The American gentleman of science, Ben Franklin, who endured both myopia as well as presbyopia, devised bifocal reading glasses in 1784 to obviate having to frequently alternate between two sets of eyeglasses.

The original lenses for repairing astigmia were constructed by the British stargazer George Airy in 1825.

Along the history of bifocal glasses, the building of spectacle frames also developed. Early on oculars were contrived to be either held in place with hand or by maintaining force on the nose. Girolamo Savonarola advised that oculars could be held in place with a ribbon passed over the subject’s head, this in turn fastened by the weight of a hat.

Entering modern bifocal history, the contemporary fashion of bifocal eyeglasses supported by temples passing over the ears, was produced in 1727 by the British lens maker Edward Scarlett. These designs were not at once prosperous, however, and assorted styles with attached handles like “scissors-glasses” and lorgnettes stayed fashionable throughout the eighteenth and into the early nineteenth century.

In the early twentieth century, Moritz von Rohr at Zeiss produced the Zeiss Punktal spherical point-focus lens system which dominated the eyeglass lens field for many years.

Despite the rising fame of contacts and laser restorative eye surgery, eyeglasses remain rather common, as their technology has continued to evolve. For example, it’s currently possible to buy frames constituted of special memory metal alloys that return to their correct configuration after being bent. Other frames have spring-loaded hinges.

Glasses have come a long way, haven’t they? In fact, today you can even buy sunglasses with bifocal lenses.

Most of these designs are also distinctly better able to resist the stresses of day-to-day wear as well as the periodic accident. Modern frames are likewise frequently constructed from robust, light-weight materials like titanium alloys that weren’t available in earlier times.

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