Figure 1.--Velox marketed by Kodak is one of the most important type of photographic paper. It was Velox which introfuced the posrcard back paper which was used both for snpshots and studio oportraits. This portrait of an unidentified American boy wearing a sailor tunic had a stamp box with diaond corners, meaning 1907-14. It was done in sepia tones. Notice the embroidered eagle on the dickey.

Leo Hendrik Baekeland (1863–1944) was a Belgian chemist who invented Velox photographic paper (1893) as well as Bakelite (1907). This was an inexpensive, nonflammable, versatile, and popular plastic named after Bakeland. It was essentially the strt of the modern plastics industry. Baekeland was employed by the Anthony company for 2 years. He then began working as an independent consulting chemist (1891). A variety of problems including an illness and disappointing earnings caused him to refocus his work, returing to the productiin of photograpohic paper, an old iknterest. He saw the nbeed for a a photographic paper that would produce good resylts in artificial light. He worked on this problen for 2 years. The result was a new paper which he caslled Velox. It was the first commercially successful photographic paper. But there were initial difficulties. Belgium is a rasther small country. Bakeland decided to focus his effort on the United States. The United states which was the largest market for photigraphic material at the time was in recession. And Bakelsnd had trouble finding both investors and buyers. Baekeland formed a partnership with Leonardi Jacobi and established the Nepera Chemical Company in Nepera Park, Yonkers, New York. Baekeland met George Eastman (1899). Eastman offered him $1 million for the Velox process. Baekeland accepted and purchased "Snug Rock", a house in Yonkers, New York, and set up his own well-equipped laboratory. Velox thus became a part of the Kodak product line. Eatman made immediate use of the Velox process. Kodak sold Velox paper both in North america and Europe. We note Velox photograohic paper done with podtcard backs. Velox introduced postcards with post card backs (1901), a year after the Brownie camera to take snapshots was introduced. Velox made these postcards through (1904). Velox also made sheet paper. A British reader writes, "I remember Velox paper when I was first introduced to home developing after World War II in the 1940s."

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Created: 5:29 AM 7/7/2012
Last updated: 5:29 AM 7/7/2012