Photographic silver halide emulsions are generally prepared by precipitation of the silver halide in the presence of a carrier or binder, generally gelatin, wherein the silver halide crystals are formed by the interaction of a water-soluble silver salt, such as silver nitrate, and a water-soluble halide, such as potassium bromide. The term"crystal" as used herein refers to a crystalline particle of silver halide, sometimes referred to as a grain, and should be understood to include particles of any composition of silver halide with any mixture of crystal habits. Subsequent to the precipitation, the mixture is heated for a given period of time. Additional binder may be added at this point. The binder-silver halide mixture is then generally chilled, noodled and washed or flocculated and washed to remove the soluble salts. The mixture may again be melted, chilled and washed if desired. Various substances such as sensitizers, coating aids, and the like, may also be added to the emulsion during its preparation, generally after the washing stage, and a heat treatment may be applied to induce the process known as chemical sensitization. While gelatin is the most commonly used binder material for silver halide emulsions, other materials such as synthetic polymers are also employed. However, regardless of the particular binder employed, the emulsion making procedure generally is a lengthy and tedious operation involving fairly extensive equipment.
Copending application Ser. No. 311,690 filed Dec. 4, 1972 is directed to a method for forming a silver halide photographic emulsion which comprises forming a water-soluble silver halide complex and breaking the complex by, for example, dilution, to provide for the precipitation of silver halide crystals, preferably in the absence of a binder material, removing said silver halide crystals from the diluting medium and dispersing said silver halide crystals in a binder for coating on a support. The aforementioned application is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.