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Kodak's moments
Founding the company in 1880
George Eastman
In this late 1920's file photo, Eastman Kodak Co. founder George Eastman, left, and Thomas Edison pose with their inventions. Edison invented motion picture equipment and Kodak invented roll-film and the camera box, which helped to create the motion picture industry. Kodak marketed the first flexible roll film in 1888 and turned photography into an overnight craze with a $1 Brownie camera in 1900. -
Succession of innovations
Kodachrome
This Sept. 15, 2008 file photo shows a roll of Kodachrome 64 in Tonawanda, N.Y. Eastman's marketing genius propelled Kodak to a virtual monopoly of the U.S. photographic industry by 1927. Long after Eastman was stricken with a degenerative spinal disorder and took his own life in 1932, Kodak retained its might perch with many innovations. Foremost was Kodacrhome, a slide and motion picture film extolled for 74 years until its demise in 2009 for its sharpness, archival durability and vibrant hues. -
Freeze-frame
Brownie
Kodak's yellow boxes of film, point-and-shoot Brownie and Instamatic cameras, and those hand-sized prints were memorable products and shaped how we see the world. In this picture, Kodak cameras, a No. 2 Brownie, left, and a No. 2 Folding Autographic, are shown. -
Digital arena
$4 billion splurge
Through the 1990s, Kodak splurged $4 billion on developing the photo technology inside most of today's cellphones and digital devices. In this undated file photo released by Eastman Kodak Company an unidentified Kodak technician displays image sensors embedded on a silicon wafer at Eastman Kodak Inc., in Rochester, N.Y. -
Slides
Kodachrome
In this Sept. 4, 2008 file photo, old Kodachrome slides are seen in Clarence, N.Y. Kodachrome slides met their demise in 2009. -
Products
Instamatic, etc.
In the 1960s, easy-load Instamatic 126 became one o the most popular cameras ever, practically replacing old box cameras. In 1975, engineer Steven Sasson created the first digital camera, a toaster-size prototype capturing black-and-white images at a resolution of 0.1 megapixels. A Jan. 6, 2012 photo shows a roll of Kodachrome film is shown next to a variety of digital media flash cards in Rochester, N.Y. Eastman Kodak Co. ruled the world of film photography for over a century. -
Iconic
Familiar logo
The Rochester, N.Y.-based company is hoping to reorganize in bankruptcy court. It seems unlikely to ever again resemble what its red-on-yellow K logo long stood for - a signature brand instantly linked to capturing, collecting and sharing images. In this Oct. 26, 2010 file photo, Kodak products are displayed in a store in Brunswick, Maine. -
Taking stock
Kodak demise
Kodak has notched just one profitable year since 2004. Its stock, which topped $94 in 1997, skidded below $1 a share for the first time and, by Jan. 6, hit an all-time closing low of 37 cents. In this Oct. 26, 2010 file photo, Kodak products are displayed in a store in Brunswick, Maine. -
The end of a company?
Next step
The company expects to complete its U.S.-based restructuring during 2013. Kodak filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, raising the specter that the 132-year-old trailblazer could become the most storied casualty of a digital age that has whipped up a maelstrom of economic, social and technological change.
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