Timeline Analog 1. John Buck

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      Edison's assistant Laurie Dickson (far left) had already used raw samples from the Hyatt’s Celluloid Manufacturing Company, in nearby Newark, but:

       "...it was heavy and stiff, making it difficult to handle and resistant of being bent or rolled into a coil."

      Dickson needed a medium that was flexible enough to wrap around the cylinder that was intended to expose and store their prototype camera's images. He tested celluloid from Carbutt and other companies but soon encountered problems. The celluloid was sticking in the prototype camera.

      Dickson wandered around the labs that housed Edison's previous inventions and found inspiration from the perforated paper of an automatic telegraph machine.

      Within a week he had created a perforator that made two round holes in each film picture. The addition of sprockets gave them reliable exposure in camera and steady projection in the viewing machine.

       "In less than a month, we had a good working camera."

      At this point, the work of Carbutt, Edison, Goodwin and Eastman crossover.

      Eastman had acquired Houston’s film-roll patent outright and wanted to finalize the film stock for the planned Kodak consumer camera. His chemist Henry Reichenbach experimented with ways to deliver a clear flexible film, capable of holding emulsion that was also resistant to stretching and folding.

      Eastman and Reichenbach settled on a formula, and filed for patent protection but were rejected. Eastman withdrew the application but Reichenbach made changes to the patent and filed again, by himself. He specified the need for camphor in the flexible film mix.and the patent was approved.

      Eastman launched the Kodak camera. For the first time, an easy to use camera with pre-loaded film was sold to amateurs and professionals alike. After exposing the images, buyers simply returned it to Eastman for processing and printing.

       “Anybody who can wind a watch can use the Kodak camera.”

       “You press the button, we do the rest.”

      Samples of the Kodak film were displayed at the New York Camera Club's next meeting which Edison's engineer Laurie Dickson attended. He later wrote for the Society of Motion Picture Engineers:

       "All these samples and experiments were made for us exclusively by Mr Eastman. Who took an ever-increasing interest in what we were doing."

      Dickson experimented with joining strips of exposed celluloid together.

       "...we had to devise certain essentials; such as a circular film cutter or trimmer, a perforator and a clamp with steady pins to fit the punch holes, to use in joining the film with a thin paste of the base dissolved in amyl acetate..."

      One of the first examples of celluloid film editing.

      Historians believe that Edison's doubt in the Kinetoscope grew, while Dickson realized the greater potential of moving pictures. Edison appears to have only ever considered the visual projection device to be an accessory to his successful sound Phonograph. Professor Peter Bauland, University of Michigan:

       "Edison was primarily a tinkerer and businessman. It never occurred to him that movies could be art, and he originally had no idea for theatrical exhibition. With the kinetoscope, he really envisioned the VCR, the movie you watch by yourself."

      Meanwhile, Reverend Goodwin, the amateur photographer who had invented a celluloid film in his attic, had missed a critical patent office grace period, which meant he was now required to pay a number of fees.

       "...all of which must have been exceedingly burdensome to a man of limited means."

      The Goodwin/Eastman patent fight was typical of the era.

      Film historian Charles Musser called the emergence of cinema a:

       "...history of greed, dishonesty, and ineptitude."

      After a period where Dickson and his associates were diverted to work on other Edison projects, they returned to the Kinetograph. They still had problems with the thickness of the film stock. George Eastman wrote in his diary:

       "The trouble with the film we have sent him is that the cogs tear the film slightly, as you will see by the enclosed, and gives blurred images."

      Reichenbach tried to make the stock stronger and more photosensitive but was not successful. Without celluloid, it was near impossible for Dickson to continue work on a film camera.

       "...the Kinetograph remained in status quo to my deep regret."

      A few years earlier Thomas H. Blair had moved from Canada to the US and opened the Blair Tourograph & Dry Plate Company to sell his portable Tourograph camera:

       “...for amateur photographers, college boys, and artists”

      The package, with nine dry plates, cost $27.50 ($500 in today's terms). With continued success, Blair acquired a competitor Allen and Rowell Company and gained additional technology and skills. He used these to produce of a ‘film roll’ camera and celluloid film stock, based on stock bought from the Hyatts and an emulsion process tied to Goodwin’s patent.

      Blair wanted to compete with George Eastman in the growing photography business, and as the only alternate reliable source of celluloid, he was able to connect with Laurie Dickson and provide rolls of film for the Kinetograph.

      Like Blair, Birt Acres had shown great interest in photography and invention as a child. An Englishman born in the US but orphaned during the Civil War, Acres had studied art and science then returned to his native England where he experimented with photography and multi-lens cameras.

      Acres СКАЧАТЬ