Cameras and Copiers

Introduction

To 1790

1790-1799

1800-1809

1810-1819

1820-1829

1830-1839

In 1839, the French artist, Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre, invented photography.   He used silver salts (usually silver iodide) deposited on a copper plate as the medium to be exposed when struck by light.   He used a mercury vapor to develop the film and then used sodium thiosulfate to dissolve the unchanged silver salts to keep them from darkening and erasing the exposed blackened portions of the scene, a process called "fixing".   The exposure time was 20 minutes and the photograph was faint. ^{Asimov 339,340}   Daguerre's successful invention was the beginning of the photographic and cinematic industries.   The first daguerreotype photographs in the U.S. were made by Samuel F. B. Morse, inventor of the telegraph, who learned it from Daguerre.

1840-1849

1850-1859

1860-1869

1870-1879

In 1870, George Eastman of Rochester, NY, was issued a patent for camera roll film.

In 1878, George Eastman of Rochester, NY, begins photographic dry plate production. ^{Schles 339}

1880-1889

In 1878, George Eastman of Rochester, NY, begins photographic dry plate production. ^{Schles 339}

1890-1899

In 1891, a patent for a motion picture camera was filed by Thomas A. Edison, which he called the kinetoscope.   His version competed with the Vitascope of Thomas Armat of France.   Later, E.J. Marey of France invented the photographic gun and John Carbutt invented celluloid film.   Using these innovations, and George Eastman's continuous roll film patented in 1880, Edison unveiled his invention in 1893, but it was better known as the "peepshow" rather than the kinetoscope.   This movie camera could be view only by one person at a time, so in 1893, Edison established a "film studio" in West Orange, NJ, that pivoted with the sun to provide the necessary camera light.   Improvements were made by Woodville Latham demonstrated his Pantoptikon in 1895. &nbp; Then, the Lumiére family invented the most advanced projector called the Cinematographe.   The last invention that most resembles the modern moving camera was invented by Thomas Amat, an American, in 1896. ^{Schles 372}

Eastman produced user film loading in daylight in 1891 and the first pocket Kodak arrived in 1895.

1900-1909

The first commercial motion picture exhibition took place in Koster and Bial's Music Hall in New York City in 1904. ^{Schles 372}

1910-1919

1920-1929

1930-1939

1940-1949

In 1948, the polaroid camera invented by Dr. Edwin H. Land in 1947 went on sale.   It processed prints in 1 minute and eliminated the need for a separate "dark room" to develop prints. ^{Carruth 539}

1950-1959

1960-1969

1970-1979

1980-1989

1990-1999