Kodak camera (barrel shutter)

OBJECT TYPE: Camera
MANUFACTURER: Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company
FABRICATOR: Brownell Manufacturing Co.
FABRICATOR: Yawman & Erbe Manufacturing Co.
NATIONALITY: American
PLACE MANUFACTURED: US, NY, Rochester
OBJECT NAME VARIATIONS:
  Original Kodak camera
  The Kodak camera
  No 1 Kodak camera (barrel shutter)
SEE ALSO: No 1 Kodak camera (sector shutter)
INTRODUCTION DATE: June 1888
PRODUCTION DATES: June 1888 - Dec 1888
PATENT DATE: Sept. 4, 1888
FILM TYPE: stripping film
IMAGE SIZE: 2½in. diameter
ORIGINAL LIST PRICE: $25.00
APPROXIMATE MANUFACTURED QUANTITY: 5200+
SERIAL NUMBER RANGE: 6-5192
SIGNIFICANT FEATURES:
  circular image
  string-set shutter
FUNCTIONAL TYPE: box
STANDARD LENSES/SHUTTERS: 57mm f/9 periscopic in barrel shutter
INTEGRATED SHUTTER: Yes

NOTES:
  "The first Kodak camera; smooth black morocco leather covered wooden
  box; roll holder removed by unscrewing winding key; revolving exposure
  indicator key in peep-hole in top; no exposure counter; string-set
  shutter; no finder, but V sighting lines on camera top (early cameras
  used numbers on back of exposure card); shutter release button above
  center on right (from front view); felt plug for time exposures; two
  screws fix front panel." (Coe, 1988).
  Introduced with Eastman's American film (paper-backed stripping film)
  and then replaced with Eastman's Transparent film (nitro-cellulose) in
  late 1889. (Interview -- David Gibson June 10, 1993).
  U.S. patent applied for Mar. 30, 1888; patent granted Sept. 4, 1888.
  English patent date: May 9, 1888.
  Introductory article: Scientific American; Sept. 15, 1888.
  Kodak spools available with either 50 or 100 exposures. (EKC price
  list, 1906). Ad slogan "You press the button, we do the rest".
  Serial number range was derived from known cameras compiled by Don
  Ryan as of August 1984.
  The wooden camera parts were produced and assembled by Brownell, the
  shutter by Yawman & Erbe, both Rochester, NY firms.
  Camera weighs 1 pound 8.2 ounces.

OBJECT IDENTIFIER: E131.00003
VIDEODISC 1, FRAME NUMBER: 1077

BIBLIOGRAPHIC REFERENCES:
Gibson, Dave & Ryon, Don. --Kodak Camera Chronology.-- US, NY, Rochester: UNPUBLISHED, 1984.//
Coe, Brian. --Kodak Cameras: The First Hundred Years.-- Hove, East Sussex: Hove Foto Books, 1988. pp 83.//
Hasbroeck, Paul-Henry van. --150 Classic Cameras: From 1839 to the Present.-- London: Sotheby's Publications, 1989. pp 75.//
McKeown, Jim & McKeown, Joan. --McKeown's Price Guide to Antique & Classic Cameras: 1995-1996.-- Grantsburg, WI: Centennial Photo, 1994. pp 140.//
George Eastman House Information File - Technology Collection Manuals.//

EXHIBITION HISTORY: "[Annual Photographic Convention]", US, MN, Minneapolis July 1888.//