1850s/1860s 'process of taking twelve thousand photographs in an hour'?

[Georgina Binnie]

I am currently reading and writing on Lewis Carroll (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) and have encountered an 1859 diary entry in which Carroll describes meeting the Prince of Wales and telling him about 'the new American process of taking twelve thousand photographs in an hour'. I've searched extensively for the process that Carroll is referencing but can't find anything that marries up to the date and an American invention, only printing processes that don't quite capture the notion of actually taking multiple images. Is anyone able to shed any light on this for me, with me of course referencing this appropriately?

Any suggestions people were able to offer would be very much appreciated, with apologies if I am missing something obvious here!

[Michael Pritchard]

Hi, Georgina. I think that this must refer to printing rather than photography.

At the August 1860 session of the Photographic Society G H Babcock described in some detail machinery for printing 12,000 photographs an hour, invented by Charles Fontayne of Cincinnati, OH.  The meeting was reported in the British Journal of Photography, 1 October 1860, p. 285. 

[Georgina Binnie]

This is so helpful, thank you! 

Michael Pritchard said:

Hi, Georgina. I think that this must refer to printing rather than photography.

At the August 1860 session of the Photographic Society G H Babcock described in some detail machinery for printing 12,000 photographs an hour, invented by Charles Fontayne of Cincinnati, OH.  The meeting was reported in the British Journal of Photography, 1 October 1860, p. 285.