VOLUME 11, NO. 1     MAY 1997

Cloutier makes tracks for Kodak's APS

Wouldn't it be nice if you could stick Post-it notes or staple instructions on your film before you dropped it off at the drugstore?

Bob Cloutier '75, a technical associate at Eastman Kodak Co., is one of the minds behind a new photographic system that records messages on magnetic tracks as you snap your photos. With the push of a few buttons you can embed information right on the film to order extra-large prints, insert a label such as "Janey's First Birthday," or brighten up those rainy day shots.

Cloutier and three fellow Kodak engineers won the 1996 National Inventor of the Year Award from the Intellectual Property Owners Association for their contributions to the communications architecture used by Kodak's new Advanced Photo System (APS). These components were developed as a joint venture with Japanese film manufacturer Fuji, in cooperation with the Canon, Nikon and Minolta camera companies. "This camaraderie led to real opportunities to experience the Japanese people, culture and food," says Cloutier, who made frequent trips to Japan to hammer out the common standards.

The first Advantix® cameras and film cartridges hit retail stores last year, and consumer response has been overwhelming - quadrupling the benchmark set in 1963 by Kodak's first Instamatic® camera. Worldwide sales of the APS system in 1996 exceeded Kodak's projections by 40 percent, and the company expects to double its manufacturing capacity for the new system in 1997, according to Cloutier.

Cloutier joined Kodak in 1975 and has worked on the APS system since its earliest conceptual stages. "His impact can be seen in various areas of the system including the cartridge, camera, photofinishing and Information Exchange (IX) system," say Kodak officials.

Using APS, photographers can select from three print formats for each shot on a roll of film. Some cameras offer a time and date stamp, with a choice of such generic titles as Christmas, Vacation or Birthday. The more advanced cameras have a keyboard to type in personal captions or notes, which are printed on the back of the developed pictures.

When special moments occur in less-than-perfect photo conditions, the APS system can help. The camera records data on the lighting, distance and scene conditions at the time the photo is taken, and the photofinishing equipment is configured to automatically correct for common problems. The drop-in film cassettes can be removed mid-roll, so the photographer can switch back and forth between different types of film without sacrificing any shots.

Cloutier's selection as Inventor of the Year was announced on April 22, 1996, the same day the new cameras were introduced in stores. "It was a double excitement," he told his hometown paper. The award puts him in good company - past recipients include Robert Jarvik, inventor of the Jarvik 7 artificial heart; John Cocke, who developed IBM's Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC); and Paul Macready, inventor of a human-powered flying machine.

Joan Killough-Miller

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