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George Eastman
1854- 1932
Amerikaanse uitvinder
George Eastman is op 12 Julie 1854 in Waterville NY gebore. Eastman het die skool op 15 verlaat om sy gesin te help onderhou nadat sy pa gesterf het. Hy het in die fotobedryf begin werk. Hy stig die Kodakl -onderneming in 1884. Die Amerikaanse uitvinder George Eastman stel sy Kodak nr. 1 -kamera in 1887 bekend nadat hy 'n droë plaat fotografiese film teen 1880 vervolmaak het.
Hy het fotografie na die massas gebring met sy relatief goedkoop kameras, waaronder die Brownie wat in 1904 bekendgestel is en slegs $ 1 kos.
'N Groot deel van Eastman se fortuin is geskenk aan instellings vir hoër onderwys, veral die Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Eastman het die afgelope twee jaar van sy lewe erge pyn gehad en het selfmoord gepleeg en 'n brief agtergelaat met die opskrif: "My work is done why wait".
Amerikaanse ervaring
George Eastman is op 12 Julie 1854 in Waterville, New York, gebore. Sy pa, George Washington Eastman, het 'n sakeskool bestuur waar hy boekhou en skryfwerk geleer het, maar hy moes 'n tweede werk met die verkoop van vrugtebome en rose doen, wat hom genoodsaak het om sy tyd tussen Waterville en Rochester, New York, te verdeel. Die jong George Eastman is dus van kleins af meestal grootgemaak deur sy ma, Maria (Kilbourn) Eastman, en heeltemal deur haar nadat sy pa in 1862 gesterf het. In 1870 sterf ook sy ouer suster Katie, wat aan polio gely het. en die Oosman -huishouding permanent deur ongeluk laat word.
Op die ouderdom van 15 het die gesin sedert sy verhuising na Rochester, die skool verlaat en 'n pos as kantoorseun aangeneem om sy gesin te help onderhou. In 1875 word hy 'n junior boekhouer by die Rochester Savings Bank. Deur nougeset te spaar, kon hy 'n loopbaan in vaste eiendom oorweeg en in 1877 planne beraam om na Hispaniola te reis, waar 'n oplewing in grondspekulasie aan die gang was. Deur 'n vriend oortuig dat hy die beste met die reis met 'n kamera kon dokumenteer, het hy sy eerste fotografiese toerusting gekoop.
Die uitstappie het nooit plaasgevind nie, maar Eastman was versot op fotografie. Hy het die twee amateurfotograwe in Rochester, George Monroe en George Selden, opgesoek en hul gewillige leerling geword. 'N Inskrywing op die "British Journal of Photography" het hom geïnspireer om verbeterings in droëplaatfotografie te maak, dan 'n minderwaardige alternatief vir natplaatfotografie ('n proses waarin 'n glasplaat blootgestel en ontwikkel is terwyl dit nat was). Hierdie eksperimente het gelei tot 'n formule vir gelatien-gebaseerde papierfilm en 'n masjien om droë plate te bedek. Hy het in April 1880 begin met die verkoop van droë borde, in 'n kamer bo 'n musiekwinkel in die finansiële distrik Rochester.
Eastman se loopbaan het 'n hupstoot gekry toe E & amp H.T. Anthony, die voorste nasionale verspreider van fotografiese voorrade van die dag, het sy borde begin koop. Hy werk 'n tyd lank by die bank, maar bied sy bedanking in September 1881 aan nadat hy verval is vir 'n bevordering wat volgens hom regmatig syne was.
Vir Eastman was die 1880's 'n dinamiese dekade. In 1884 huur hy William Hall Walker, 'n kamera-uitvinder en vervaardiger, en saam ontwerp hulle die Eastman-Walker-rolhouer, wat fotograwe in staat stel om papierfilm deur 'n kamera te plaas eerder as om individuele borde te hanteer. Die rolhouer het die basiese tegnologie van kameras gedefinieer tot die bekendstelling van digitale fotografie aan die einde van die twintigste eeu. Meer onmiddellik het dit die basis geword vir die eerste Kodak -kamera, aanvanklik bekend as die 'rolhouer -borskamera'. Die term Kodak, wat Eastman self vir die geleentheid geskep het, verskyn die eerste keer in Desember 1887.
Terwyl die eerste Kodak -kamera baie gewild was onder amateurs, het die papierfilm wat daarin gebruik is, middelmatige resultate gelewer. Henry Reichenbach, 'n apteker wat aangestel is om aan emulsies te werk, is gevra om 'n deursigtige, buigsame film op te stel. Sukses bereik in Februarie 1889, toe Reichenbach 'n oplossing kry wat, as dit oor glas vloei en laat verdamp, 'n deursigtige buigsame film kan produseer wat dan in repe gesny en in kameras geplaas kan word. Hierdie film, wat Thomas Edison in sy vroeë eksperimente met die filmkamera gebruik het, het die middelpunt van die Eastman-ryk geword, hoewel die patent daarvoor later suksesvol betwis is.
In die 1890's het die Eastman -onderneming swaar gekry met die vertrek van Reichenbach en 'n nasionale finansiële depressie, maar dit het teen 1900 herstel, die jaar dat die maatskappy die Brownie -kamera bekendgestel het, wat vir een dollar verkoop is. Met die koms van die twintigste eeu het 'n kombinasie van innovasie, deursettingsvermoë en hardkoppige besigheidsin die Eastman -onderneming internasionaal aan die voorpunt van die fotografiese industrie geplaas, 'n posisie wat hy nooit prysgegee het nie.
George Eastman het nooit getrou nie, hoewel hy 'n lang platoniese verhouding met Josephine Dickman, 'n opgeleide sanger en die vrou van die sakevennoot George Dickman, aangegaan het, en hy was veral na aan haar na die dood van Maria Eastman in 1907. 'n Bekende filantroop, Eastman het meer as $ 100 miljoen aan liefdadigheidsorganisasies weggegee en gedurende sy leeftyd 'n punt daarvan gemaak om dit te doen, eerder as om 'n stigting te stig. Hy was ook 'n ywerige reisiger en musiekliefhebber. Met die oog op die lewe in 'n rolstoel, het hy op 14 Maart 1932 sy eie lewe geneem met 'n outomatiese pistool.
Eastman die entrepreneur
Die belangrikste historiese belang van George Eastman was as 'n sake -entrepreneur. Hy bou 'n nuwe en vinnig groeiende multinasionale korporasie wat die fotografiese industrie in sy tyd verander het en wat meer as 'n eeu lank wêreldwye leierskap gebied het. Eastman was vir die fotografiese industrie wat John D. Rockefeller vir die oliebedryf was en James Duke vir die tabakbedryf, 'n vasberade Amerikaanse entrepreneur van internasionale betekenis.
Met behulp van sy bekendstelling van die gewilde Kodak -kamera, het Eastman die klein, slaperige Amerikaanse fotografiese industrie wat hy in 1880 betree het, herskep. Oorheers deur 'n paar nasionale voorraadhuise en 'n relatief klein aantal professionele ateljeefotograwe, staar die ou bedryf voor 'n jong, aanhoudende sakeman te staan. . Hy herskep die bedryf vinnig in 'n hoogs innoverende en vinnig groeiende onderneming, waar een massiewe onderneming wêreldwyd bekend geword het.
Die Rochester -entrepreneur het die inisiatief aangeneem in 'n tyd toe ander Amerikaanse sake -innoveerders ook die nuwe nasionale mark in die gesig staar wat ontstaan het met die voltooiing van die netwerk van Amerikaanse spoorweë. Net soos Eastman het hierdie sakemanne te kampe gehad met winsverminderende pryskompetisie. Die mees visioenêre het groot ondernemings gebou, dikwels deur die verkryging of samesmelting van mededingers of die bou van ondernemings met geïntegreerde bemarkings-, produksie- en grondstofvoorsieningsfasiliteite. Eastman het albei gedoen.
Teen die middel van die 1890's het Eastman se vroeëre ervaring in die onderneming hom oortuig dat sowel amateur- as professionele fotograwe bereid was om 'n premieprys te betaal om kwaliteit en absolute betroubaarheid van fotosensitiewe materiale soos rolfilm, droë plate en fotografiese drukpapier te verseker. Gevolglik het Eastman 'n ontwikkelende, veelvlakkige reeks sakestrategieë ontwikkel wat daarop gemik was om hoë winste te behou deur mee te ding met die kwaliteit van die produk, betroubaarheid en verbeterings in plaas van om teen laer pryse mee te ding. Hierdie strategieë behels 1) vervaardiging van hoë kwaliteit en betroubare fotosensitiewe materiale 2) deurlopende verbeterings in rolfilmkameras 3) verkryging van mededingende ondernemings 4) integrasie van bemarking, produksie en grondstofvoorsiening in een onderneming 5) navorsing oor superioriteit in fotografiese wetenskap en tegnologie en 6) ontwikkeling van sleutelpersoneel om winste te optimaliseer en uiteindelik die topbestuursposte in die onderneming te erf.
Eastman het reeds in die middel van die 1890's strategieë vir voortdurende verbeterings in rolfilmkameras verwoord, wat die ontwikkeling van nuwe kamerafunksies binne die onderneming insluit en die aankoop van die patente daarvoor by ander. Tussen 1895 en 1898 het Eastman selfs drie klein kameramaatskappye gekoop om patente te bekom.
Sedert 1885, toe hy begin om fotografiese drukpapier te vervaardig, het Eastman hard geveg om 'n aansienlike markaandeel te behou. Om 'n mededingende voordeel te verkry, het hy en Charles Abbott, president van 'n mededingende fotopapieronderneming, in 1898 'n eksklusiewe kontrak vir Noord -Amerika beding vir die aankoop van rou papier by die groot internasionale verskaffer, die General Paper Company. Hierdie onderneming, geleë in Brussel, België, vervaardig die beste rou papier ter wêreld vir fotografiese vervaardigers. Eastman en Abbott het toe hul beheer oor rou papier gebruik om die afdeling vir fotografiese papier van Eastman Kodak te kombineer met Abbott se onderneming en twee ander groot fotografiese papierondernemings. Binne drie jaar het Eastman Kodak hierdie stroper verkry en die sektor oorheers.
Tussen 1902 en 1904 vestig Eastman die aandag op droë borde, en verkry een Engelse en drie groot Amerikaanse produsente. Hy verkry nie net oorheersing in die sektor nie, maar verkry ook belangrike emulsievervaardigingsgeheime wat die kwaliteit van rolprente versterk het en gehelp het om wêreldwye oorheersing onder amateurfotograwe en kinematograwe te behou.
Binne 'n dekade het George Eastman die meeste van die vooraanstaande Amerikaanse ondernemings in Eastman Kodak gekonsolideer in die verskillende produksiesektore van die bedryf. Boonop het hy sy onderneming gevorm tot 'n groot multinasionale onderneming met produksie- en verspreidingsfasiliteite regoor die wêreld. Dit is opmerklik dat Eastman hierdie konsolidasie bewerkstellig het sonder die 'voordeel' van magtige J. P. Morgan-agtige beleggingsbankiers.
Intussen het Eastman, net soos Rockefeller, Duke, Ford en andere, begin om die funksies wat voorheen deur afsonderlike bemarkingshuise, produksiemaatskappye en materiaalondernemings uitgevoer is, in Eastman Kodak bymekaar te bring. Aanvanklik was sy klein onderneming 'n vervaardigingsonderneming, maar teen die middel van die 1880's het hy sy eie verkoopsafdeling begin ontwikkel, selfs 'n vestiging in Londen gevestig. In die eerste dekade van die 20ste eeu brei hy wêreldwyd uit en koop hy twintig groot fotografiese winkels in groot stede in die VSA en in Kanada. Intussen het hy basiese grondstowwe begin beheer deur middel van langtermynkontrakte soos dié met die General Paper Company. Daarna het hy geleidelik die vermoë opgebou om noodsaaklik materiaal te vervaardig, soos rou papier, gelatien, chemikalieë en lense. Hy het selfs 'n steenkoolmyn gekoop vir die brandstofbehoeftes van die onderneming.
Die vervaardiging, verkope en produksie van grondstowwe wat in een onderneming saamgevoeg is, behaal gekoördineerde, betroubare bedrywighede wat bygedra het tot die groei en verhoogde winsgewendheid van die Eastman Kodak Company. In 1912 het Eastman die Engelse fotograaf, dr C.E. Kenneth Mees, aangestel om die Eastman Kodak Research Laboratory in Rochester, New York, te stig en te lei. Eastman het vir Mees gesê dat sy nuwe laboratorium 'n dekade lank nie 'n praktiese produk hoef te produseer nie, maar dat hy die verantwoordelikheid het vir 'die toekoms van fotografie'. Mees en ander lede van Eastman se noukeurig gekose bestuurspan het inderdaad die toekoms van die onderneming verseker. Dit was Eastman se enigste kind, wat 'n halfeeu lank gekoester is deur die mees visioenêre entrepreneur van die fotografiese bedryf.
Eastman patenteer 'n droogplaatproses
Toe George Eastman in 1877 begin fotografie studeer het, is foto's geneem met 'n proses wat natbordfotografie genoem word. Hy het hierdie proses later beskryf toe hy sy eerste fotografiese uitstappies deur Rochester met sy mentor George Monroe onthou:
Eastman het van die begin af besluit om hierdie proses te vereenvoudig. Toe hy nie by sy bankwerk werk nie, eksperimenteer hy voort met fotografie en neem, om sy kennis uit te brei, 'n inskrywing op die "British Journal of Photography". Die eerste uitgawe wat hy ontvang het, wat in Februarie 1878 aangekom het, bevat interessante nuus: Charles Bennett het 'n formule ontwikkel wat droëplaatemulsies vinniger maak.
Dit was al die aanmoediging wat Eastman nodig gehad het. Onopgeleid en sonder geloofwaardigheid begin hy die fotografiese literatuur verslind en korrespondeer met soveel mede -amateurs as wat hy kon vind. Hy het 'n professionele persoon, Carey Lea, gekontak en hom met vrae gesels totdat die onderwyser die student geword het. Dikwels het sy ma die oggend op die vloer geslaap.
Eastman het aanvanklik geëksperimenteer met sy formule van ryp gelatien en silwerbromied deur dit uit 'n waterkoker op 'n glasbord te gooi en dit dan met 'n glasstaaf te versprei. Hierdie metode was tydrowend en dus duur, en daarom het hy 'n dekmasjien volgens sy spesifikasies laat bou. In sy oorkoepelende strewe na eenvoud het hy ook 'n kamera laat bou wat ligter was as die standaard wat beskikbaar is. Met hierdie stelsel het hy sy eerste droë plaatfoto geneem: 'n uitsig op die Charles P. Ham-gebou oorkant die straat van sy venster.
Eastman se aandag aan 'n dekmasjien en 'n liggewigkamera wys hoe hy in 'n vroeë stadium dink aan produksiekoste. En inderdaad, in 'n tyd toe vernuwers van droë plate die advertensieblaaie van fotografiese tydskrifte verstop het, is die doeltreffendheid in produksie wat Eastman sou laat opval. Maar in 1878 was hy nog steeds 'n geringe bankklerk met min kapitaal tot sy beskikking. Uit 'n mate van ongevoeligheid het hy sy oom, Horace Eastman, gevra vir 'n lening, maar Horace se vrou was pas toegewyd aan 'n kranksinnige asiel, en daar was geen geld vir die kwartale nie.
Eastman het onverskrokke 'n meer riskante plan beraam: hy sou na Londen gaan, waar die droëplate-onderneming groei, die regte op sy dekmasjien verkoop en die geld gebruik om sy eie onderneming tuis te begin. Eastman het dus 400 dollar uit sy spaarrekening gedreineer, sonder 'n persoonlike kontak in Londen op sy naam en, meer krities, sonder om 'n patent op sy masjien te verkry.
Op sy eerste dag in Londen marsjeer Eastman in die kantore van die "British Journal of Photography." Die gesogte redakteur van die tydskrif, W. B. Bolton, was ongelowig en miskien selfs 'n bietjie toets, maar toe Eastman wys wat hy kan doen, het Bolton belowe om deure vir hom oop te maak. Dit het Eastman gelei na Charles Fry, wie se maat Charles Bennett was-dieselfde man wie se droogplaatproses hy vir sy eie gebruik aangepas het. Aangesien Bennett en Fry nie in staat was om hul bestellings te vul deur gebruik te maak van die nuutste stand van sake in die droëbordbedryf nie, keer Eastman terug na Amerika en kontak George Selden, nog een van sy mentors en 'n bekwame patentadvokaat. Saam het hulle in September 1879 'n patent op sy dekmasjien aangevra.
Terwyl hy op resultate van die Patent Office gewag het, het Eastman voortgegaan om met Fry in Londen te onderhandel. Uiteindelik het niks daarvan gekom nie. Maar teen April 1880, toe hy 'n patent ontvang vir 'n 'metode en apparaat vir die bedek van plate vir fotografie', het die woord van sy dekmasjien begin versprei. Die implikasie vir fotograwe was duidelik: as droë plaatfotografie van gelatien lewensvatbaar gemaak sou word, hoef hulle nie meer hul eie borde op die perseel te maak nie, maar kan hulle dit vooraf by 'n vervaardiger koop.
Eastman was gretig om voordeel te trek uit hierdie momentum en het 'n kamer gehuur bo 'n musiekwinkel in die finansiële distrik van Rochester en met sy dekmasjien droë borde begin draai. Die fabriek was 'n studie in die woeste ekonomie, met kompartemente vir alles, tot by sy handdoeke. Hierdie toewyding aan doeltreffendheid het vinnig vrugte afgewerp. Teen Julie het hy 'n nuwe, verbeterde dekmasjien om te bevorder. Teen Augustus het Edward Anthony, hoof van die mees gesogte nasionale fotografiese voorraadhuis in Amerika, Eastman se borde gekoop. Kapitaal het aangekom voordat die jaar uit was by Henry Strong, 'n familievriend.
Drie jaar nadat hy sy eerste foto geneem het, was George Eastman op pad.
Eastman en Massaproduksie
Alhoewel dit nie gereeld opgemerk word nie, het George Eastman se droom van 'n kamera wat vir die massas vervaardig kon word, staatgemaak op die bestaan van verwisselbare onderdele. Aan die einde van die negentiende eeu was dit nog steeds 'n grootliks ongetoetste beginsel, met 'n rotsagtige geskiedenis wat amper tot aan die begin van die Republiek strek.
Die eerste figuur om die doel van verwisselbare onderdele te probeer bereik, was Eli Whitney. Nadat hy sy poging om sy katoen -jenewer te bemark, in 'n ramp beland, het Whitney in 1797 tot die idee van geweervervaardiging gewend. Destyds het die kongres 'n aanval van Napoleon verwag. As gevolg van hierdie vrees, kon Whitney die gebruik van regeringskontrakte vir wapenhandelaars begin - 'n gewoonte wat tot vandag toe voortduur.
Die kontrak was verstommend vrygewig. Met ingang van 21 Junie 1798 het Whitney gevra om 10 000 muskiete te vervaardig, waarvan die eerste 4 000 in 'n jaar en 'n half afgelewer sou word. Vir elke musket wat hy afgelewer het, sou hy $ 13,40 ontvang, vir 'n totaal van $ 134,000, met vooruitgang onderweg, indien nodig. Wat hierdie aantreklike som nog meer verbasend gemaak het, was die feit dat Whitney byna geen kennis gehad het van die maak van wapens in 'n tyd waarin die beste wapens nie meer as 5000 gewere per jaar kon vervaardig nie.
Whitney het 'n fabriek in East Haven, Connecticut, opgerig en sy werkers hard gery, maar sy eerste sperdatum op 30 September 1799 het hy geen muskiete gehad om vir homself te wys nie. Hy het inderdaad nie eens sy wapenrusting toegerus nie. Hy dink vinnig en skryf 'n brief aan die minister van buitelandse sake, Oliver Wolcott, waarin hy 'n 'nuwe beginsel' in die vervaardiging aankondig. Hy beweer dat hierdie beginsel 'n rewolusie in die wapenindustrie sal maak, selfs al verbeter dit die kwaliteit van die goedere.
'Een van my belangrikste doelwitte', het hy geskryf, 'is om gereedskap te vorm sodat die gereedskap self die werk kan vorm en aan elke onderdeel die regte verhouding gee - wat, sodra dit bereik is, ekspedisie, eenvormigheid en akkuraatheid aan die geheel gee . " Wolcott was geïntrigeerd en het verlenging toegestaan, op voorwaarde dat Whitney sy resultate demonstreer.
In Januarie 1801, voor 'n gehoor wat president John Adams en die ou vriend van Whitney, Thomas Jefferson, ingesluit het, het Whitney persoonlik getoon hoe hy 10 verskillende slotte in dieselfde musket kan inpas met slegs 'n gewone skroewedraaier. Daarna het hy 'n beter een gedoen en 100 verskillende slotte uitmekaar gehaal, hulle stukke geskarrel en weer aanmekaar gesit "deur die eerste stukke te neem wat byderhand kom." Sy gehoor was verbaas.
Ongelukkig was die slotte van Whitney nie eens op afstand verwissel nie. Soos later ontdek is, het sy individuele slotkomponente almal die merke van individueel gevormde stukke. Die historikus Merritt Roe Smith is kategories hieroor: "Whitney moes sy demonstrasie van 1801 opgevoer het met eksemplare wat spesiaal vir die geleentheid voorberei is."
Baie Amerikaanse nyweraars het blitsig beweer dat hulle uitruilbaar was na Whitney sonder die minste bewyse om hul bewerings te ondersteun. Samuel Colt, die uitvinder van die sesskieter, het selfs saamgewerk met Eli Whitney, Jr., om die illusie van sukses te verbeter. Maar eintlik het die werklike vooruitgang in Engeland plaasgevind terwyl die Amerikaners vroetel.
Henry Maudslay het grootgeword rondom die werwe van Woolwich, waar hy hom op 'n vroeë ouderdom nuttig gemaak het deur patrone vir die plaaslike arsenaal te maak en te vul. Op die ouderdom van 13 het hy die beroemde slotmaker en loodgietersgenie Joseph Bramah se oog getrek. Maar Maudslay was te helder om 'n ander genie lank te bly. Toe Bramah weier om hom 'n verhoging te gee, het hy op sy eie toegeslaan.
Teen 1797 het Maudslay sy eie winkel opgerig en 'n skuifstoel -draaibank ontwikkel, wat verbeterde was op vroeëre draaibanke, sowel in die snelheid as in die presisie waarmee dit metaal kon sny. In werklikheid het Maudslay se draaibank, wat 'n lemmetjie van smeltkroes bevat, gemonteer op akkuraat geskaafde driehoekige balke, hom in staat gestel om op groot skaal werk te doen, terwyl hy die slotmaker of die klokmaker se presisie behou het.
In die jaar 1808 vind Maudslay in Portsmouth houtblokkies, wat grootliks aan boord van vlootskepe gebruik is om gewere vinnig in die vuurposisie te skuif. Destyds het 'n vaartuig van die derde klas 1400 blokke benodig, wat almal met die hand gemaak is. Dit was geen probleem vir Maudslay nie, wat 130 000 blokke per jaar kon vervaardig.
Maudslay se werk het die weg gebaan vir die vervaardiging van verwisselbare onderdele, en hy het spoedig baie gewild geraak by aspirant -ingenieurs. Onder sy talle vakleerlinge was Joseph Whitworth, wat meetinstrumente ontwikkel het wat akkuraat was tot 'n miljoenste van 'n duim. Dit was 'n noodsaaklike stap, want uitruilbaarheid was afhanklik van presies bewerkte onderdele, wat natuurlik meetbaar moes wees om dit te kan maak.
Whitworth het verder 'n metode beskryf vir die standaardisering van skroefdrade in 'n papier uit 1841 met die titel "'n Eenvormige stelsel met skroefdraad." Die eerste gestandaardiseerde skroewe het gou gevolg, en daarmee was massaproduksie uiteindelik binne bereik.
In 'n era toe handgemaakte masjinerie nog steeds die norm was, het pogings om presiese gereedskap op spesifieke produkte toe te pas, noodwendig van geval tot geval gekom. Die bekendste voorbeeld is natuurlik Henry Ford se Model T -motor, wat eers in 1909 van sy monteerbane af gerol het. Maar eintlik het George Eastman daar gekom voor Ford.
Terwyl Eastman vroeg besef het dat sy wins in filmverkope lê, weet hy ook dat hy glad nie 'n film sal verkoop as sy kameras nie werk nie. Die Eastman-Walker-rolhouer, wat in 1885 bekendgestel is, het getoon hoe goed hy hierdie probleem oorweeg het. Alhoewel dit 17 afsonderlike onderdele bevat, kon sy onderneming van die begin af 'n groot hoeveelheid bestellings hanteer. Dit word nog duideliker in 1888, toe die rolhouer by die Kodak "rolhouer -borskamera" opgeneem is en die verkope in ses maande tot 5000 eenhede gestyg het. Alhoewel hierdie produk soms afgebreek het, was die onderdele eintlik uitruilbaar en daarom relatief maklik om te herstel, selfs al het Eastman tred gehou met die verkope.
Na 'n eeu van valse aansprake, was die slagspreuk van ten minste een Amerikaner - Kodak se "You press the button, we do the rest" - meer as 'n leë roem.
Eastman bemark die Kodak -lyn
Eastman se bemarkingsloopbaan het in 1885 begin, toe hy die Eastman-Walker-rolhouer bekendgestel het, wat 'n reeks blootstellings deur die kamera gemaak het. Met hierdie uitvinding is 'n heel nuwe konsep in fotografie bekendgestel - 'n kamera wat almal kan gebruik. Sy uitdaging was om hierdie konsep duidelik te maak vir 'n publiek wat gewoond is aan die beskouing van fotografiese toerusting as verbiedend en duister.
Eastman se eerste hou was miskien sy briljantste. 'N Handelsnaam, soos hy dit gesien het, "mag niks beteken nie. As die naam nie 'n woordeboekdefinisie het nie, moet dit slegs met u produk geassosieer word." Vir hierdie doel het hy die term Kodak bedink en gemerk, wat maklik was om te onthou en moeilik is om verkeerd te skryf.
Die eerste keer wat dit in Desember 1887 gebruik is, het 'n veldbrand geword. In amper geen tyd word Kodak as selfstandige naamwoord, werkwoord en byvoeglike naamwoord gebruik. Mense wat die produk gebruik het, staan bekend as Kodakers, en die letter K het 'n eerlike spel geword vir almal wat kon uitvind hoe om dit in 'n naam op te neem: Kola, Kersfees, Kolumbusdag. The Kodak Kid en Kodak Komics het opgekom, net soos *Captain Kodak *, 'n roman vir jong volwassenes deur Alexander Black. 'N Valse Kodak Company het 'n winkel in Florida opgerig, en talle ander het die regsafdeling van Eastman besig gehou om die oortredings van die handelsmerk na te jaag.
Die naam was 'n gunstige begin, maar dit was skaars die enigste strategie wat Eastman ingehaal het. Van die begin af het hy besef dat die lewensaar van sy onderneming by kinders lê, wat fotograwe sou laat belangstel lank nadat die nuutheid van die kamera verdwyn het. Die vroeë Kodak -advertensies toon hierdie wysheid aan die werk, aangesien hy moeite gedoen het om gesinsgebeurtenisse in verband met sy produk uit te beeld. As 'n eenmalige amateurskilder, het hy selfs 'n sekere styl vir ontwerp in hierdie advertensies getoon, en dit in grootdruk gedruk met elegante lyntekeninge in 'n tyd toe die tipiese advertensie besig was met inligting. Volgens oorlewering was dit ook Eastman wat die idee kry van die heldergeel verpakking wat selfs vandag op die rakke vol handelsware uitstaan.
Na die sukses van die sukses het dit egter duidelik geword dat Eastman homself te dun rek, sodat hy begin rondtrek het dat iemand die advertensie vir die onderneming kon oorneem. Hy het presies die regte man gevind in Lewis Burnell Jones, 'n gegradueerde aan die Universiteit van Rochester en werk toe vir 'n koerant in Syracuse, wat hy in Maart 1892 gehuur het. .
Jones het sy aangebore begrip getoon van waarheen die fotografieonderneming op pad was toe hy aan 'n onderhoudvoerder gesê het dat "dit die sjarme van fotografie is, nie net hierdie klein swart boks wat aan die publiek verkoop moet word nie." Hy het inderdaad nie eens instruksies in die maatskappyplan nodig nie. Op 'n dag roep Eastman hom na sy kantoor en vra hom waarom sy kopie so goed is. Toe Jones dit waag omdat dit vir die publiek geskryf is en nie vir die baas nie, het Eastman vir hom gesê: "Van nou af wil ek geen advertensies sien voordat dit gedruk is nie." Met hierdie ooreenkoms het die publiek slagspreuke gelees soos 'As dit nie 'n Oosman is nie, is dit nie 'n Kodak nie', 'Voorbeeld! Kodak as jy gaan!' en die harde verkoop "Die momentopname wat jy môre wil hê, moet jy vandag neem."
Miskien was die doeltreffendste advertensietegniek wat uit die Eastman -onderneming gekom het, egter nie woorde nie, maar 'n beeld: die Kodak Girl. Dit was Eastman, die meerjarige bachelor, wat hierdie idee (alhoewel hy dit wel geleen het uit die Gibson Girls -veldtog) in 1888 aan die publiek opgedoen het toe hy 'n jong vrou buite in 'n gestreepte rok uitrust en haar foto met 'n kamera in haar hand. Aanvanklik is die Kodak Girls in lyntekeninge weergegee, maar in 1901, met verbeterings in halftoon, drukwerk, fotografie, verskyn die eerste fotografies geïllustreerde Kodak Girl in 'n koerantadvertensie.
Die Kodak Girl, 'n onafhanklike reisiger, was gerieflik beide 'n fotograaf en 'n fotografiese onderwerp, en deur die jare het baie 'n seun (en man) 'n geheime bewonderaar geword, terwyl ontelbare meisies haar voorkoms gekopieer het. So laat as in die sestigerjare het die tradisie voortgegaan, terwyl modelle in gestreepte pakke op die strande van Engeland afgesny is en foto's geneem het van wie daar ook al was. Teen hierdie tyd het die reklameveldtog van Eastman natuurlik so diep in mense se gedagtes ingegrawe dat niemand van die betekenis daarvan in kennis gestel hoef te word nie. Om foto's te neem van pragtige meisies met Kodak -kameras in hul hande, wat self foto's geneem het, was eenvoudig iets wat almal gedoen het.
Die Kodak -kamera begin raas
Die bekendstelling van die Kodak -kamera van Mei 1888 was 'n dramatiese gebeurtenis. Alhoewel dit $ 25 gekos het (baie geld in daardie dae, maar minder as die koste van natplaat-kameras), was dit maklik om te gebruik, soos Eastman duidelik gemaak het met sy advertensieslagspreuk: "Druk op die knoppie, ons doen die rus. "
En mense het wel op die knoppie gedruk. Teen Augustus het Eastman probleme ondervind met die invul van bestellings, aangesien Kodak -kameras die openbare arena binnekom. President Grover Cleveland besit een, hoewel hy blykbaar traag was om die sleutel te draai wat die film gevorder het, net soos die Dalai Lama, wat syne saamgeneem het toe hy die eerste keer uit Tibet vertrek het. Gilbert en Sullivan het Eastman die uiteindelike kompliment gegee deur sy produk in die lied vir die operette "Utopia" te verewig:
Dan neem die hele skare ons voorkoms af in sak -memorandumboeke. Om ons beskeie houding te diagnoseer. Die Kodaks doen hul bes: as u bewyse het van wat jaloers is op die eerste keer, het u 'n knoppie nodig- en ons doen die res!
Die voorkoms van Eastman se kameras was so skielik en so deurdringend dat die reaksie in sommige oorde vrees was. 'N Persoon met die naam "kamera -vyand" het by strandoorde begin verskyn en op die perseel rondgeloop totdat hy vrouebaders onverwags kon vang. Een oord het die neiging so sterk gevoel dat dit 'n kennisgewing geplaas het: "MENS IS VERBOD OM HUL KODAKS OP DIE STRAND TE GEBRUIK." Ander plekke was nie veiliger nie. Kodak -kameras is vir 'n tydperk van die Washington -monument verbied. Die 'Hartford Courant' het ook alarm gemaak en verklaar dat 'die kalm burger' geen grappigheid kan geniet sonder om die gevaar te kry om op die daad vasgevang te word en dat sy foto onder sy kinders van die Sondagskool kan rondbeweeg '.
Skreeusnaakheid was egter die sleutel. Waar die daguerreotipe en sy opvolgers van die nat plaat stilte van hul onderdane vereis het, kon die Kodak-kamera hul spontaniteit vasvang. Hierdie nuwe beelde van mense was so oortuigend dat dit vandag moeilik is om te glo dat iemand in die tyd van die daguerreotipe enigsins pret gehad het.
Het die momentopname bloot emosies opgetel wat voorheen kameras ontwyk het, of het dit werklik die manier waarop mense oor hulself voel, verander? Die vraag is uiteindelik onbeantwoord, maar dit is beslis waar dat die Kodak -kamera Amerika vasgevang het op die oomblik toe Amerika nuwe hoogtes van lewendigheid bereik het. Oral was die tempo aan die toeneem. Die eerste motors verskyn op straat. Telefone het begin om die huise van gewone burgers te bevredig. Filmprente, wat gedeeltelik moontlik gemaak is deur Eastman se bydrae tot selluloïedfilm, het eintlik al hierdie aktiwiteite opgeneem en dit dan versnel om dit aan kykers voor te stel.
Natuurlik het dieselfde verpersoonliking van pret ook aan die rand van New York ontstaan. Coney Island, bekend vir soveel dinge, was 'n ware fotogeniese hemel. Waar besoekers eers tevrede moes wees met die Camera Obscura Observatory (opgerig in 1883), het hulle skielik die krag van die beelde in hul hande gehou: kiekies op die Reuzenrad, kiekies op die achtbane, hulle kon byna oral foto's neem.
In nog 'n voorbeeld van serendipiteit is die Brownie -kamera, wat die prys van 'n Kodak -kamera tot 'n werklik demokratiese dollar laat daal het, in 1900 bekendgestel, net soos Coney Island 'n poskaartontploffing ondergaan het. In 1898, met die verbetering van die druktegnieke en die toename in vervoersnelhede, is die koste van poskaarte verlaag van twee sent na een, en poskaarte begin met 'n verstommende tempo van Coney Island versprei: op 'n enkele dag in September 1906, ongelooflike 200 000 poskaarte is vanaf Coney Island gemerk.
Alhoewel die foto's op die Coney Island -poskaarte in die algemeen nie met Brownie -kameras geneem is nie, was dit tog 'n kragtige simbool vir hul ontvangers, wat vir die eerste keer gesien het hoe lekker fotografie kan wees. Die twintigste eeu het aangebreek, en daarmee saam die beeld van 'n glimlaggende Amerika.
Eastman Kodak stel volkleurfotografie bekend
Met die koms van die twintigste eeu en sy bedwelmende ritmes, het baie innoveerders hul soeke na die middele verskerp om fotografie in kleur te gee. George Eastman was net so geïnteresseerd as almal om die probleem te oorkom. Indeed, convinced (correctly) that color photography would be mostly the province of amateurs, he dedicated himself to finding a process that not only could offer the complete spectrum of colors but would be simple to use. He eventually found one, although it would not turn out to be simple to develop.
In 1910, when Eastman established a color laboratory at Kodak Park under the leadership of MIT graduate Emerson Packard, lantern slides and hand-colored prints were enjoying tremendous popularity. Among the more successful marketers of lanterns slides were the Lumiere brothers, who a decade earlier had stunned the world with their projected motion pictures. The Lumieres offered to sell their lantern-slide operation to Eastman, but a visit to their Paris offices revealed a family operation in disarray, and Eastman, a prim bachelor with strict business standards, left in disgust.
Nevertheless, the European trip had strengthened Eastman's resolve. "I spent a good deal of time on new developments in color," he wrote of the trip, "which I hope will develop into something commercial." At Kodak Park, he instructed Packard to proceed as best he could without infringing on the Lumiere patents.
A series of efforts led by Packard and other Kodak employees resulted in the first signs of victory: a process that used red and green filters and transformed negatives directly into positives. Dubbed Kodachrome, the color process would no doubt have gone to market, but progress was stalled by the outbreak of World War I. Adding insult to injury, Eastman's Kodachrome prints received poor reviews at a March 1915 demonstration at the Royal Photographic Society and at the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.
At this impasse, two complete amateurs entered the story and saved the day. Leopold Damrosch Mannes and Leopold Godowsky, Jr., both sons of famous musicians, had met as schoolmates and been drawn together by their mutual interest in sonatas and the Brownie camera. After seeing an early color movie, Mannes and Godowsky became convinced that they could do better and built a three-lens camera that combined the three primary colors projected as light. This had already been done by others, but in their excitement the failures of others did not seem worth exploring.
The two went on to college and met again in New York after graduation, whereon they fell to photographic experimentation again. With the help of impresario S. L. (Roxy) Rothafel, they were able to use the projection booth at the Rialto to produce their first dark, fuzzy pictures. Soon they had surpassed the efforts of others and were photographing a part of the color spectrum on double-layered plates -- in the bathtubs and sinks of their homes.
Their parents did not approve of these scientific forays, however, and so in 1922 they turned to George Eastman for financial help. Eastman proved non-committal, but two years later, Mannes and Godowsky were able to ingratiate themselves with C.E. Kenneth Mees, director of the Eastman Kodak Research Laboratory, and with that slender entree, to receive funding from other sources.
In 1930 the Eastman Kodak Company made improvements in color-movie technology, but it still lagged behind the Technicolor Motion Picture Corporation. Mees, anxious to remain at the forefront, finally agreed to hire Mannes and Godowsky. (By this time, Eastman himself, ill and five years into his retirement, was far from the action at Kodak Park.)
With the Eastman School of Music at their disposal, the duo were finally able to hit their stride, although their methods were confusing to those around them. At the school, they were known as "those color experts," at Kodak Park, as "man and God." Working in a completely light-tight darkroom, they timed their plate developing by whistling Brahms at two beats to the second, leaving their colleagues to wonder what had become of the famed Kodak efficiency ethic.
Doubts about Mannes and Godowsky increased as the Great Depression wore on. Mees, by then a vice president, could only hope for the best as he stalled other departments filled with accomplished chemists and pressured the musicians for results. Under these conditions, Mannes and Godowsky developed first a two-color film and then a three-color one, both of which could be easily used by amateurs.
The Kodachrome name was revived, and on April 15, 1935, Kodachrome motion picture film went on sale. Shortly after that, Eastman Kodak introduced Kodachrome film for color slides. The process by which this film was developed was -- and still is -- maddeningly complex, but as with everything else at Kodak, the amateur did not have to worry about that, since developing was handled by the company. Vivid color photography for everyday use had become a reality.
Eastman Becomes a Mystery Donor to MIT
On February 29, 1912, Frank Lovejoy, then the general manager of Eastman Kodak, wrote George Eastman, suggesting that "you may be willing to lend a helping hand, and I am writing to say that I should welcome an opportunity of placing the plans before you." The help Lovejoy was requesting was a donation to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, of which he was an alumnus.
MIT was planning to build a new campus, and though its board of trustees included such financial heavyweights as T. Coleman du Pont and engineer Arthur D. Little, they could only come up with $500,000 of the $750,000 needed for the plan. With Eastman in mind, Richard Cockburn Maclaurin, the president of MIT, had contacted Lovejoy, hoping he would act as an intermediary.
Eastman was extremely careful about where his money went and was apt to micro-manage its use. He was known to demand that the buildings he funded be constructed with a minimum of ornament so as to cut cost, a habit that led Claude Bragdon, who designed several building funded by Eastman, to compare his attitude to "that of Pharaoh." Alternately, Eastman might insist on extra expenses to create the proper effect, as when the University of Rochester was expanding its hospital, and he demanded the stairwell corners be painted white, on the theory that "only a hardened sinner would spit in a white corner." Most important perhaps was Eastman's lifelong interest in guarding his privacy, a requirement that became less sustainable with each bequest he made.
But Eastman had also long admired MIT. Not only were two of his top assistants, Lovejoy and engineer Darragh de Lancey, graduates of the school, but he had read several of Maclaurin's annual reports to MIT's trustees and was familiar with his plans.
Maclaurin and Eastman met on March 5 at the Hotel Belmont in New York City, and the meeting spilled over into the evening as Maclaurin waxed eloquent on his plans for the new campus at MIT. As the meeting finally drew to a close, Eastman asked, "What sum will be needed?"
"Two and a half million," Maclaurin replied.
Eastman immediately agreed to send a check in that amount, on one condition: that his gift remain anonymous. Maclaurin happily accepted these terms, although it put him in an unusual quandary. The term "anonymous giver" was altogether too clumsy for everyday use. After a time, he decided on "Mr. Smith" as a pseudonym and gave the public two small clues: Mr. Smith did not live in Massachusetts, and he had never attended MIT.
The creation of Mr. Smith was the closest Eastman ever came to cultivating a public persona. It became a kind of a game to guess his identity, though no one did. MIT students went so far as to write lyrics on the subject, which were sung to the tune of "Marching Through Georgia":
Bring the good old bugle, boys, and we'll sing another song,
Of "Mr. Smith" and Dupy and the Corporation throng
Of loyal Tech alumni, almost ten thousand strong,
Who give--what we want--when we want it.
Hurrah! Hurrah! for Tech and Boston beans,
Hurrah! Hurrah! for "Smith," who'er that means
May he always have a hundred million in his jeans,
So we'll get -- what we want -- when we want it.
And so it went for another eight years, during which time Eastman donated $20 million in cash and Kodak stock to MIT. So safe was his identity that in 1916 he attended a banquet to celebrate the new campus and even joined in as the alumni toasted the marvelous Mr. Smith.
Eastman continued to keep Maclaurin busy trying to satisfy his demands. In 1918 he offered MIT $4 million in Kodak shares if matching funds could be found by December 31, 1919. Finally, seeing that these stipulations were wearing Maclaurin down, Eastman agreed, as a consolation prize, to reveal himself as the mystery donor at the annual alumni dinner on January 10, 1920.
The revelation that Mr. Smith was George Eastman, the famous recluse of Rochester, was front-page news. Maclaurin did not live to enjoy it, however. Exhausted from raising the $4 million to match Eastman's request, he had come down with pneumonia in December 1919, and Maclaurin died a week later, at the age of 50. His speech revealing Eastman's identity had to be read by others.
Eastman went on to become one of the major philanthropists of his era. On December 10, 1924, he held a press conference to announce that, besides retiring from Eastman Kodak, he would donate the majority of his fortune rather than hold onto it. In the short term, this meant $30 million in bequests that he had earmarked for four institutions. Two of these were institutions of higher learning for African Americans -- the Hampton Institute and the Tuskegee Institute. The others were the University of Rochester, where he had already established the Eastman School of Music. For the remaining eight years of his life, he continued to give smaller amounts to favorite causes such as dental clinics and the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.
His reasons were plain enough. "If a man has wealth," he declared in 1923, "he has to make a choice, because there is the money heaping up. He can keep it together in a bunch, and then leave it for others to administer after he is dead. Or he can get it into action and have fun, while he is still alive. I prefer getting it into action and adapting it to human needs, and making the plan work."
Eastman Retires and Goes on a Safari
In 1917, Eastman, having given the world permission to smile, decided he might be permitted himself, and put it exactly that way. "I never smiled until I was forty," he said. "Since then, I have tried to win back something of the fun that other men had when they were boys."
This remark is rather curious, in that Eastman had been dedicated to the fine art of the vacation for decades. Having first thrown himself into his career after an trip to Hispaniola fell through in 1877, he had been traveling ever since--at first to London, then on bicycle tours of Europe and Russia, camping trips out West and, if all else failed, getaways to Oak Lodge, his North Carolina retreat.
But there was also a certain frustrated quality to his constant globetrotting. Upon returning home, he was typically quick to let people know how much fun his trips had been, yet fun is the one thing that seemed to be lacking. Eastman's notion of relaxation was to plan out every moment in the itineraries of his traveling companions, right down to the courses of their meals. In this respect, it makes some sense that he would feel the urge to make his final expeditions more dramatic than usual. If he was going to break through his own net of control, it would take more than a bicycle tour through St. Petersburg.
Fittingly, the plan was linked to film. In the early 1920s, Martin Johnson, an exclusive sales agent for Kodak cameras and supplies in Missouri, and his wife, Osa, traveled to Africa and returned with a film, "Trailing African Wild Animals." Martin Johnson approached the motion-picture department at Kodak, asking for backing for another safari. When Eastman gave them $10,000, they began tempting him to join them sometime.
Shortly after retiring from his own company in 1925 at the age of 72, Eastman took the Osa and Martin Johnson up on their offer, and once again, the Eastman mode of travel came to life. Martin Johnson wrote Eastman that he could travel as if going to London, and so he did. More than 200 small boxes of uniform size were shipped out of Kodak Park, assembled and numbered so as to end up on the appropriate native porters' heads. Once they were in the Kedong Valley of Kenya, far from civilization, Eastman rolled out the day's fare: corn meal and graham flour that had been sterilized back at Kodak Park, caviar and vintage wine served in crystal goblets on linen-spread table.
At the time, big game hunting was on the wane, and many species were already considered endangered. As it was, however, Eastman managed to have plenty of excitement without firing a shot.
While out on the hunt one day, the party encountered a rhinoceros. Eastman saw that its horns were unsuitable for trophy-taking purposes, so he decided to film it instead. As the Martin and Osa Johnson looked on, he moved within 20 feet of the beast, filming as he approached. Apparently, the camera was giving him trouble, because he failed to react at first when the rhino lowered its head and charged. He simply stood there, waiting until the animal came within 15 feet before stepping out of the way. For a moment, the rhino became more enraged and, in a second charge, came within two paces of Eastman, at which point it was brought down by a shot from one of the horrified onlookers.
A second safari in 1928 garnered Eastman several trophies for his wall, but after his brush with death, it was all an anticlimax. Inevitably, whenever he showed his rhino film to viewers back in the States, he was admonished for his foolhardiness. For once, he seemed to enjoy the reaction. To a friend he wrote: "The affair could not have been more perfect if it had been staged and was the opportunity of a lifetime."
Indeed, after a lifetime of heavily engineered adventures, George Eastman had finally experienced his Kodak moment.
George Eastman: The Final Shot
The end of a life often explains a great deal about how it was lived, and the manner of George Eastman's death is no exception.
At the age of 74, Eastman had grown noticeably thin and weak, and he had difficulty standing. Two years later, his gait had become slow and shuffling. A doctor of today would have diagnosed spinal stenosis, but even without a name to describe his condition, he knew that an invalid's life was in store for him. Having seen his mother live out her last two years in a wheelchair, he also knew well what that meant.
Normally tight-lipped about his personal affairs, Eastman had been letting slip how he felt about his circumstances. One occasion found him confessing to a friend that there wasn't much left to live for. A more vivid expression involved one of his extravagant domestic routines. He had long employed Harold Gleason, an organist, to perform for him in his own home as he ate his morning breakfast. One of Eastman's most common requests was *Marche Romaine*, from a Gounod opera, and, as his health deteriorated, he gradually came to refer to this piece as "my funeral march."
On March 14, 1932, Eastman invited some friends to witness a change of his will. After some joking and warm conversation, he asked them to leave so that he could write a note. Moments later, he shot himself once in the heart with an automatic pistol. The note found by the household staff read simply: "To my friends, My work is done--, Why wait?" When his casket was carried out of the Eastman House, the accompanying music was *Marche Romaine*.
Suicide is inevitably a puzzling act, and all the more so when carried out by an inventor, because it is so rare. Indeed, besides Eastman, only two famous American inventors have died by their own hand.
One of these was John Fitch, who in 1787 demonstrated his steamboat, the first working example of such in the world, to the attendees of the Constitutional Convention, only to be derided and scorned by the crowd. Pressing ahead, Fitch organized steamboat excursions between Philadelphia and Trenton to less than enthusiastic acclaim. The situation reached the height of absurdity when the Patent Office issued patents to both Fitch and his rival, James Rumsey, for essentially the same invention. Fitch's complaints to Thomas Jefferson, who as Secretary of State was also empowered to prosecute patents, were to no avail. On July 7, 1798, in a boardinghouse in Bardstown, Kentucky, Fitch wrote a note that lamented "Nobody will believe that poor John Fitch can do anything worthy of attention," and ended his troubles with a draught of poison.
Edwin Armstrong suffered much the same misfortunes as Fitch. The inventor of FM radio, the super-regenerative circuit and the superheterodyne -- all of which represented enormous leaps forward for radio -- Armstrong was mired for most of his life in lawsuits. The bitterest of these contests was with David Sarnoff, the mastermind behind RCA. By 1954, when it was clear that Sarnoff would win the rights to use FM radio technology, Armstrong put on an overcoat, a scarf and pair of gloves, removed the air conditioner from his 13th-floor apartment in New York City. and jumped. (Sarnoff's first reaction upon hearing the news was to say: "I did not kill Armstrong.")
George Eastman suffered some of the same problems as did these two Inventors -- most notably the crushing weight of patent battles. Like them, he ultimately lost the fight for one of his most cherished inventions for him it was transparent flexible film, the patent for which was awarded posthumously to Hannibal Goodwin. Yet for all that, Eastman went on to build a hugely successful business, which neither Fitch nor Armstrong was ever able to do.
One might forgive Eastman because he was suffering from a debilitating disease, but it is not quite enough to interpret his suicide as an exercise of his right to die (which he supported on a political level). Successful inventors, having seen the benefits of perseverance, typically do not go gentle into that good night. Thomas Edison suffered Bright's disease and a host of other illnesses in his final years, yet he plowed ahead with his characteristic dynamism right to the very end. George Westinghouse, for his part, approached death with plans to design an electric wheelchair that would help him get around. And, in fact, Eastman himself had known severe emotional pain, if not physical agony, many times during his life as he watched his loved ones die around him.
But Eastman parted company from his famous contemporaries in another respect as well. In addition to being optimists, inventors have generally found it difficult to keep their personalities in check. Their profession encourages them to brag and complain and, as often as not, to lose themselves entirely in their own enthusiasms, as Edison did when he embarked on a half-serious plan to communicate with the dead. For an inventor to appear mad almost comes with the territory.
If there is one thing that can be said about Eastman, it is that he was a rational man. Throughout his life, he sounded the same themes again and again -- adventure, happiness and control, and the greatest of these was control. The early death of his father and his family's subsequent poverty stamped him with an insatiable need for stability, which he found in bachelorhood and a financial empire and held close ever after. As far as he was concerned, there was no world beyond the one he could dominate. Even when he punctuated his labors with travel, his drive for order went with him in his compulsion to plan out every last detail of his itinerary. In this light, Eastman's career can be seen as act of self-sacrifice. With one of his cameras in hand, it became possible to capture an instant of abandon, even happiness, and so we came to possess, as part of our human heritage, images of people smiling on adventures large and small. Of course, Eastman was often caught in camera in far-off locations as well, but in the end one fact is inescapable: one must look long and hard to find a picture of George Eastman smiling. In harnessing his impulses, he gave the world an experience that he never permitted himself.
Having borrowed the word "snapshot" from a hunting term to describe a bullet fired at random, Eastman proved unable to do anything haphazardly -- certainly not hunting or even photography, both of which he approached with the same fastidiousness he brought to industrial manufacturing. It is perhaps the supreme irony of his life, then, that the last bullet he fired was no snapshot at all, but the final step in an event carefully designed to bring out the desired results. It was, in other words, simply the most efficient thing to do.
George Eastman - History
With the slogan "you press the button, we do the rest," George Eastman put the first simple camera into the hands of a world of consumers in 1888. In so doing, he made a cumbersome and complicated process easy to use and accessible to nearly everyone.
Just as Eastman had a goal to make photography "as convenient as the pencil," Kodak continues to expand the ways images touch people's daily lives.
A handwritten farewell
Finally deciding to take matters into his own hands, Eastman ended his life with a single gunshot to the heart on March 14, 1932, at the age of 77.
The handwritten note above and his death certificate (shown below) are both on display at George Eastman House museum in Rochester, New York.
Cause of death appears to read: &ldquoSuicide by shooting self in heart with a revolver while temporarily insane.&rdquo
George Eastman was cremated, and his ashes buried on the grounds of Kodak Park (now known as Eastman Business Park) in Rochester, New York &mdash on the site of the empire he created.
Historic Mansion
The Colonial Revival mansion, built between 1902 and 1905, served as George Eastman’s primary residence until his death in 1932. Today, visitors can explore the historic mansion on their own or on a guided tour, offered daily. Live music performances are offered in the mansion most Sunday afternoons throughout the year.
On the main floor, visitors enter from the museum through the Palm House and Colonnade, which also provides access to the Schuyler C. Townson Terrace Garden. Past the Colonnade, visitors enter the Dining Room and continue into the Conservatory, the center of the mansion. The Billiard Room, Library, Great Hall, and Living Room are all accessible from this large two-story room. Up the Grand Staircase on the second floor, visitors will see the restored bedroom suite of Maria Kilbourn Eastman (George Eastman’s mother), the north and south organ chambers behind latticework, the Sitting Room, exhibitions related to George Eastman and Eastman Kodak Company, and the Discovery Room, with hands-on image-making activities for kids.
The third floor, now used for museum offices, once housed Eastman’s screening room and workshop, as well as living quarters for household staff. Museum members can go behind the scenes to the third floor and the basement on the monthly Upstairs/Downstairs tours.
George Eastman - History
Great Museums: Picture Perfect: George Eastman House
Located on historic East Avenue in Rochester, New York, this special showcases the 12.5-acre museum site that was the urban estate of George Eastman, founder of Eastman Kodak Company. The Museum focuses on the 150-year history of the art, technology, and impact of photography and motion pictures — media that continue to change our perception of the world. The 1910 Colonial era house, where Eastman lived and died, offers a glimpse into the private world of this marketing genius who invented the word “Kodak” and made photographers of us all!
George Eastman
George Eastman (July 12, 1854 – March 14, 1932) was an American innovator and entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and popularized the use of roll film, helping to bring photography to the mainstream. Roll film was also the basis for the invention of motion picture film in 1888 by the world’s first film-makers Eadweard Muybridge and Louis Le Prince, and a few years later by their followers Léon Bouly,Thomas Edison, the Lumière Brothers, and Georges Méliès.
He was a major philanthropist, establishing the Eastman School of Music, and schools of dentistry and medicine at the University of Rochester and in London contributing to RIT and the construction of MIT‘s second campus on the Charles River and donating to Tuskegee and Hampton universities. In addition, he provided funds for clinics in London and other European cities to serve low-income residents.
In the last few years of his life Eastman suffered with chronic pain and reduced functionality due to a spine illness. On March 14, 1932 Eastman shot himself in the heart, leaving a note which read, “To my friends: my work is done. Why wait?”
U.S. patent no. 388,850, issued to George Eastman, September 4, 1888
Eastman was born in Waterville, New York to George Washington Eastman and Maria Eastman (née Kilbourn), the youngest child, at the 10-acre farm which his parents bought in 1849. He had two older sisters, Ellen Maria and Katie. He was largely self-educated, although he attended a private school in Rochester after the age of eight. His father had started a business school, the Eastman Commercial College in the early 1840s in Rochester, New York, described as one of the first “boomtowns” in the United States, with a rapid growth in industry. As his father’s health started deteriorating, the family gave up the farm and moved to Rochester in 1860. His father died of a brain disorder in May 1862. To survive and afford George’s schooling, his mother took in boarders.
Maria’s second daughter, Katie, had contracted polio when young and died in late 1870 when George was 16 years old. The young George left school early and started working. As George Eastman began to experience success with his photography business, he vowed to repay his mother for the hardships she had endured in raising him.
In 1884, Eastman patented the first film in roll form to prove practicable he had been tinkering at home to develop it. In 1888, he perfected the Kodak camera, the first camera designed specifically for roll film. In 1892, he established the Eastman Kodak Company, in Rochester, New York. It was one of the first firms to mass-produce standardized photography equipment. The company also manufactured the flexible transparent film, devised by Eastman in 1889, which proved vital to the subsequent development of the motion picture industry.
He started his philanthropy early, sharing the income from his business to establish educational and health institutions. Notable among his contributions were a $625,000 gift in 1901 (equivalent to $17.5 million in present day terms) to the Mechanics Institute, now Rochester Institute of Technology and a major gift in the early 1900s to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which enabled the construction of buildings on its second campus by the Charles River. MIT opened this campus in 1916.
Persoonlike lewe
George Eastman never married, because he carried on a long platonic relationship with Josephine Dickman, a trained singer and the wife of business associate George Dickman, and he became especially close to her after the death of his mother, Maria Eastman, in 1907. He was also an avid traveler and music lover.
His mother, Maria, was his main family for the majority of his life, and her death was particularly crushing to George. Almost pathologically concerned with decorum, he found himself unable for the first time to control his emotions in the presence of friends. “When my mother died I cried all day”, he explained later. “I could not have stopped to save my life”. Due to his mother’s hesitancy and refusal to take his gifts, George Eastman could never do enough for his mother during her lifetime. Thus, after she was gone, George opened the Eastman Theater in Rochester on September 4, 1922, among its features was a chamber-music hall dedicated to her memory: the Kilbourn Theater. And long after that, a rose cutting from her childhood home still flowered on the grounds of the Eastman House.
Later Years
George Eastman, 1917
Eastman was associated with Kodak company in an administrative and an executive capacity until his death he contributed much to the development of its notable research facilities. In 1911, he founded the Eastman Trust and Savings Bank. While discouraging the formation of unions at his manufacturing plant, he established paternal systems of support for his employees.
He was one of the outstanding philanthropists of his time, donating more than $100 million to various projects in Rochester Cambridge, Massachusetts at two historically black colleges in the South and in several European cities. In 1918, he endowed the establishment of the Eastman School of Music at the University of Rochester, and in 1921 a school of medicine and dentistry there.
In 1925, Eastman gave up his daily management of Kodak to become treasurer. He concentrated on philanthropic activities, to which he had already donated substantial sums. For example, he donated funds to establish the Eastman Dental Dispensary in 1916. He was one of the major philanthropists of his time, ranking only slightly behind Andrew Carnegie, John D. Rockefeller, and a few others, but did not seek publicity for his activities. He concentrated on institution-building and causes that could help people’s health. From 1926 until his death, Eastman donated $22,050 per year to the American Eugenics Society.
George Eastman donated £200,000 in 1926 to fund a dental clinic in London, UK after being approached by the Chairman of the Royal Free Hospital, Lord Riddell. This was in addition to donations of £50,000 each from Lord Riddell and the Royal Free honorary treasurer. On 20 November 1931, the Eastman Dental Clinic opened in front of Neville Chamberlain and the American Ambassador. The clinic was incorporated into the Royal Free Hospital and was committed to providing dental care for disadvantaged children from central London.
Infirmity and Suicide
In his final two years Eastman was in intense pain caused by a disorder affecting his spine. He had trouble standing, and his walk became a slow shuffle. Today it might be diagnosed as a form of degenerative disease such as disc herniations from trauma or age causing either painful nerve root compressions, or perhaps a type of lumbar spinal stenosis, a narrowing of the spinal canal caused by calcification in the vertebrae. Since his mother suffered the final 2 years of her life in a wheelchair, she also may have had a spine condition but that is unknown—only her uterine cancer and successful surgery is documented in her health history. If she did have a musculoskeletal disorder, perhaps George Eastman’s spine condition may have been due to a congenital disease, such as Ankylosing Spondylitis, degenerative disc disease, or a variant of Ehlers-Danlos collagen disorder—conditions known to be inheritable but usually presenting earlier in age. Eastman grew increasingly depressed due to his pain, reduced ability to function, and also since he witnessed his mother’s suffering from pain. On March 14, 1932, Eastman committed suicide with a single gunshot through the heart, leaving a note which read:
“To my friends, My work is done – Why wait?”
His funeral was held at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Rochester he was buried on the grounds of the company he founded at Kodak Park in Rochester, New York.
A First Day Cover Honoring George Eastman 1954.
During his lifetime Eastman donated $100 million to various organizations but most of the money went to the University of Rochester and to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (under the alias “Mr. Smith”). The Rochester Institute of Technology has a building dedicated to Eastman, in recognition of his support and substantial donations. In recognition of his donation to MIT, the university installed a plaque of Eastman (students rub their noses on the plaque for good luck.) Eastman also made substantial gifts to the Tuskegee Institute and the Hampton Institute. Upon his death, his entire estate went to the University of Rochester, where his name can be found on the Eastman Quadrangle of the River Campus. The auditorium at Mississippi State Universities Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering is named for Eastman in recognition of his inspiration to Swalm.
His former home at 900 East Avenue in Rochester, New York was opened as the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film in 1949. It has been designated a National Historic Landmark. In 1954, the 100th anniversary of his birth, Eastman was honored with a postage stamp from the United States Post Office. In the fall of 2009, a statue of Eastman was erected on the Eastman Quad of the University of Rochester.
In 1915, Eastman founded a bureau of municipal research in Rochester “to get things done for the community” and to serve as an “independent, non-partisan agency for keeping citizens informed”. Called the Center for Governmental Research, the agency continues to carry out that mission.
Eastman had a very astute business sense. He focused his company on making film when competition heated up in the camera industry. By providing quality and affordable film to every camera manufacturer, Kodak managed to turn its competitors into de facto business partners.
In 1926, George Eastman was approached by Lord Riddell, the Chairman of Royal Free Hospital, to fund a dental clinic in London. He agreed to give £200,000, which was matched by £50,000 each from Lord Riddell and Sir Albert Levy, the Royal Free’s honorary treasurer. The Eastman Dental Clinic was opened on November 20, 1931, by the American Ambassador in the presence of Neville Chamberlain. The building, which resembled the Rochester Dispensary, was totally integrated into the Royal Free Hospital and included three wards for oral, otolaryngology and cleft lip and palate surgery. It was dedicated to providing dental care for children from the poor districts of central London. In a similar manner, Eastman went on to establish dental clinics in Rome,Paris, Brussels, and Stockholm.
George Eastman - History
Eastman believed that a brand name should have no dictionary definition so that it was associated with the product alone. He coined the term Kodak because he thought the word was easy to remember and difficult to misspell.
Photos: Courtesy George Eastman House
A junior bookkeeper innovated processes and equipment to simplify photography, introduced the concept of the "snapshot," and created a way for millions of consumer-photographers to document their lives and preserve memories.
Losses Early in Life
George Eastman was born on July 12, 1854, in Waterville, New York. He lost his father when he was eight, and was raised by his mother, Maria. His older sister, Katie, died of polio in 1870, while George was still a teenager. If anyone could capitalize on a tool like photography -- which could document loved ones' likenesses for all time -- it would be someone like Eastman.
Pupil and Inventor
Invented in the 1830s, photography was a well-established professional occupation by the 1870s, but it was not a hobby for the masses. It required a knowledge of chemistry, mastery of cumbersome equipment, and an interest in laborious wet-plate processes. Eastman, in his early twenties, became the pupil of two Rochester, New York, amateur photographers, George Monroe and George Selden. He experimented in dry-plate photography, and developed a formula for gelatin-based paper film and a machine for coating dry plates. He went into business selling dry plates in April 1880, and soon resigned from his bookkeeping position at a local bank to focus on his fledgling company.
Technical Advances
In 1885, with camera inventor William Hall Walker, Eastman patented the Eastman-Walker Roll Holder, which allowed photographers to advance multiple exposures of paper film through a camera, rather than handle individual single-shot plates. The roll holder would define the basic technology of cameras until the introduction of digital photography. It also became the basis for the first mass-produced Kodak camera, initially known as the "roll holder breast camera," which retailed for $25 and started a photography craze. The term "Kodak" was coined by Eastman himself in 1887. In 1889, Eastman hired chemist Henry Reichenbach, who developed a transparent, flexible film which could be cut into strips and inserted into cameras. Thomas Edison would order the film to use in the motion-picture camera he was developing -- and it would soon become the centerpiece of the Eastman empire.
Photography for the Masses
During the 1890s, Eastman expanded his business, buying patents and investing in research and development. Faster films and smaller cameras meant photography could produce more spontaneous pictures -- "snapshots." In 1900, he introduced the "Brownie" camera, which sold for $1 and was a bullseye in the mass market. Eastman's insight was that his chemists could do the "photo finishing," but anyone could take pictures with a simple camera like the Brownie. Eastman had hit on a memorable slogan: You press the button, we do the rest." His business grew rapidly, helped by jingles and ads positioning the brand as an essential tool for preserving memories. A 1902 ad lectured, "A vacation without a Kodak is a vacation wasted." A blizzard of profits enabled Eastman to build a 50-room mansion in Rochester.
Final Years
Eastman continued to improve photography, introducing innovations including a process for color photography which he called Kodachrome. A generous philanthropist, Eastman gave away more than $100 million to charities, mostly in Rochester, during his lifetime. As he aged, he had increasing difficulty standing and walking. He could foresee living out his last years as his mother had, an incapacitated invalid. Facing the prospect of life in a wheelchair, he took his own life with an automatic pistol on March 14, 1932. His suicide note read, "To my friends. My work is done --, Why wait?"
Growth and new developments
Eastman expected that photography would soon become more popular, and in 1892 he established the Eastman Kodak
Daylight-loading film and cameras soon made it unnecessary to return the cameras to the factory. Eastman's old slogan changed to "You press the button, we do the rest, or you can do it yourself." A pocket Kodak was marketed in 1897, a folding Kodak in 1898, noncurling film in 1903, and color film in 1928. Eastman film was used in Thomas Edison's (1847�) motion pictures Edison's incandescent (glowing with intense heat) bulb was used by Eastman and by photographers specializing in "portraits (photographs of people) taken by electric light."
Eastman's staff worked on other scientific problems as well as on photographic improvements. During World War I (1914�) his laboratory helped build up America's chemical industry to the point where it no longer depended on Germany. Eventually America became the world leader.
Nou stroom
Meneer Tornado
Meneer Tornado is die merkwaardige verhaal van die man wie se baanbrekerswerk in navorsing en toegepaste wetenskap duisende lewens gered het en Amerikaners gehelp het om voor te berei op en te reageer op gevaarlike weerverskynsels.
Die Polio Kruistog
Die verhaal van die polio -kruistog bring hulde aan 'n tyd toe Amerikaners saamgespan het om 'n vreeslike siekte te oorwin. Die mediese deurbraak het talle lewens gered en het 'n deurdringende impak op die Amerikaanse filantropie gehad, wat vandag nog steeds gevoel word.
Amerikaanse Oz
Verken die lewe en tye van L. Frank Baum, die skepper van die geliefde Die wonderlike towenaar van Oz.
George Eastman
George Eastman was a renowned American inventor, businessman and founder of the Eastman Kodak company. He was born in 1854 in New York to George and Maria Eastman. His father died in 1862, when Eastman was 8 years old and one of his sisters died when he was 16. As a result, he felt the burden of responsibility and dropped out of school at an early age to begin working in order to support his mother financially. He was mostly self educated, and started off his career with odd jobs at insurance companies and banks.
At the age of 24, Eastman planned a trip to Santo Domingo when his colleague advised him to document the trip. The photography equipment however, was bulky and expensive. Eastman began to think of ways to make photography more manageable. He cancelled his trip, bought some photography equipment and began to research extensively on alternative methods of photography. He collaborated with amateur photographers and other inventors and by 1880, he had developed a gelatin based paper film. At this point he left his job and founded a small photography company. In 1885 he obtained a patent for a “roll holding device” that he had invented together with another inventor named William Hall Walker. Together the two of them had invented a much smaller and cheaper camera.
Eastman named his company “Kodak” (later changing it to “Eastman Kodak”) and launched the first Kodak camera in 1888. It was a compact box shaped device which could take 100 pictures and cost only $25. He coined the slogan “You press the button, we do the rest” in order to promote his products. His company also developed flexible film that could easily be inserted into cameras. This was a huge success and was even adapted by Thomas Edison for use in motion pictures. In the 1890’s the company suffered some financial setbacks due to the depression but recovered again by 1900 with the launch of the Brownie Camera for the price of $1 which was a huge success. Eastman also developed an unbreakable glass lens for use in gas masks and a special camera for taking pictures from planes, which was used in World War I.
Gerorge Eastman was never married, and had a close platonic friendship with his friend George Dickman’s wife named Josephine Dickman. He was very close to his mother and credited all his success and fortune to her as she had dedicated her entire life to helping him prosper. When Eastman’s mother died, he admitted to having cried for days at her loss. He established the Eastman Theatre in Rochester, New York and named the chamber music hall “Kilbourn Theatre” in her honor (Kilbourn was his mother’s maiden name).
Eastman was a great philanthropist and gave away huge chunks of his fortune to needy and deserving people. During his lifetime, he is thought to have given around $100 million to universities, hospitals, dental clinics and research facilities. He sometimes used the alias “Mr. Smith” when making donations as he never wished for publicity and fame. Some of the notable organizations he donated to were MIT, Rochester University and the Royal free Hospital. He established several charitable organizations of his own initiative such as Eastman Dental Clinics in London, Rome, Paris, Brussels and Stockholm.
In 1932, George Eastman committed suicide by shooting himself in the heart. The cause of this was a painful and degenerative spine disease which made it difficult for him to function normally. He left a suicide note which read “My work is done – why wait?”. Eastman’s legacy lives on and he will always be remembered and appreciated for his contribution to widespread commercial and personal photography. His net worth at the time of his death was US $95 million. After his death, his house in Rochester was converted into the “George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film“.
