The Very First Model

As a dentist I had a very difficult time with the film processors that were available at the time. (1991) They were made of multiple rollers, like a small version of grandma's clothes rollers, which rolled film into developer and fixer vats, a water vat, then a dryer. The rollers would get gummed-up, jam, and scratch the film. We were constantly losing film and doing re-takes. The roller processors had to be cleaned thoroughly every week; about a 45 minute job for the unlucky assistant who got to stay after work to do it. I frequently looked at our roller processor, and I knew that I could come up with a better idea. I just knew. I started spinning some ideas around. I seriously wanted to give it a try. A very good friend of mine had invented and patented DefendDoor, a car trim that you could extend when in a parking lot so nearby cars couldn't scratch your doors. His invention became a stimulus for me to try to design a better film processor, a device that had created so many headaches for me in my dental practice. I got the idea of placing the film in one tank, and allowing the chemicals to flow into the tank, then return to their storage tanks. Wash water would flow into the reaction tank from a fresh-water valve, then be washed down the drain. The idea actually came from the design of a toilet. I visualized two tanks and the one bowl where the film would be placed. I won't mention what I was doing when I got the flash. Since the chemicals would be in tanks above the reaction tank, getting the liquid into the reaction tank would be a snap utilizing a simple ball valve and gravitational flow. Getting it back might be more difficult. I first tested pumps, but that idea vanished quickly. Too slow, plus the bearings wouldn't fare well in the corrosive environment. One day I was vacuuming my garage. I wondered what a vacuum might do to bring the chemicals back into the storage tanks. I put a lid on the waste baskets that I was using at the time (above), and the chemicals "flew" back. The connecting tube itself was dry. I closed the valve between the two and trapped the liquid in the storage tanks. I was off and running.

I Graduated from Waste Baskets

I needed more sophisticated tanks. I graduated to acrylic sheets. I could cut acrylic with my table saw, and it was easily welded (glued) together. I could make tanks with my choice of design and size. This is one of the many early models that I put together and tested. Early on I used timer delay relays and sprinkler timers to run the cycles. At first I didn't know much about wiring. I met a very nerdy looking lad who worked at R-Vac electronics store. He was so typical; pimply face, shirt buttoned all the way up, and all. He had incredibly thick glasses, and had to work with small parts right next to the lenses so he could see. He made a few preliminary "colored pencil" drawings for me, and I was in awe. I thought, incorrectly, that he really knew what he was doing. He only wanted $6 per hour, which is what R-Vac was paying him. I was so impressed with his drawings, I insisted that I pay him $10. I gave him a prototype that I had made with wood "shelves" and simple acrylic tanks so he could take it home for wiring. After waiting patiently for weeks, I went over to his house to see what was happening. When I got there, he was working on it in his back yard. The model was hooked up to 120V, and he was actually wiring it barefoot, with a garden hose running to fill the tanks, and flooding his patio. HE COULD HAVE DIED! I told him YOU COULD DIE! He said not to worry; he did that all the time. The developer looked like someone dumped a bowl of spaghetti over it. The wires were a mess. I gave him a hundred bucks, thanked him, and took the model home. I was going to learn how to wire myself. This would be a necessity if I were to continue improving the design. It would be too costly and time-inefficient to continue having to take it to outside "engineers" every time I needed a change in the wiring. I took it to my lab/garage and sat it on a table. I just stared at it, with that pile of "spagetti" poured all over it. I took a deep breath, wondering if I could really do this. I ripped out all of the old wiring. That night I attempted to re-wire the unit on the coffee table when my wife and daughter were watching their favorite TV serial. It took a couple of hours. I made some giant mistakes somewhere. When I plugged it in, there was a BOOM, smoke, and "lights out". The whole house was dark, including the TV. They were furious because I caused them to miss part of their show. After some study and practice, I became an expert wirer, and didn't smoke it again. I was able to eliminate the sprinkler timer, which looked pretty amateurish, by graduating to a programmable timer. I took these models to the dental conventions to try to interest companies in my idea. I used clear tanks with red colored water for the developer, and blue water for the fix. Kodak sent over two engineers to check out my design. Just as they walked up, the electronics glitched, both storage tank valves opened on their own volition at the same time, the reaction tank overflowed, and I had purple (red plus blue) water flooding all over the place. The "crowd" that had gathered to see my invention leaped back so as not to get their clothes dyed. My wife was trying to collect as much as she could in a bucket that held all of my power tools. Ugh. My face was red, and my drill was wrecked. The Kodak engineers left, each with a knowing smirk. When I got home, I worked to improve the electronics, fix the glitch, and I tried to get the egg of of my face. Programmable timers weren't easy. I moved onward.

More Conventions

At this point in the process, I still hadn't developed any film. All I did was work on smoothly moving the liquid (water) from tank to tank. I was a bit reluctant and nervous to actually process film, as deep down inside I didn't think my idea would really work. I was having too much fun making these models, and I really didn't want it to end just yet. I took this model to a convention. One of the engineers from a large company came over to check it out. Everyone knows that you can't flow developer and fixer into the same tank. You'll contaminate the developer; the films will come out foggy. He pointed this out, and said the chemicals "will turn into pea soup!" I told him, "Then I invented a pea soup maker! ha ha ha". Trying to interest companies in my idea was like running into a block wall. Actually, at this point, I didn't know if he was right or not.

I Finally Process Film

I worked about 18 months on gradually improving developer models before I finally made one that was ready to process film. Pictured are the first actual film processor, and my assistant Cara. I installed the unit at night. My family was in the office waiting to see how it would work. We would then to go to dinner and celebrate my sure success! I loaded it with chemicals, put an exposed film in, and off she went. Developer came into the tank, then the wash water valve turned on, then fix, then the hair dryer that I first used to dry the film turned on. What a masterpiece! It worked perfectly! I was so excited, until I pulled the film out. It looked like s--t! Ugh. Awful. The very first film was a failure! We went out to dinner, me in the most sagging mood imaginable. All of that work, and I couldn't even process one piece of film. We ordered and ate. In the middle of dinner, I got a brain flash! I knew why the processor didn't work.......I didn't turn on the outside water valve! No water came into the tank to wash, so the chemicals were dried on the film! We went back to the office and ran another film with the wash water turned on, and out came a perfect film! The next day I used the processor to develop all of my patient x-rays, and the processor worked perfectly. I was amazed! I thought since I was putting two chemicals into one tank, the chemicals would soon contaminate and fog the film. The first time out I actually ran 50 sets of x-rays before there was any sign of contamination. After improving the wash design, that number jumped to 250. To this day, I don't understand why contamination is not a problem with the processor, but it isn't. Not at all.

I Needed Professional Engineering

After I processed thousands of films, I realized that I had done what no other major dental company was able to do: make a film processor that was incredibly reliable. My processor obsoleted the roller developer that had been the highly hated scourge of dental offices throughout the world. My percent of lost films approached zero. I hired Scott Steel, shown here to help me design the next model that would be necessary for me to make so that I could now interest companies in my new and "working" design. I built this model, and ran it in my office for months with the same great success that I had with my first model. I also added a "second cycle". Film would be placed on a holder in the upper chamber. When the start button was pressed, the film would rotate 180 deg. down into the lower tank, where processing would occur. A new set of film could then be placed in the upper section, then the "cycle B" key pressed. When the film in the lower section was finished, it would rotate up, and the film that was in the upper section would rotate down and begin processing. This second cycle made the processor far more efficient. An assistant who wanted to process film while one set was already processing would not have to wait until the process was completed.
Scott did an amazing job working with me on the processor. I always kidded that I was in the Steel Engineering School, since I really did learn a great deal from watching Scott work. It is amazing when working on devices such as the Freedom, how some things go well, others not so well, even though good common sense and engineering practices are followed. We worked on a special triple-opening valve that would allow the flow of developer and fixer solutions, and water in and out of the reaction tank. After six months, and t $10,000 in engineering costs, I mounted the finished valve on a processor. The vacuum pulled the valve open, and let bubbles through and into the storage tanks. That meant that contamination would occur. The next day I tried the strongest spring that would work, with same result. I removed the triple-valve and sent it straight to the trash. Out went six months of work and $10,000. Such is inventing. I found motor-operated ball valves that would do the trick without allowing leakage when the vacuum was on, which solved the problem.

I Start Blume Imaging

After talking to large dental companies such as Kodak, Rinn, and DentX, and basically getting a lot of interest, then getting "shined on" by them, I decided that I would start my own company. The "NIH" (not invented here) rule is an absolute. Selling the developer myself would be the only way to really get the processor going in the marketplace. I had honed my skills as an engineer to such a degree that I was ready to go on my own. I became proficient in electronics, programming, plastic design, sheet metal design, CAD, etc. by working on the models that I had put together, and learning from Scott Steel. Also, Scott ran out of time to work on the processor as his company had projects from large companies to complete. He gave me a few tips on how to operate a CAD program. I designed and had constructed all of the parts for my "molded model", the one pictured here. I rented a booth for $2,200 at the California Dental Convention in 1995. I went with two completely built processors. My entire inventory was at the show, sitting on two pedestals. Naturally my booth was next to several huge companies. For some reason, I felt tiny and embarrassed. But, my developer wowed the people who ventured in to take a look. My total first convention sales: one unit for $4000 to a dentist in Arizona. In the next two years I sold 25 processors. The processors that I have installed have functioned like Sherman tanks; far better than the roller processors put out by multi-million dollar companies. To date they have processed several million films. If you are interested in part two of the story, please email me and I will forward.

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