Summary

Black and white silver gelatin photograph, view looking from the north-west corner of Sub-station #2 and south along the roadway between Building 7, Testing, on the left, and Buildings 3, 4 & 5 (Emulsion Coating, Roll Film & Sheet Film respectively) on the right, Kodak factory, Coburg, May 1959.

This street level view features the completed services gantry system located along the eastern ends of Buildings 3, 4 & 5. It also features the final stages of internal building work being conducted in the externally completed Building 3. The multi-storey section of Building 3 housed all of the emulsion delivery systems associated with the coating machine located in the west wing of the building. Many of the rooms and passageways in this section were constructed of internal brick walls with tiled floors and walls. As shown in centre of picture, all concrete and mortar was mixed at the base of a tower hoist and lifted in a wheelbarrow to the various levels where timber platforms were set up on scaffolding.

All services to the factory buildings were reticulated from the central Power House via a gantry system. The gantry carried the following services: chilled water at 3ºC for cooling and air conditioning; ethylene-glycol brine at -9ºC for chill rooms, low dew point drying and emulsion chilling; saturated steam at 70Kpa for emulsion heating and air conditioning; saturated steam at 700KPa for emulsion heating; condensate return to boilers; compressed air at 550KPa for machine actuation and instrument controls; electrical cables at 415V 50Hz 3phase, distilled water and clarified water for emulsion making and testing, plus water from the fire pumps for the building sprinkler systems. The steam, chilled water and brine pipes were all heavily lagged and clad for efficiency and protection reasons. The steam pipes in particular had large loop sections to allow for expansion.

Kodak manufactured and distributed a wide range of photographic products to Australasia, such as, film, paper, chemicals, cameras and miscellaneous equipment. Its client base included amateur and professional photographers as well as specialist medical and graphic art professionals who used photography, x-ray and other imaging techniques.

This photograph is part of the Kodak collection of products, promotional materials, photographs and working life artefacts collected from Kodak Australasia in 2005 after the manufacturing plant at Coburg had closed down the year before.

Description of Content

A steel trussed gantry carrying large pipes high above the street level runs the length of the road and along the ends of three buildings in various stages of completion. Two workmen can be seen on the roadway along with scaffolding, a tower hoist, concreting materials and other equipment around the worksite.

Physical Description

Black and white silver gelatin photograph printed on light weight paper, portrait format.

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