🠈  Eastman Kodak Company  🠊

The Eastman Kodak Company

Kodak was leading technology firm. The company was split into two after its 2012 bankruptcy: The Eastman Kodak Company is a technology firm that offers a variety of imaging and print related products.

Kodak Alaris is a British firm which provides photographic and films supplies.

Corporate Timeline

Below is a selection of corporate events related to the firm. I drew the base for the list from Wikipedia¹ and Funding Universe².

• 1880: George Eastman leased space to manufacture dry plates in Rochester N.Y.
• 1881: Eastman formed a partnership with Henry A. Strong to create Eastman Dry Plate Company.
• 1884: The company became Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company formed with 14 shareowners.
• 1885: Eastman bought patent for roll film from David Houston. Eastman enhanced product and patented motion picture film.
• 1888: Eastman registered the trademark Kodak® and introduced a fixed focus camera.
• 1889: The company changed its name to Eastman Company.
• 1892: The company became Eastman Kodak Company with the slogan: "You Press the Button, We Do the Rest.".
• 1898: Eastman purchased the patent for Velox photographic paper from Leo Baekeland for $1,000,000.
• 1900: Eastman introduced The Brownie camera which sold for one dollar.
• 1908: Kodak acquired exclusive rights to supply film stock for the MPPC cartel.
• 1930: Dow Jones added Eastman Kodak to its Industrial Index. It was part of DJIA until 2004.
• 1935: Kodak introduced Kodachrome film.
• 1936: Kodak branches began manufacturing hand-grenades.
• 1934: Kodak introduced the Retina Series 35mm Camera.
• 1946: Kodak introduced the EktaChrome brand which produced film for people who liked developing their own pictures.
• 1959: Kodak introduced a automatic Brownie camera called Starmatic.
• 1962: Utah State established Kodachrome Basin State Park leading to interesting trademark disputes.
• 1963: Kodak introduced the Instamatic point-and-shoot camera.
• 1970: Kodak scientists create the continuous wave tunable dye laser.
• 1973: Paul Simon included a song called Kodachrome on the album There Goes Rhymin' Simon.
• 1975: Steven Sasson, then an electrical engineer at Kodak, invented a digital camera.
• 1976: Bryce Bayer, an engineer at Kodak, invented the Bayer Pattern color filter array.
• 1976: Kodak introduced the Kodamatic line of instant picture cameras.
• 1978: Kodak introduced the Ektachem clinical chemistry testing system which is used in many hospitals.
• 1981-1986: Polaroid sued Kodak for copyright infringement for the Kodamatic and won in 1986.
• 1982: Kodak launched the Kodak Disc film format for consumer cameras.
• 1986: Kodak scientists created the world's first megapixel sensor. It could record a photo quality 1.4 million pixels.
• 1987: Ching W. Tang and Steven Van Slyke, developed created multi-layer OLEDs at the Kodak Research Laboratories.
• 1988: Kodak introduced the Kodak Professional Digital Camera System DSLR camera.
• 1993: Kodak spun off Eastman Chemical which made chemicals for processing film.
• 1994: The Apple Quicktake included some products manufactured by Kodak.
• 1996: Kodak, Fujifilm, Minolta, Nikon, Canon and others introduce Advanced Photo System (ATP) film developing technology (see video).⁴

• 2003: Kodak introduced the Kodak EasyShare LS633 Digital Camera.
• 2003: Kodak acquired the Algotec Systems which maded picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) used primarily for medical images.
• 2004: Kodak stopped selling traditional film cameras.
• 2005: Kodak introduced the Kodak EasyShare-One Digital Camera which included Wi-Fi.
• 2005: Kodak acquired OREX Computed Radiography which made compact compact computed radiography systems for medical practitioners.
• 2005: Kodak acquired Creo based in British Columbia.
• 2007: Onex Corporation acquired the Kodak Health Group for $2.35 billion which it renamed to CareStream.
• 2007: Rohm and Hass acquired Kodak's light management films business.
• 2009: Kodak stopped selling Kodachrome color film.
• 2009: LG Electronics acquired Kodaks OLED business.
• 2011: Kodak shares fell to $0.54.
• 2012: Truesense Imaging Inc. acquired Kodak's Image Sensor Solutions (ISS) division.
• 2012: Kodak exited the digital image capture business (cameras) to focus on printing.
• 2012: Kodak announced plans to sell its film, commercial scanner and kiosk divisions.
• 2012: Kodak exited the inkjet printer business.
• 2012: Kodak sold its digital imaging patents for about $525 million to avoid bankruptcy.
• 2013: Kodak spun off its film, digital camera and kiosk division to the U.K. Kodak Pension Plan (KPP) creating Kodak Alaris.
• 2017: Kodak revived the Ektachrome film brand.

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References:

1. Wikipedia - Kodak (Drawn 7/25/2020)
2. Health Care IT News - Kodak Sells Health Unit (Drawn 7/25/2020)
3. Funding Universe - Eastman Kodak (Drawn 7/25/2020)
4. Wikipedia - Advanced Photo System (Drawn 7/25/2020)

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