Explorer and naturalist Carl Ethan Akeley (1864-1926) needed a camera that could withstand the rigors of wild-life filming; he therefore designed and built his own camera, which, due to its unique shape, was nicknamed the 'Pancake' Akeley; manufactured by the Akeley Camera Co. of New York from 1917; introduced sound recording newsreel cameras in 1929, widely used in the 1930s.