4 BC-65 AD-It’s been reported that Seneca – the Roman statesman, dramatist, and philosopher ,used a glass globe filled with water as a magnifier to read “all the books of Rome.”
1000′s- Glass blowers in Italy are credited with producing reading stones made of solid glass. These devices were similar to hand-held magnifying lenses of today.
1268- English philosopher and scientist Roger Bacon reported on the use of reading lenses. It’s unclear whether he was referring to reading stones or lenses in frames worn in front of the eyes,” If anyone examines letters or other minute objects through the medium of crystal or glass or other transparent substance, if it be shaped like the lesser segment of a sphere with the convex side toward the eye, he will see the letters far better and they will seem larger to him. For this reason, such an instrument is useful to all persons and to those with weak eyes for they can see any letter, however small, if magnified enough.”
1280- Eyeglasses appeared first in Florence and their use spread rapidly.
1284- Italy, Salvino D’Armate is credited with inventing the first wearable eye glasses. This picture is a reproduction copied from an original pair of eye glasses dating back to the mid-1400′s.
1285-1289- Most historians believe monks or craftsmen in Pisa (or perhaps Venice), Italy produced the first form of eyeglasses/ The magnifying lenses for reading were set into bone, metal, or leather mountings, shaped like two small magnifying glasses with the handles riveted together to form an inverted “V” shape that could be balanced on the Bridge of the nose.
1289-The first specific mention of eyeglasses is in an Italian manuscript written by a member of the di Popozo family. The author wrote, “I am so debilitated by age that without the glasses known as spectacles, I would no longer be able to read or write.”
1300- Italy’s Guild of Crystal Workers adopts a term for the discs for the eyes (“roidi da ogli” or “vetri da occhi”) for the first time.
1306- Giordano da Rivalto – a monk in Pisa, Italy – remarked in a sermon, “it is not yet twenty years since the art of making spectacles, one of the most useful arts on earth, was discovered. I myself have seen and conversed with the man who made them first.” But the name of the inventor was never mentioned. Rivalto coined the word occhiali (eyeglasses) and its use began to spread throughout Italy and Europe.
1313-Italian scholar Carlo Dati (1619-76) reported many years later that he read an entry pertaining to the invention of eyeglasses in a Latin Chronicle written in a monastery in Pisa. He described the passage in an essay presented to the Academia della Crusca, a scholarly society in Florence: “Among the entries in this Chronicle, under the year 1313, it is recorded that in this monastery of St. Catherine there lived and died Friar Alessandro Spina, a monk of most excellent character and most acute mind, who understood everything that he heard said or saw done. And when it happened that somebody else was the first to invent eyeglasses and was unwilling to communicate the invention to others, all by himself he made them and good-naturedly shared them with everybody.”
1313- Friar Spina’s 1313 obituary notice mentions, “when somebody else was the first to invent eyeglasses and was unwilling to communicate the invention to others, all by himself he made them and good-naturedly shared them with everybody.
1352 -The first know artistic representation of the use of eyeglasses were paintings by two Italian artists in. Tommaso da Modena painted a series of frescoes depicting monks reading and writing manuscripts. One monk holds a magnifying glass, but another wears spectacles perched on his nose.
The same year, Crivelli painted Hugh of St. Cher, depicting a subject wearing eyeglasses.
1400′s- Eyeglasses for distance vision appeared sometime in the early 1400′s. In his letter to Piero di Cosimo de’ Medici of Florence dated August 25, 1451, Ardouino da Baesse of Ferra mentions that he received four pairs of spectacles, and that three of these were for “distance vision.”
It has also been reported that Pope Leo X (1475-1521), who was very nearsighted, wore eyeglasses with concave lenses for hunting and claimed they enabled him to see better than his companions.
Spectacle peddlers who were selling glasses was a common sight on the streets of Western Europe. People often rummaged through baskets filled with German metal and leather spectacles in an effort to improve their vision.
1508 -Some believe that the sketches made by Leonardo da Vinci about 1508 were intended to indicate contact lenses
1600′s- Spanish craftsmen create the first eyeglass frame temples. They attach ribbons of silk or strings to the frame and loop them over the wearer’s ears. Spanish and Italian missionaries carry the new types of eyeglasses to China. The Chinese attach small metal weights to the strings instead of making loops.
1604- Publication appears on how how correct explanation of their operation, however,publication of the work of the astronomer Johannes Kepler.
1636- Contact lenses were suggested and sketched by René Descartes in 1636.
1720- Monocles were introduced by the German Baron Philip Von Stosch, but didn’t reach the height of their popularity until the 1880’s
1730- London Optician Edward Scarlett introduces rigid temples that rest atop the wearer’s ears.
1752 – London medical instruments designer James Ayscough designs spectacles with double-hinged temples, which become widely popular. He also introduces green and blue tinted lenses to reduce glare.
1780- Lorgnettes, used most often by women, developed around 1780 from the scissors glasses of France and England. Believed to have been first popularized by London’s George Adams, Jr. (1750-1795) , they had a handle on the temporal side.
1784- American Benjamin Franklin invents Bifocal lenses.
1799- Scotsman John McAllister, Sr. opens the first optical shop in America in Philadelphia. The McAllister family business continued for five generations over a span of 173 years and it developed from prolific spectacle making to optometry. Because of this family, Philadelphia ranks not only as the birthplace of the nation, but also as the focal point for the development of optometry. Basically John McAllister Sr. is undisputedly the first important figure in America’s optical field and the founder of the profession of opticianry in this country.
1800- The monocle (first called an eye ring) is introduced in England. Monocles remain popular in Europe among men in society’s upper class throughout the 1800′s.
1824- Viennese optician Voigtlander invented rigid glass spectacles in 1824 and
1825- Englishman Sir George Airy designs the first lenses to correct astigmatism.
1826 Trifocal lenses are introduced by John Hawkins – inventor, musician, and engineer of London and Philadelphia.
1826- Optician William Beecher established a jewelry-optical manufacturing shop in Southbridge, Mass. By 1833 his workmen also began manufacturing spectacles to compete with the more costly foreign imports. He sold his business to Holdridge Ammidown and then in 1849 Robert Cole joined the company. Two years later Beecher bought back in and then in 1852, Hiram Wells joined the firm. His younger brother George Wells gained employment in 1864. All the partner’s interests were consolidated and, though the foundation of the company was in 1833, the American Optical Company
1840- Austrian optician Waldstein also offered all-glass spectacles
1853- Optician John Jacob Bausch set up a tiny optical goods shop in Rochester, New York in 1853. Shortly thereafter, he needed some additional capital so he borrowed $60 from his good friend Henry Lomb and a partnership was formed. After the Civil War demand for their hard rubber (“Vulcanite”) eyeglass frames increased dramatically and this company diversified its product line into precision optical products like microscopes, telescopes, binoculars, and photographic lenses.
1887- The first contact lenses to have been worn were invented by the physiologist Adolf Fick
1909 – Dr. John Borsch, Jr. introduces fused bifocal lenses, making bifocals thinner and more attractive than Franklin-style bifocals.
1948- The plastic contact lens was originated by Kevin Tuohy
1953 -The earliest glasses thus far have been an incomplete pair of rivet spectacles found under the floorboards of the nun’s choir-stalls during rennovations Kloster Wienhausen in northern Germany.
1958 – Essilor International of France introduces the first progressive multifocal lens, naming itVarilux.
1970′s- Soft lenses appear
Resources:
- Antique Spectacles this is the best site for historical knowledge
- Wiki
- Eyeglass Warehouse - Specialize in vintage and antique spectacles, Their website says they have over 17,000 pair in stock. They also buy vintage eyewear.
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