Kodak

George Eastman, painted by John Capstaff

"The Spirit of Photography" by Anne Brigman, 1908

TR posed for the Kodak, 1903

Kodak girl ad, 1909

George Eastman, ca. 1900

1871 - Richard Maddox in England developed new dry emulsion

suspended silver bromide in gelatin on glass
major improvement on daguerreotype (1839) and collodion wet plate (1855)

1879 - early American producers experimented with dry gelatin emulsions

John Carbutt in Philadelphia - Keystone Works
Gustav Cramer in St. Louis - Cramer Works

1881 - George Eastman and Henry Strong in Rochester

not Anthony Co. that failed to make gelatin films

1883 - Dry Plate Manufacturing Association

George Eastman first to make machinery to coat plates on large scale

1884 - Eastman Dry Plate & Film Co. - with W. Walker

bromide paper; printing service

1884 - roll film system

like Walker's roll film detective camera
paper-based "American" film on removable 2-spool roll holder
machinery for mass production

1885 - film, camera failures

1887 - made decision to produce for a mass market

"crucial moment" according to Reese Jenkins
Dec. made 1st camera using paper film, called it the "Kodak"
6-in long, 3-in wide, self-capping lens, string-pulled shutter, simple operation
with 2.5-in round image from f9 lens, 1/25-sec shutter, cost $25 with 100 exposures
"You press the button, we do the rest" ads

1888 - Kodak patent for camera with paper-based film

July demonstration at Minneapolis photo convention, won award
advertised in popular magazines, sold in department stores
Dec. model with new shutter was the "No. 1 Kodak"

1889 - Eastman's chemist Henry Reichenbach patent for camphor celluloid film

battle with Hannibal Goodwin - Ansco won 1914
Eastman had to pay Ansco $5 million
nitrate base until 1908 acetate base (until 1911, then in 1923 with 16mm film)

1889 - Thomas Blair in Boston developed competing roll film system

sold his Hawk Eye and Kamaret, but Eastman sued and won
Eastman introduced No. 2 Kodak with 3.5-in lens, with 60 exposures

1890 - Kodak Park - continuous innovation

MIT scientists, engineers
folding Kodak; annual model change
made 35mm cine film for Edison movie camera, but too thin
by 1896, developed double thick cine film, captured world market
developed film sheets for Roetgen's X-ray

1891 - "ABC" daylight film cartridge

1895 - pocket Kodak

1896 - $12 Bulls Eye with 12 frames, $5 Falcon model with 12 frames

1900 - $1 Brownie camera

100th anniversary exhibit at George Eastman House

1903 - sheet film sold for new professional cameras

Graflex had viewfinder missing in the Kodak cameras

1912 - Research Lab - C.E.K. Mees

Bacon's "House of Solomon"
like Bayer lab in Germany

Sources:

Ackerman, Carl W. George Eastman. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1930.
Gernsheim, Helmut. The History of Photography from the Camera Obscura to the Beginning of the Modern Era. London: Thames & Hudson, 1969.
Jenkins, Reese. "George Eastman and Industrial Research," in Carroll W. Pursell, ed., Technology in America. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1981.

Kodak

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