Alexander S. Wolcott

Wolcott reflector mirror camera diagram of patent No. 1,582

Wolcott's box camera invention patented May 8, 1840

Wolcott was born on June 14, 1804, in New London, Connecticut.[1] He was the son of Alexander Wolcott Sr. and Joanne (née Paull) Wolcott.[2] In his youth he was initially trained in the business selling merchandise in Connecticut but soon lost interest and decided to go into the field of dentistry.[3] He also at that time went into making optical instruments.[4] Wolcott moved to New York City in 1830 and made medical instruments and dental supplies for a living in the 1830s besides being a dentist.[5][6][7] He also worked as a machinist in the mechanics of designing and making instruments that used optics.[8][9][10] In 1839 he met John Johnson, a jeweler and watchmaker's assistant.[11] They established a business relationship with their trade skills and organized the firm 'Wolcott and Johnson' at 52 First Street in New York City. The small business manufactured optical instruments and dental equipment.[12]

Johnson learned about Louis Daguerre's photographic mechanics on how to make a camera soon after the details had arrived in America on September 20, 1839. Daguerre, an artist, had devised a month earlier in France a method of capturing a person's portrait onto a photosensitive metal plate by directing the light through a lens.[13] On October 6, 1839, Johnson took to Wolcott a copy of the specifications on Daguerre's method of capturing a likeness of a person and storing on a permanent plate that would hold the picture indefinitely.[14][15][16] They made a camera that day based on Daguerre's method and started experimenting with it.[1][17] Wolcott improved on Daguerre's lens camera by making a camera that used a concave mirror to gather more light instead of a simple refractive lens that gathered little light.[4][5] On October 7, 1839, Wolcott took a photograph of Johnson with his daguerreotype reflector camera, creating the first photograph portrait in the world.[18][19][20]

Wolcott patented the camera on May 8, 1840 (US #1,582).[4][21][22] It became known as "Wolcott's camera" and the "mirror camera".[23] It was the first U.S. patent in photography.[24][25] Wolcott started using his camera available to the public on March 4, 1840, in a business in the Granite Building[26] on Broadway at the northwest corner of Chambers street, the Daguerreian Parlor,[27] that made commercial portraits in a professional studio.[28][29][30] It was the world's first commercial daguerreotype gallery, a portrait photography studio.[17][31][32] By June, he had opened a branch in Washington D.C., operated by John G. Stevenson.[33][34]

Wolcott's camera used a polished concave mirror to reflect the focused light onto a photosensitive plate less than a 1/2 inch (12.7 mm) square.[24] The pictures were not a negative image of reverse colors, but a correct positive image that did not require reversion of the image.[35] The size of the photosensitive plate was eventually increased to just over 2 inches (50.8 mm) that they could make a likeness image, because of their refined mechanical lighting techniques.[20]

Wolcott and Johnson continued to improve their photography techniques. Wolcott made a photosensitive plate that used a chemical enhancer to develop the image.[36] It was a solution of bromide and chloride and known in London as Wolcott's mixture.[8][37] This, along with highly polished silver plates, earned them a second U.S. patent in photography in December 1841, designated #2,391. They also designed outdoor mirrors that provided more light inside the studio for faster higher quality portrait pictures.[38]

Wolcott married Mary Sanborn (born 1810 – unknown) and they had one child (born 1834 – unknown).[39] Wolcott died on November 10, 1844, at 40 years of age at his residence in Stamford, Connecticut.[1][35][40]

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