September 1888: Kodak camera is patented - [Opinion]

BY 1888, PHOTOGRAPHERS HAD BEEN fixing images on plates for more than six decades, and some of them produced impressive portraits, photojournalism, and landscapes. But no one could do such things easily. • The first prerequisite for effortless picture taking came in 1871, when Richard Maddox invented highly sensitive dry plates-glass coated with gelatin emulsion. That step eliminated the awkward coating-exposure-processing sequence that had to be done on-site when using the wet-plate process. • But an entire suite of improvements still needed to be made, and they came from an unlikely innovator: George Eastman, a bank clerk in Rochester, N.Y. In 1877, Eastman bought a camera and wet-plate gear to use on a trip to Santo Domingo. The trip fell through, but it prompted Eastman to experiment with new emulsion coatings, and in 1879 he patented a coating machine. In 1884 he replaced the glass support with a negative stripping film made of three layers-paper, soluble gelatin, and gelatin emulsion. In 1885 he added a convenient roll holder. • The final step came 130 years ago this month, on 4 September 1888, when Eastman was awarded U.S. Patent No. 388,850 for a small, handheld, easy-to-use camera. His company had already begun making it three months earlier. • Eastman called the camera a Kodak because he liked the ring of it. It was a wooden rectangular prism 9.5 by 8.3 by 16.5 centimeters (3.75 by 3.25 by 6.5 inches) covered in smooth black leather. Its 57-millimeter lens had good close-focusing capabilities, allowing the photographer to focus on objects as close as 1.2 meters. • It wasn't really as easy to use as its advertisements claimed-"You press the button, we do the rest"-but it was easy enough. You put the film in and advanced it, and after exposing all 50 or 100 frames (there was no exposure counter), you rewound it. Then, you had to ship the entire camera to Eastman's factory in Rochester to be developed and printed. The first model cost US $25 (more than $600 in 2018 terms).