Source: Detail of design drawing for wind up mechanism for 3 ply film by Maxfield Parrish Jr., August 5, 1944.
Polaroid Corporation Research & Development Records, Baker Library, Harvard Business School
On a vacation in 1943, Polaroid founder Edwin Land's young daughter complained about being unable to see a photo just taken of her – inspiring Edwin to begin thinking about how to make an instant camera. A year later, his colleague Maxfield Parrish, Jr. first sketched its mechanics, in which rolls pressed together the negative film and a positive printing sheet while a solution was applied to develop them instantaneously - a revolutionary contrast from the hours it could take to process film in a darkroom.