George Eastman was 15 years old. The young George left school early and started working to help support the family. As Eastman began to have success with his photography business, he vowed to repay his mother for the hardships she had endured in raising him. In 1884, Eastman patented the first film in roll form to prove practicable; he had been tinkering at home to develop it. In 1888, he perfected the Kodak Black camera, which was the first camera designed to use roll film. In 1889 he first offered film stock, and by 1896 became the leading supplier of film stock
Kodak Retina Dr. August Nagel - Fabrik fuer Feinmechanik Werk in Stuttgart-Wangen to Kodak AG in December 1931, the new firm was designated "Kodak AG - Dr. Nagel Werk". Nagel continued to innovate including developing the Retina folding cameras around the new Kodak 135 preloaded 35mm cartridge. Prior to this, most 35mm film was loaded by the user into proprietary cartridges in a darkroom or light-tight bag. In the early 1930s August Nagel was developing a 35mm camera and a preloaded disposable 35mm film cartridge, which would also fit in Leica and Contax cameras. Nagel was an expert in miniature cameras; his