Eastman Kodak Company
Pocket Kodak Cameras, 1895 & 1896
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| Pocket Kodaks heralded a new feature for Eastman Kodak: the small red window
through which frame numbers could be read off of paper-backed rollfilm.
Samuel Turner and the Boston Camera Manufacturing Company had patented
and actively marketed
this feature in 1892 with the Bulls-Eye camera. To counter it, in 1895 George
Eastman not only created a similar camera,
the Bullet Camera, but a new model completely unlike Turner's Bulls-Eye:
the Pocket Kodak.
Pocket Kodaks were extremely small (2 and 3/16 x 3 x 4 inches) and lightweight (6 ounces), and took 1½ x 2 inch exposures on 102 size rollfilm, introduced just for this camera. They were first available in 1895 with either black or red leather covering. |
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The pictures above show the progression of the shutter on the Pocket Kodak. The top image shows an early 1895 model, which featured a removable wooden lensboard. Later that year, another model change put the shutter on a non-removable aluminum lensboard. In all there would be four different versions of the Pocket Kodak in 1895 alone. In 1896, the design was standardized. A Time and Instantaneous sector shutter was offered, as were a choice of three apertures, and a square versus round viewfinder. |
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From 1896 until production ceased in 1900, the Pocket Kodak stayed largely unchanged and was only available with a black leather exterior. As shown in the pictures above, Pocket Kodaks were identified inside the camera by their year of manufacture (note the '96 Model), except in 1895 (red models) where there was no designation, and in 1899 and 1900, when the models were designated Model C and Model D respectfully. |
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