This Week in Photography History
Commercial roll film was first manufactured on March 26, 1885 by the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company (later Eastman Kodak) of Rochester, New York. The patent had been licensed by George Eastman from David Houston, who had filed the patent for roll film invented by his brother Peter, a farmer in Wisconsin, in 1881. As opposed to the film plates available previously, this new film rolled up in a spool made motion picture filming possible and popularized still photography.