Eastman Kodak Company
1881-present
American manufacturer of film and photographic supplies and provider of digital imaging services and products. Headquarters are in Rochester, New York. Founded by George Eastman, who was one of the first to successfully mass-produce dry plates for photographers and invented the first simple and portable camera that could be used by amateur photographers.
In 1881, George Eastman and Henry A. Strong formed the Eastman Dry Plate Company. In 1884, the partnership became a shareholder company, the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company.
In 1888, Eastman introduced the Kodak camera. The user could now take photos with a handheld camera by simply pressing a button. The slogan Eastman came up with was "you press the button, we do the rest." "Kodak" was registered as a trademark in 1888, and with the expansion of the company into camera production and not just film and plates, the firm was renamed in 1889, the Eastman Company. The success of the Kodak camera soon led to another rebranding: By 1892, the company was called the Eastman Kodak Company.