Can you imagine not having a camera? Well, kids in George Eastman's time couldn't imagine having a camera! George Eastman made it possible for kids to have a camera to put in their pocket.
George was born in Waterville, New York. He came from a poor family. George's father died when he was very young. George worked for his family when he was thirteen. In 1874, George got a job as a junior bookkeeper at the Rochester Savings Bank.
When George had been working at the bank for a while he decided he needed a vacation. He decided to travel to Santo Domingo. George's friends told him to buy a camera to take on his trip.
George discovered that buying a camera was a big project. There was no such thing as film in the 1870's. Photographers took pictures with glass plates. The plates were coated with a chemical mixture named collodion. The picture had to be developed immediately after the photo was taken. George paid $5.00 for photography lessons.
Instead of going to Santo Domingo, George went to Mackinac Island, Michigan. In Michigan, George began to tire of lugging all his camera equipment around.
Soon George read that English photographers were using dry plates. The plates were coated with gelatine emulsion. George began to work on his own gelatine emulsion. He worked and worked until he finally created his own gelatine emulsion.
In 1880 George announced he was leaving the bank. He went into the dry plate business. The Eastman dry plate company officially opened January 1, 1881. By November 1881, the company was making 4000 dry plates a month.
One day, photographers were complaining the plates weren't working. George began making a new gelatine emulsion. He did 469 experiments, but the plates still didn't work.
George Eastman then had the idea to make a camera with no plates. George took a long thin roll of paper, coated it with collodion, and named it film. In March, 1885, George's new invention was ready to be shipped. However the other photographers didn't like the idea. They liked to keep their customer there while developing the picture, keeping the customer mesmerized, waiting to see what the picture would look like.
In 1888, George produced a small, 22 ounce camera. The photographer would take pictures, then ship the camera back to the Eastman company. George realized his camera didn't have a name. George simply chose his favorite letters and made the name Kodak. Soon George made a slogan, "You press the button, we do the rest."
In December, 1889, The Eastman Kodak company was founded. Thomas Edison ordered a camera that summer. He used Eastman's camera to help develop his motion picture camera.
In 1891 The Eastman Kodak company produced spooled film. The photographer could load the film in their camera by themselves. George's company began to mass-produce cameras. George's cameras had names such as Brownie which was a camera designed for children. The Falcon and Bulls Eye were cameras designed for adults.
George became a millionaire. He liked to give money to help other people. George's first project was a dentist clinic in Rochester. Soon kids could have their teeth checked for a nickel.
Lots of George's chemists came from M.I.T. George made a large donation to the school. Another school that got a donation from Eastman was Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. George Washington Carver was doing great things there.
George Eastman was a great man. His main invention was film. He donated a lot of his money to schools and charity. Thanks to his invention, we have handheld cameras.
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