science · 11 October 1881 · 143 years ago
In 1881, roll film for cameras was patented by David H. Houston, who was a Scottish immigrant that travelled to homestead in Dakota (1879) on a 400-acre farm, 30 miles NE of Fargo. His many patents ranged from a disc plow to a portable camera. George Eastman bought 21 patents on cameras from him, including the invention that made Houston famous - a portable camera designed in 1879, for which Houston received $5000 plus monthly royalties for life. This camera suited the everyday person, rather than a professional photographer's big studio camera on wheels. First sold by Eastman in 1881 for $25, the Kodak camera came loaded with a 100-exposure film that Houston would process and reload the camera for $10. Houston died a rich man in 1906.
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