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A'ational Resources Planning Board 



By Juno 1879 ho was ninkinp: aiid iiuukcliiig plates 

 that were entu'd}' succ-ossful, ami a inonlh later he got 

 his first patent in England on a process for coating the 

 plates. Experiment after experiment was made to 

 improve both the emulsion and tlie machine in which 

 the plates were coated. Meanwhile the demand for the 

 product was increasing, and Eastman's fame was 

 spreading. Catastrophe was soon to strike, however. 

 Photographers began to complain that the Eastman 

 plates were dead. Recalling all the stock in the hands 

 of dealers, Eastman began to search for a dependable 

 emulsion. Four hundred and fifty-four attempts at 

 mixing, cooking, and testing brought the same result — a 

 "slight red fog and sliglit veil." Neither his own 

 formula nor any other would produce a clear i)late. 

 After 18 more attempts he obtained an enndsion "free 

 from red fog" but his success was fleeting; the l)ottlc 

 broke, and he lost it all."^ 



Following a brief trip to Elngland, Eastman resumed 

 his experiments in Kochestcr. Very soon his plates 



'" Ackerman. Carl W. George Eastman. Boston, New York, Houghton Mifflin 

 Co., 1930, p. 43. 



were again "clear ami good." The liundreds of unsuc- 

 cessful experiments and the information obtained during 

 his stay in England had given Eastman the clue to the 

 (lifTieidty, whicli lay not in his formula or machine but 

 in tiie gelalui beuig received from the manufticturers. 

 Thereafter he tested every chemical or ingredient before 

 he purchased a supply. 



Although Eastman was not the first person who had 

 had the idea of using some substance other than glass 

 as a base for the emulsion, he now turned his efforts in 

 that direction. In a letter to one of his attorneys, he 

 says: 



1 first conceived the process of making Transparent Film by 

 coating a support witli a solution of Nitro Cellulose, and then 

 coating it with emulsion and afterwards stripping it off — earl}' in 

 (lie year 18S4, not later tlian Feb. or Mar.'" 



Innumerable tecluiical and chemical problems arose 

 during the development of tliis new j)roduct, and the 

 first commercial film was not juade until March 26, 

 1885."' Fiir from satisfied with tliis film, but convinced 



"' George Eastman, p. 1.5. See footnote U3. 

 I" George Eastman, p. 54. See footnote 113. 



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Figure IU.- (Starting tJiit in Ism,) to iiikr :\ I'icture 



