPH AT TWO POINTS LYING ON A STRAIGHT LINE EXTENDING PARALLEL TO THE AXIS OF ABSCISSAS, THE POINT OF INTERSECTION OF THE ORDINATE AXIS OF THE FIRST NOMOGRAPH BY THE SAID LAST-MENTIONED STRAIGHT LINE INDICATING THE RIGHT DEVELOPING TIME, AND THE RELATIVE SHIFT IN POSITION OF BOTH NOMOGRAPHS IN THE DIRECTION OF THE ABSCISSA AXIS INDICATING ON A LOGARITHMIC EXPOSURE SCALE OF THE FIRST NOMOGRAPH, WHICH EXPOSURE SCALE CORRESPONDS WITH THE DENSITY SCALE, THE FACTOR BY WHICH THE TEST EXPOSURE TIME MUST BE MULTIPLIED IN ORDER TO ATTAIN THE CORRECT EXPOSURE TIME.