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Feb/Mar 1889 - Eastman has Good Win
In America, the Rev. Hannibal Goodwin had finally overcome a problem with his celluloid film that had been bothering him for some time: curling of the film. Goodwin had solved the problem by applying a varnish sensitised with a gelatin emulsion to the celluloid. Early in 1889, Goodwin despatched a 17-foot length of film to George Eastman to be coated and sensitised. Goodwin was unaware at the time that Eastman was attempting to overcome the very same problem with his own celluloid.
In the middle of February, Eastman wrote to Goodwin to confirm that he had successfully coated his film with a sensitised emulsion as requested. Later that month (or possibly in early March) both George Eastman and Henry Reichenbach, a chemist in Eastman’s employ, applied for a patent on a transparent roll film made from a blend of camphor, fusel oil, and amyl nitrate dissolved in nitrocellulose and wood alcohol (although Eastman later withdrew his own application, leaving the field clear for Reichenbach to battle it out with Goodwin for the celluloid patent).
Eastman was now in a position to begin mass-producing a celluloid base roll film. The production process was relatively simple: a precisely mixed solution was poured over glass tables 50 feet long and 42 inches wide (the table length would later be increased to 250 feet when Eastman began producing the film for motion pictures). When the solution dried it formed a transparent flexible film that was then coated with the light-sensitive gelatin emulsion. The film was then cut into strips ready for insertion into cameras.
Eastman began producing and selling nitrocellulose film in the summer of 1889, although Reichenbach’s patent wasn’t issued until 10th December that year. He also changed the name of his organisation – capitalised at a cool million dollars – to “The Eastman Company”. [ADD]
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