Panoramic images date to shortly after the invention of photography itself, and tend to use the processes in vogue at the time; early panoramas, for example, were made by placing two or more daguerreotype plates side-by-side.
By the late nineteenth century, cameras specifically designed to produce panoramas were being manufactured for the amateur photographer. The first mass-produced American panoramic camera, the Al-Vista, was introduced in 1898; a year later, Eastman Kodak introduced the #4 Kodak Panoram panoramic camera. Most mass market panoramic cameras worked on the "swing-lens principle" - the lens of the camera rotated to capture the image, while the film remained stationary. Mass-produced panoramic cameras made relatively small panoramas (twelve inches long or less), used roll film, and did not require a tripod. A later model, the Cirkut camera - first manufactured by Rochester Panoramic Camera Company, and later purchased and manufactured by Eastman Kodak - was patented in 1904 and first sold in 1905. The Cirkut was known as a "full rotation" panoramic camera because both the camera and the film rotated on a special tripod to create panoramas; it used large format film, and was capable of producing a 360-degree photograph measuring up to 20 feet long.
Image: Panoramic photograph of a large group of people posing in front of the Sharyland train station on the Missouri Pacific Railroad; the train station later burned down. John Shary is labeled (third from the right). Also shows a dog with 10 legs - a product of the panoramic photo processing. Text at the bottom of the image says, "Excursion Party of the John H. Shary Land Co., Feb. 10, 1920." A label on the back of the photo says "Sharyland Mo Pac RR Station (later burned)".