George Eastman

Georges Eastman (July 12 1854 -?)

"You press the shutter button, and we do the rest". - It was a slogan to advertise the first camera "KODAK" invented by George Eastman - founder of the company "KODAK"

. In the lobby of a concert hall music school founded by Eastman in Rochester (NY), a memorial plaque, to perpetuate the memory of Mary Kilburn, mother of George Eastman
.

And it is very symbolic. Man, created by Kodak, was very fond of his mother, who shared with him all the adversities in childhood and adolescence. Joy of his life was music. He believed with all my heart that the progress of society is almost entirely dependent on the formation.

Foundation Music School and the construction of the theater, the cradle of the Philharmonic Orchestra in Rochester, allowed Eastman to translate dreams into reality.

His generosity has provided a huge impact on the lives of hundreds of people and the entire city of Rochester in general, and this philanthropic campaign - another confirmation of.

Creating a multinational company and its emergence as a major industrial center, required huge efforts and sacrifices. It was very difficult.

Childhood
George Eastman was born to Mary Kilburn, and George Washington Eastman July 12, 1854 in the village Uotervil, 20 miles southwest of r. Utica (New York). He was the youngest of three children. Their old house, where he was born not only to Eastman, but his father, a house, where Eastman spent his childhood, was transferred to the County Museum Dzhinesi in g. Mumford (New York), near Rochester. When George was 5 years old, his father sold the farm and the family moved to Rochester. Father gave all his power base of the trade college. But something irretrievable - his father George died. Construction College has ceased, and the family got into a difficult financial situation.

George left school at 14 years to go to work and support families. At first he worked as a messenger in an insurance company with a salary of $ 3 a week, a year later - a clerk at another insurance company. On his own initiative he took on additional responsibilities and has to fill in insurance policies, and sometimes even their trained. His salary increased to $ 5 a week.

But even this increase was not enough to cover all family expenses. And so in the evenings he studied accounting, hoping to get a more lucrative post.

In 1874, after five years of work in the insurance company, he was appointed a junior clerk in the Savings Bank of Rochester. George's salary was already $ 15 a week.

At age 24, George Eastman decided to rest in Santo Domingo. When his friend advised him to record his impressions of this trip, George bought a camera with accessories for cooking and processing of wet glass photographic plates. The camera is the size of a modern microwave oven, and for its installation requires a heavy tripod trenozhny. In addition, it was necessary to wear a tent. This tent is designed for the application of the emulsion on the plate before it is exposed, manifestations and drying. Besides, with him it was necessary to carry chemicals, glass containers, a heavy holder for plates and a pitcher of water. Only the horse, according to Eastman, was able to convey to the place of shooting all this equipment. Finally, the instruction on the use of all this equipment for photographing cost $ 5.

But Eastman did not go to Santo Domingo, but very interested in photography and began to think about how to simplify the complex process of photographing.

From the British magazine Istaman learned that the photographers themselves are preparing photographic emulsion of gelatin. Glass plates, which are coated with emulsion, remained sensitive to light and after drying and can later on display. Using the recipe, taken from those journals, Eastman began to self-cooking gelatin emulsion.

By day he worked in a bank, and at night, experimenting in the kitchen. His mother remembers that sometimes he was so tired that no undressing, sleeping on the floor on a blanket near the kitchen stove.

After three years of experimentation, he finally managed to develop a new recipe for emulsion. In 1880, Eastman not only invented a dry photographic plates, but also created a machine for mass production of such plates. He quickly realized the prospects of business associated with the manufacture of dry photographic plates and selling their photos.

Birth of the company
In April 1880 Eastman rented the third floor of the building on the street Stejtu in Rochester and began to manufacture dry plates for sale. One of his first purchases was a second-hand motor worth $ 125.

Eastman's first office on the third floor of this building on the street. State's in Rochester.

Eastman later recalled: "I needed was just one horsepower, but this installation was over two. But I believed that my business will only benefit. Worth the risk, and I decided ".

In the period of the young company Eastman had once experienced the total collapse of his hopes, when the hands of the buyers were low-quality plate. Eastman replaced them with good. "We spent this last of his money" - he recalled, - "but got something more important - reputation".

"Photography is fully consumed us, and we are not only manufacturing dry plates, but every day became engaged in photography. We wanted to streamline the process of photographing, so a camera could be used as easily as ordinary pencil ".

Eastman's experiments were aimed at searching easier and more flexible framework for the emulsion than the glass. He began to apply the photographic emulsion on paper and then braided it and placed in a round tape. This cassette was used in the camera instead of a tape for glass plates.

In 1885 he appeared in a newspaper advertisement the following: "Soon you will be brought to new light-sensitive film - more economical and convenient substitute dry glass plates for photography in the studio and on the street".

This photographic system using a round roll of paper tape covered with photographic emulsion, had a huge success. However, the use of paper as a substrate for the emulsion had its drawbacks. Grain structure of the paper was shown to improve the granularity of the photographic image.

Eastman decided to cover the paper with a layer of normal soluble gelatin, and then a layer of insoluble light-sensitive gelatin. After exposure and manifestation of a layer of gelatin with images shot with the paper and transferred onto a transparent sheet of gelatin. Further, this layer was covered with collodion varnish - a solution of cellulose formed by drying a solid flexible film.

By improving the technology of manufacturing the transparent roll film and the construction of circular cassettes, Eastman has completely changed the direction of its activities and created a basis on which it was possible to achieve success in amateur photography.

Eastman later recalled: "When we started working on the creation of the film, we thought that the photographers who use glass plates, with the enthusiastic embrace our invention and switch to the use of film. Unfortunately, it turned out that few took advantage of our invention. In order to achieve greater success in this business, we had to make the picture became accessible to all ".

Advertisement
J. Eastman boundless faith in advertising and its ability. He wrote the promotional copy for its products placed in major newspapers and magazines.

Eastman himself coined the slogan to advertise his camera in 1888: "You press the shutter button, and we do the rest". This phrase has become famous. Later ideas Eastman in the field of advertising have become embodied advertising manager in all promotional materials company.

Image "kodakovskoy girl" holding the camera and smiling for photographers, has become popular. In 1987, the word "Kodak", illuminated by lights in Trafalgar Square, was one of the first logos used in advertising.

Today the brand of "Kodak," Eastman invented, knows practically every.

For the first time the word "Kodak" was registered as a trademark in 1888. Created many beautiful theories about the origin of the word. But it turned out that Eastman invented it just.

George Eastman explained the origin of this word: "I myself came up with this word. The letter "K" - my favorite letter of the alphabet. It seems to me a strong and memorable. I had to try many combinations of letters before they got word that begins and ends with the letter "K". And the word "Kodak" - the result of my attempts ". The word "Kodak" is surrounded by a contrasting yellow background. This logo has now become an integral part of the design products of Kodak and is known around the world.

Thanks to an inventive genius, Eastman, anyone can take pictures by simply pressing the shutter button of a compact camera. He took photos of us all.

Employee Assistance
Personal qualities, creativity and democracy Eastman helped him to foresee a great deal in creating their own business. He looked far ahead, and believed that employees should receive, except for salaries, more.

From the beginning, he began to think about dividends to pay for their employees. Thus, in 1899 Eastman distributed among its employees fairly large sum of money. Later, he created a fund to pay dividends "from which each employee other than salary, received annual dividends in proportion to the annual profits. Thus, the net profit from the company's income was distributed among employees of companies

. The prosperity of any company, according to Eastman, depends not only on inventions and their originality, but also to a greater extent on the goodwill and loyalty of employees which, in turn, must participate in the distribution of profits of enterprises
.

In 1919, Eastman employees donated one-third of their personal funds from the fund companies - 10 million. U.S.. Then followed the introduction of the childcare allowance for pensions, life insurance and disability benefits. With all these benefits and dividends officials quietly looked into the future, believed in the stability of his position.

Carl Ackerman, the author of his biography, wrote in 1932: "Mr. Eastman was a giant of his time. It took years for the awareness and acceptance of his social philosophy. But he had already used it to build your business ".

Philanthropy
Eastman is known not only as a pioneer in photography, but also as a philanthropist. And here, as in everything else, he was a passionate enthusiast

. He began to help non-profit institutions, . when his own income was $ 50 a week - it has provided cash assistance to the young, . struggling for survival Mechanics Institute in Rochester (now - Rochester Institute of Technology),
.

His favorite was the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as many graduates of this institution became the best assistant Eastman. His total bezvozmedny contribution to the budget of the Institute of almost 20 million. U.S.. All the contributions he made anonymously under the name "Mr. Smith", and rumors about the mysterious Mr. Smith quickly spread among students and teachers. It even got the name of a popular song of the Institute.

Of particular interest is J. Eastman showed to dental clinics. Was developed a comprehensive plan for the financing of a dental clinic in Rochester (the sum amounted to 2.5 million. dollars). He financed the mass production of medicinal products for children's dental. Dental Clinics were also established in London, Paris, Rome, Brussels and Stockholm.

When J. Eastman asked why he was so fond of dental clinics, he said: "In this area, I feel better than the results of their philanthropy. Medicine found that over the teeth, throat and nose to keep children from early childhood. If they are healthy, happy and beautiful, they have more chances to succeed in life ".

Eastman loved music and wanted others to feel all her beauty and enjoyed it. He founded and took care of a music school, theater and symphony orchestra. Eastman said: "It is very easy to hire professional musicians, but you can not buy love for music. All attempts to call this love for people is doomed to failure, if most people do not get pleasure from it ". His plan had a practical purpose - to accustom people to the music, and the result was that residents of Rochester for decades maintained its own philharmonic orchestra.

Thanks to Eastman interest rate on the capital invested in dental clinics, increased. Eastman was initiated and facilitated the adoption of a program of development of medical schools and hospitals in the University of Rochester.

Eastman made a great contribution to improving the lives of Rochester. He cared about black community - evidenced by the numerous gifts institutions Hampton and Taksidzh. Once he wrote a check for 30 million. U.S. Rochester University of Technology and Institutions Hampton and Takskidzh. "World progress is entirely dependent on the level of education. I chose these institutions, because I wanted to invest in some education. I felt that this is where I can get results faster than all ". Without exaggeration to say that Eastman served people.

Open recreation
George Eastman was a very modest man and avoided to put his personal life parade. Ironically, the person whose name is synonymous with photography, he photographed very rarely. Compared with other famous people of his time, survived only a few photos of the Eastman. When he was walking along the main street of Rochester, passers-by did not learn. His hobbies are music, flowers, paintings and nature.

He lived in accordance with its own philosophy. "What we are doing during the work, determine our financial situation, and what we do during the holidays - our essence". With him, no one could match the capacity to work tirelessly. He was highly skilled in his work and at home and during leisure became gentle and loving man.

As a master of all trades, Eastman loved carpentry in her simple hunting lodge in North Carolina. He was fond of hunting and fishing, carefully prepared his hunting gear - every object he had his own room and place in the luggage depending on the weight and size. Collecting equipment, he was guided by the principle that any given object should be used for hunting at least twice. Eastman was an excellent cook: his recipes are accurate and in all the campaigns he was appointed chef.

During his early trips to Europe, he visited art galleries, by following a specific system. When he had the opportunity to acquire the masterpieces of painting, he said: "I will never buy a painting until it foe a while in my house". And the result was obvious: in his house was put together a wonderful collection of paintings.

Dream discoverer
Eastman was a modest man, izobretalem, professional, organizer, a man with a rich imagination, a patriot and philanthropist.

In an obituary dedicated to Eastman's death, the newspaper "New York Times wrote:" Eastman made an enormous contribution to the development of the education system of the modern world. He helped the educational and scientific institutions, to support the musical culture, to promote the health of people, helping the poor and turning his hometown in the center of culture, praised his country in the eyes of the international community. "