Hannibal Williston Goodwin (April 21, 1822 – December 31, 1900), patented a method for making transparent, flexible roll film out of

nitrocellulose Nitrocellulose (also known as cellulose nitrate, flash paper, flash cotton, guncotton, pyroxylin and flash string, depending on form) is a highly flammable compound formed by nitrating cellulose through exposure to a mixture of nitric acid and ...

film base A film base is a transparent substrate which acts as a support medium for the photosensitive emulsion that lies atop it. Despite the numerous layers and coatings associated with the emulsion layer, the base generally accounts for the vast majorit ...

, which was used in

Thomas Edison Thomas Alva Edison (February 11, 1847October 18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventi ...

Kinetoscope The Kinetoscope is an early motion picture exhibition device, designed for films to be viewed by one person at a time through a peephole viewer window. The Kinetoscope was not a movie projector, but it introduced the basic approach that woul ...

, an early machine for viewing

motion pictures A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

Biography

Goodwin was born on April 21, 1822 in Ulysses, New York and was raised on a farm. He began taking college classes at

Yale Law School Yale Law School (Yale Law or YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824 and has been ranked as the best law school in the United States by '' U.S. News & World ...

in 1844, then

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a private liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut. Founded in 1831 as a men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal Church and with the support of prominent residents of Middletown, the col ...

, and finally earned his degree in 1848 at

Union College Union College is a private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the state of New York, after Columbia Co ...

. Goodwin began studying at Union Theological Seminary in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

to become a Episcopal preacher. After taking positions in Bordentown (Christ Church, 1852-1854), Newark (St. Paul's, 1854-1858), and Trenton (Trinity Church, 1859) in New Jersey, he went to California to recover his health from a bronchial complaint, serving parishes in Napa (Christ Church, 1859-1862), Marysville (St. John's, c.1859-1862), and San Francisco (Grace Church/Cathedral, 1862-1867). In 1867, Goodwin came back to New Jersey settled down as the fifth rector of the House of Prayer Church in Newark, where he would serve the next twenty years. Essex County,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delawa ...

. Goodwin was motivated to search for a non-breakable, and clear substance on which he could place the images he utilized in his Biblical teachings. He set up a chemistry lab in the attic of the Plum house rectory and sawed a five foot hole in the roof for better sunlight. On May 2, 1887, the year Goodwin retired from the church he had served for twenty years, he filed a patent for "a photographic pellicle and process of producing same ... especially in connection with roller cameras", but the patent was not granted until 13 September 1898. In the meantime,

George Eastman George Eastman (July 12, 1854March 14, 1932) was an American entrepreneur who founded the Eastman Kodak Company and helped to bring the photographic use of roll film into the mainstream. He was a major philanthropist, establishing the Eastman ...

had already started production of roll-film using his own process. In 1900, Goodwin set up the ''Goodwin Film and Camera Company'', but before film production had started he was involved in a street accident near a construction site and died from a broken leg and

Pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severit ...

on December 31, 1900.

Legacy

Goodwin's patent was sold to

Ansco Ansco was the brand name of a photographic company based in Binghamton, New York, which produced photographic films, papers and cameras from the mid-19th century until the 1980s. In the late 1880s, ANSCO's predecessor, Anthony and Scovill, bo ...

who successfully sued Eastman

Kodak The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...

for infringement of the patent and was awarded $5 million (over $120 million in 2020) on March 10, 1914. The Newark International Film Festival named one of their main awards the Hannibal Goodwin Award for Innovation in Filmmaking.

References

External links

PBS History of Photography timeline

Invention & Technology article about Goodwin/Eastman patent dispute
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodwin, Hannibal 1822 births 1900 deaths 19th-century American Episcopalians Union College (New York) alumni Clergy from Newark, New Jersey 19th-century American inventors American Episcopal priests 19th-century American clergy