History of the Kodak
In 1888 George Eastman created first easy and simple camera to use. With his slogan "You press the button, we do the rest" his company Kodak changed the world of many people.
He was the youngest of three children. George was born on July 12, 1854, in the village of Waterville. At early age George Eastman drop out of a high school. He was judged with with academic standards of the day. Even though he was poor he supported his mother and two sisters.
At age of 14 he began his business career by working in an insurance company and also as clerk in a local bank. Soon he overcome his financial adversity. His skills for organizing, management and also being innovative and lively made him successful entrepreneur of his Eastman Kodak Company.
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He started his business in 1879. in April 1880 he began to manufacture dry plates for sale. His business was focusing on 4 main ideas:
- a focus on the customers
- mass production at low cost
- worldwide distribution
- extensive advertising
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His company grew and only once he had collapse. in 1883 Eastman announced the first film in role, with the roll holder adaptable to nearly every plate Camera on the market.
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Eastman, George
George Eastman holding one of his cameras.
Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Eastman's solution was to coat the paper with a layer of plain, soluble gelatin, and then with a layer of insoluble light-sensitive gelatin. After exposure and development, the gelatin bearing the image was stripped from the paper, transferred to a sheet of clear gelatin, and varnished with collodion -- a cellulose solution that forms a tough, flexible film.
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Eastman changed the way he is working made base on which his success in armature photography would build. But one of his biggest advancements was made in 1990, Brownie dollar box camera. One hundred thousand of them were purchased during first year alone. new investment also helped with putting photography into hands of amateurs and allow the middle class to take their own "snapshots".
Frederick W. Barnes. French Kodak Advertisement for Brownie Camera, ca. 1905.
Lithograph. George Eastman Museum