History 120-5179 BLOGS: BLOG 2: The First Camera Inveted

The First Invented Camera by Alexander Wolcott

(Transferred from the U.S. Patent Office to the Smithsonian, 1908

Catalog 697 /

Information Technology and Society Division, NMAH)

When we refer to the first camera invented in the terms of strict institutionalized rights, the inventor was american Alexander Wolcott. He patented the camera of his own design in 1840. His camera could create candid photos which did not fade away with time. Alexander Wolcott was he, who opened the earliest photography shop in USA. However, much earlier two Frenchmen Charles and Vincent Chevalier from Paris had invented the camera which could actually produce shots. In addtion, the first photo were made with their invention in 1826 by another frenchman Joseph Nicephore Niepce.

Wolcott's, an ingenious New Yorker, patent model for a daguerreotype camera with concave reflector. It was the first U.S. patent for a photographic invention. The camera is approximately one fifth the size of the working version and is the only complete model of the Wolcott camera known to exist. ( Patent No. 1,582, May 8, 1840.)

The history of the camera is interesting, with the precursor of the camera being the Camera Obscura. The camera obscura was not a handheld camera per se, but was a dark chamber which consisted of an optical device for drawing. The camera obscura used a lens or a pinhole to project the image of the scene on a viewing surface. The first camera obscuras were large enough to house one or more people. The evolution into handheld cameras was much more gradual. However, even the handheld cameras of yore couldn't be compared to the compact sized cameras we see today.

The first photographs were taken using a pewter plate and bitumen. This plate was then exposed to light. Since the bitumen hardened where the light struck, the unhardened areas were dissolved away. This left a visible image.

The first practical photograph method was invented in 1835 by Louis Jacques Daguerre. It was named daguerreotype after him. The process included coating a copper plate with silver and then treated with iodine vapor to make it sensitive to light. The image was then developed by mercury vapor. It was later fixed with a solution of ordinary salt. The process was then perfected by William Fox Talbot in 1840. The calotype produced a negative picture on paper, which had the lights as darks and the darks as lights. The positive would be made on another sheet of sensitized paper which was exposed to light through the negative.

The first American patent for photography was then awarded to Alexander Wolcott and his camera in 1840 as well. By 1843, the first advertisement with a photograph was made in Philadelphia. The Panaromic camera was patented in Sutton.

Photography Time Line:

- Between the 5th and 4th century B.C.: Greek and Chinese philosophers first develop the concept of the camera.

1814: Joseph Nicephore Niepce takes the first picture, with a camera called camera obscura but the image needed eight hours of light exposure and later faded.

1837: Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre developed the daguerreotype which was the first image that was fixed and did not fade and only needed about 30 minutes of light exposure.

1840: The first American patent for a camera is issued to Alexander Wolcott.

1841: William Henry Talbot patents the Calotype process - the first negative-positive process making it so that you can make more than one copy.

1843: The first advertisement with a photograph is made in Philadelphia.

1851: Frederick Scott Archer invented the Collodion process - the picture needed only two or three seconds of light exposure to develop.

1860-1865: Some of the first moving photos are taken during the Civil War.

1871: Richard Leach Maddox invented the gelatin dry plate silver bromide process. That meant that the photos didn't have to be processed immediately.

1888: Eastman patents Kodak roll-film camera.

1913-1914: First 35mm still camera developed.

1927: GE invents the modern day flash bulb.

1941: Eastman Kodak introduces Kodacolor negative film.

1960: An underwater camera is developed.

1963: Polaroid developes instant color film.