Rolling, Rolling, Rolling
October 2005
The last locally surviving paper-coating machinery, at the former Azon facility in Johnson City, has been donated to CT&I. Precision coating of flexible roll material is a century-old manufacturing tradition in Greater Binghamton. In 1902, Ansco began making Rev. Hannibal Goodwin's revolutionary flexible photographic film in Binghamton, taking the market from Kodak's glass plate negatives. Throughout the 20th c., coatings of light-sensitive emulsions applied to photographic paper and film were the mainstay of Ansco and its successor companies, Agfa-Ansco, GAF, and Anitec. Johnson City was home to two leaders in US diazo coated paper (blueprint) – Ozalid (1930s - 1980s) and Azon (1950s – 2003). Ozalid, Azon, and Ansco advanced the technology for applying coatings to rolls of paper traveling at speeds of up to 100 meters/minute, with improvements in cascade coaters, invention of the Trump Air Knife and the Flying Splice, and others. In 1958, IBM entered the solid state printed circuitry business, using similar roll coating manufacturing technology. In the last decade, over 50 similar roll coating machines have been sold at auction or scrapped by Anitec, Ozalid, Azon, and successors.
With support from the Hoyt Foundation, CT&I will salvage the Azon Coating Machine #5 and reconfigure the equipment as two dynamic museum exhibits that showcase a) the Flying Splice operated by Azon veterans and b) Air Knife technology. The Air Knife exhibit will likely feature a 4’ wide re-circulating web of thermotropic liquid crystal material; the color of this “mood ring” material will change at key junctures, possibly controlled by visitors. The history of blueprint paper and a Grandparents Guide to the exhibits will be prepared. Teaching units aligned with the NYS Education Standards for high school Chemistry, Physics and Math will be developed.
Azon Paper Coater, photo by Robert C. Johnston
Breast roller transfers
coating solution from tray to paper.
Air knife blows
off excess solution,
<<<<<<
allowing careful control
of coating thickness
Air Knife December 2004
Pressurized air enters the Air Knife from the far end. A precisely controlled sheet of air is forced out through the gap where the two halves of the Air Knife meet (seen here as top edge, slighted rounded). The air speed is controlled by the size of the gap, which is adjusted by the series of bolts connecting the two halves. The sheet of air blows off excess coating solution from the paper as it rolls past the Air Knife at 100 yards/minute.
BCC Electrical Engineering Technology Students inspect a
Trump Air Knife from Azon
Coating Machine # 5. 1/2006
Sketch of paper coating machinery, William Beese, Azon Corporation, 1954.
Air Knife
to the far right; Flying Splice, second from the left.