René Dagron

On 21 June 1859, Dagron was granted the first microfilm patent in history and in the same year he introduced his photographic miniature Stanhope toys and jewels during the International Exhibition in Paris.

[1] The same year Dagron published his book: "Cylindres photo-microscopiques montes et non-montes sur bijoux, brevetes en France et a l'etranger".

In 1864 Dagron published the 36-page booklet Traite de Photographie Microscopique in which he described in great detail the process he invented in producing microfilm positives from normal size negatives.

[3] During the Siege of Paris (1870-1871) by the Prussian Army, Dagron proposed to the authorities to use his microfilming process to carry the messages by carrier pigeons across German lines.

Il relève directement du Directeur Général des Postes,"[6] ( which translates as "Mr. Dagron has the title of the chief of the photomicroscopic correspondence postal service.

After a period of difficulties and through hardships brought on by the war and the lack of equipment, Dagron finally achieved a photographic reduction of more than 40 diameters.

He subsequently removed the collodion film from the glass base and rolled it tightly into a cylindrical shape which he then inserted into miniature tubes that were transported fastened to the tail feathers of the pigeons.