Editing Celluloid (section)

==Photography==<!-- This section is linked from [[Kinetoscope]] -->

English photographer [[John Carbutt]] founded the [[Keystone Dry Plate Works]] in 1879 with the intention of producing gelatin dry plates.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.historiccamera.com/cgi-bin/librarium2/pm.cgi?action=app_display&app=datasheet&app_id=1782&|title=John Carbutt at Historic Camera - History Librarium|work=historiccamera.com}}</ref> The Celluloid Manufacturing Company was contracted for this work, which was done by thinly slicing layers out of celluloid blocks and then removing the slice marks with heated pressure plates. After this, the celluloid strips were coated with a photosensitive gelatin emulsion. It is not certain exactly how long it took for Carbutt to standardize his process, but it occurred no later than 1888. A {{convert|15|in|mm|adj=mid|-wide}} sheet of Carbutt's film was used by [[William Dickson (film pioneer)|William Dickson]] for the early [[Thomas Edison|Edison]] [[motion picture]] experiments on a cylinder drum Kinetograph. However, the celluloid [[film base]] produced by this means was still considered too stiff for the needs of motion-picture photography.

By 1889, more flexible celluloids for [[photographic film]] were developed, and both [[Hannibal Goodwin]] and the [[Kodak|Eastman Kodak Company]] obtained patents for a film product. ([[Ansco]], which purchased Goodwin's patent after he died, was eventually successful in a patent-infringement suit against Kodak). This ability to produce photographic images on a [[Nitrate film|flexible material]] (as opposed to a glass or metal plate) was a crucial step toward making possible the advent of motion pictures.