Optical Heritage Museum Southbridge Massachusetts

Printable View

10-25-2019, 10:09 AM
Uncle Fester

Optical Heritage Museum Southbridge Massachusetts

Dick Baker will recognize this place in an out of the way town near Boston that a hundred years ago was an optical powerhouse.

I remember touring it with my school class in the mid 70's and being given a souvenir of an artificial eye that was rejected for some minor flaw.

Did you know a Lensometer is technically only an American Optical (AO) made device to measure lens power?

http://www.opticalheritagemuseum.com/
10-29-2019, 11:32 AM
finefocus

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Fester

Dick Baker will recognize this place in an out of the way town near Boston that a hundred years ago was an optical powerhouse.

I remember touring it with my school class in the mid 70's and being given a souvenir of an artificial eye that was rejected for some min

Did you know a Lensometer is technically only an American Optical (AO) made device to measure lens power?

http://www.opticalheritagemuseum.com/

In the 50's and 60's, you went to Optometry School on an AO scholarship, bought AO equipment (yes, a lensometer, not a vertometer from B&L) and AO waiting room furniture, got your lab work from an AO branch lab using AO frames and AO Tillyer lenses. Then, the same thing that happened to the television and auto businesses happened to AO, B&L, and others like Shuron, etc.
10-30-2019, 08:41 AM
Uncle Fester

Quote:

Originally Posted by finefocus

In the 50's and 60's, you went to Optometry School on an AO scholarship, bought AO equipment (yes, a lensometer, not a vertometer from B&L) and AO waiting room furniture, got your lab work from an AO branch lab using AO frames and AO Tillyer lenses. Then, the same thing that happened to the television and auto businesses happened to AO, B&L, and others like Shuron, etc.

In the 70's you were taught lab in optician school (Right hand over heart- OSF Class of 1977) by retired B&L lab manager Mr. LaBelle who by touch could tell you the thickness and power, with cylinder, of a lens!
10-30-2019, 10:15 AM
CCGREEN

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Fester

In the 70's you were taught lab in optician school (Right hand over heart- OSF Class of 1977) by retired B&L lab manager Mr. LaBelle who by touch could tell you the thickness and power, with cylinder, of a lens!

Back in those days we only had Glass and emerging CR-39 to work with, so to get the power via feel of the lens, if you had been at it a while and were really good and paid attention to what you were doing that was a amazing feat. But I wonder with today's materials and digital surfacing how many people can do that?
10-30-2019, 10:18 AM
Kwill212

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCGREEN

Back in those days we only had Glass and emerging CR-39 to work with, so to get the power via feel of the lens, if you had been at it a while and were really good and paid attention to what you were doing that was a amazing feat. But I wonder with today's materials and digital surfacing how many people can do that?

I wonder if it matters at all...