I thought it was the other way around.   Acetate was replaced by  
nitrocellulose lacquer, but the name, acetate, lives on...


 From Wackypedia:

"Despite their name, most acetate discs do not contain any acetate.  
Instead, most are an aluminum disc with a coating of nitrocellulose  
lacquer."

Lacquer masters and dubs remain highly flammable - especially after  
near-vaporization by a heated stylus.   The swarf must be removed  
carefully from the chip jar (which also has some water in its  
bottom).    Then you take a huge clump outdoors and ignite it - using  
a 10 foot match.    Weeeeeeeee!



Andrew


(P.S., I visited the DDR in 1983.   Beautiful to see no  
advertisements or other vestige of decadent capitalism.   Sigh.)


On Feb 29, 2012, at 9:53 AM, Dennis Rooney wrote:

> Although the first instantaneous blanks were cellulose nitrate, the  
> formula
> was later changed to cellulose acetate, hence the use of "acetate"  
> as a
> cognomen for discs which are properly called "lacquer(s)". The  
> change was
> prompted by some unfortunate accidents involving mastering  
> engineers who
> smoked while cutting lacquers. The vast majority of surviving  
> lacquer discs
> are cellulose acetate. No worries (at least not about combustibility).
>
> DDR
>
>
>
> On Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 9:20 AM, Steve Greene  
> <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>> First time poster here.  How big a concern is the storage of  
>> transcription
>> recordings, a majority of which are made of coated cellulose nitrate
>> lacquer? Coming from a moving image background, the "n" word  
>> (NITRATE) is
>> scary, though presumably the volume of nitrate in even a large  
>> collection
>> of coated discs is tiny compared to even a small collection of  
>> nitrate
>> film.  Were there components in the "recipe" for nitrate lacquer that
>> tended to make them less combustible?
>>
>> Thanks in advance for your advice, perspectives.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Steve Greene
>> Archivist
>> Office of Presidential Libraries
>> National Archives and Records Administration
>> (301) 837-1772
>>
>
>
>
> -- 
> Dennis D. Rooney
> 303 W. 66th Street, 9HE
> New York, NY 10023
> 212.874.9626

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