Posts Tagged ‘Benjamin Franklin’

Eyeglass, frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes, normally for vision correction, eye protection, or for protection from UV rays, is really a great invention that has radically changed human life. It helps people do the simplest the things in daily life and most difficult thing in scientific researches. Just imagine a world without eyeglasses, we would walk around bumping into things and driving our cars up onto the sidewalk. Everybody would the importance of eyeglasses.

However, as for the history of eyeglasses, we know little about it. We merely know eyeglasses were invented during the period of 1265 and 1290, however, few knows who the person first invented eyeglasses is and how eyeglasses come into being.

Here below is a brief introduction about the history of eyeglasses:

The initial glasses were not as glasses today. They were composed merely of lenses without legs to make glasses steady hung in front of eyes, but just perch on the nose. This structure posed great inconvenience and difficulty to the wear, especially when they moved, the glasses tended to fall over.

During the 1720’s, the emergence of eyeglass frames solved the inconvenience. This frame is that we know today with arms that the wearer used as the primary means of support. With the frames, eyeglasses are able to stay more comfortably and stably on noses.

The original material of frame that made up the first eyeglasses was metal or bone, while the original material of lenses that made up the fist eyeglasses was quartz. At that time, the producers were not able to produce flawless lenses.

Since the inception of the first eyeglasses, efforts had been made both in comfort and function. Researchers committed to bring the best eyewear for people.

At the very beginning, eyeglasses could only function to correct near sightedness and farsightedness by simple magnification. But in the mid 1780’s, eyeglasses of the bi-focal came into being with the efforts of inventor and visionary Benjamin Franklin.

There is an interesting story concerning how Benjamin came to invent eyeglasses of bi-focal. It is said that he felt bothered to constantly choose eyeglasses for near vision and far vision to complete different tasks. In order to eliminate this trouble, Benjamin invented a set of lenses that would work to correct both vision problems that he suffered from.

The fact is that, with years’ development in eyeglass industry, there are not only eyeglasses for bi-focals, but also progressive lenses for different correction properties as your proceed from the top of the lens down to the bottom. If Benjamin would see this, he will must be feel unbelievable.

As lens develops, frame never falls back. Today, in market, you can see frames of different colors and different styles to meet different needs of different people. The biggest advancement is that today’s frames are light enough, and the wear feel little burden on their noses. What is more, some frames today are able to be bent and twisted, which prolongs the usage time of eyeglasses.

We dare say that the invention of hard or soft contact lenses and the creation of vision correction surgery contribute to the invention of eyeglasses. Without eyeglasses, the world becomes colorless and blur.

Although we can not make sure it is who firstly invented eyeglasses, we know that he or she did a real great contribution to the human life and human existence. Besides, a lot of other people who had a hand in the development and evolution of eyeglasses should also be respected.