[IP encyclopedia] The history of glasses has grown with printing technology

Glasses [Photo provided : imagetoday]

Patent application: Glasses (US1337818A)

Year: 1919

Country: UK

Region: London

Name : Bradshaw Reginald Henry





Vision varies from person to person. Some people have genetically high vision and others catch up with their parents poor eyesight as they grow up. Many lenses have been developed as tools to aid vision but there is a risk of corneal damage. Many people still want glasses. Todays IP Encyclopedia examines the history of glasses and related patents that have developed with the advent of books.

It is a blessing to be able to see well. Imagine that you cannot see anything from this morning. If you cannot see it much of your daily life will probably be difficult. Thus the eye is the biggest part of human life. The result will be a major psychological atrophy.

Extreme cases of losing eyesight was mentioned above but in fact people who are born with low eyesight or whose eyesight gradually decreases as they grow up are often seen. Of course these visual impairments have become more frequent in modern times but there have been cases of visual impairment in the distant past.

Around 100 B.C. Cicero an orator of the Roman Empire suffered from visual impairment. Therefore when speaking eloquently a slave who could read the text read the text for him instead. Also Emperor Nero who was one of the five most powerful emperors of the Roman Empire watched the game using transparent emerald light stone to watch the duel between the gladiators at the Coliseum.

Unlike todays glasses sunglasses are said to be used as a visual aid for Emperor Nero who had poor eyesight so experts said emerald light stone should be seen as tools functioning as glasses. In other words Emperor Neros ‘Jewel glasses are the first glasses ever known until now.

In the 9th century Spanish Andalusians engineer Abbas Ibn Firnas melted ore into glass and used it to make glasses lenses. Alexandre Delaspina a monk of Italy Florence Dominic Monastery in the 13th century and his friend Salvino Marmato Degri Almato created the first Glasses for the correction of vision.

God forgive Salvino DArmato Degli Armati .

Interestingly the words are inscribed on Almatys tombstone in Florence. Why did he asked God to forgive him? At that time he believed that the act of assisting humans vision itself was against God. He thought that it was against Gods will not to accept the weakness but to overcome it by humans themselves.

Also a picture of a person wearing glasses came out in the 14th century. Portrait of Archbishop Hugo a painting drwan in 1352 by Italian artist Tommaso Da Modena which is currently owned by Nicola Temple in Italy shows glasses with glasses frame of shaved animal bones and round lenses made up with glass.

Glass was also developed and glasses frames were available but early glasses were mainly used when reading letters. In other words it was only necessary for those who read. At that time there were not many people who could read and the productivity of books was not high so glasses were not popularized.

In 1450 however an invention that brought about the advancement of human civilization appeared in Gutenbergs printing press. The books that were published normally 1 book in 2 month were able to be produced more than 500 books in one week and since the printing press was invented 20 million books have been produced over the past 50 years and the demand for glasses has increased.

It is no exaggeration to say that the history of glasses has evolved with the development of printing technology. Since then books have been integrated into the public and glasses have evolved in many ways. In 1728 at Scarlett a British glasses store glasses with feet were finally made. Previously the glasses should be held continuously and were hard to fasten so there were inconvenience of dropping out.

Later in 1784 Benjamin Franklin a famous figure on the U.S. $100 bill developed a bifocal lens. As presbyopia began to develop he used both lenses of glasses alternately but he felt inconvenient and began to look for ways to solve the problem with a single lens. In the midst of this the presbyopia was solved by developing a Bifocal lens that can be attached by cutting half of the lens of short-sightedness and half of the lens of far-sightedness. His lenses were simple but they became a great inspiration for the future development of various lenses.

Glasses with feet were invented previously but they were not widely known. However along with the Franklin Lens in 1850 the nose pads and glasses legs were attached giving the glasses an anatomically perfect shape. At the beginning of the 20th century modern glasses began to become popular. Glasses-related patents were popping up like mushrooms starting with a patent filed by Bradshaw Reginald Henry of England in 1919.

Since then Bernard Maitenaz has developed the worlds first progressive multifocal lens which solves the problem of growing beauty like magnifying glass a disadvantage of bifocal lenses. Bernard is the founder of the 160-year-old Essilor Group which created the brand VARILUX and contributed greatly to improving vision for the worlds presbyopia population.

Modern glasses are manufactured from glasses frames to glasses leg lenses to suit human anatomy and occupational factors and the users vision. There are already many products that can solve various visual problems such as myopia and astigmatism. Of course surgery methods such as Lasik and Lasek which insert lens into the eyes or shave the cornea are also popular to make up for the inconvenience of wearing glasses.

Despite the prevalence of Lasik and Lasek there are still demands for glasses. Why? Concerns about human body remodeling and fear of surgery are still growing. Of course the history of eyeglasses may disappear if Lasik and Lasek surgery methods become simple and safer as digitalization reduces the demand for books which are printed materials.

This combination of human-made writings and books and humans eyes that make it to read it has led to the history of endless humanity. We hope that books and glasses which are still influential in the 21st century where digitalization is accelerating will continuously stand by with us.

Nero emperors sculpture [Photo provided : Wikipedia]

‘Portrait of Archbishop Hugo’ by Tomosso damorena [Photo provided : Wikipedia]

Gutenbergs Bible of Vulgata [Photo provided : Wikipedia]

Bradshaw Reginald Henrys patent of glasses [Photo provided : Google patents]

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