ferrotype
(ˈfɛrətaɪp)
[f. ferro- + type.]
1. ‘A term applied by Mr. Robert Hunt, the discoverer, to some photographic processes in which the salts of iron are the principal agents’ (Ogilv.).
| 1844 R. Hunt in 14th Rep. Brit. Assoc. (1845) ii. 36 On the Ferrotype, and the Property of Sulphate of Iron in developing Photographic Images. 1845 Athenæum 22 Feb. 203 The Energiatype, or, as the discoverer now names the process, the Ferrotype. |
2. A process by which positive photographs are taken on thin iron plates; a photograph so taken. Also attrib., as ferrotype plate, ferrotype process.
| 1879 G. B. Prescott Sp. Telephone 89 The ferrotype plate used by photographers. 1880 Times 5 Oct. 6/6 Ferrotypes..so called from being done on thin iron instead of glass. |
b. = ferrotype plate.
| 1879 G. B. Prescott Sp. Telephone 274 Two small blocks of wood..one perforated for the mouth-piece and holding a ferrotype. |
Hence ˈferrotyper, one who takes photographs by the ferrotype process.