Hidabevel in the 50's.............................
As of 1956 we used to make hidabevels for minus lenses by handgrooving 2 grooves by hand on a small ceramic stone on a rimless bevel 3mm apart and mounted them into plastic or metal frames for an extra charge.
They actually looked better with no reflection from the grooves as you get today from the automatic edgers.
Diamonds......................
Quote:
Originally Posted by hcjilson
Blue stone-white stone......diamonds hadn't appeared in western mass yet!
Harry, what color was the diamond you had to true the blue and white stone?
You started in 1062.............................
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Weiss
...................... I graduated to bifocals in 1962. We had an AO Trimatic edger and the "modern" AO cutter, with suction-cups for mounting -- quite an innovation back then. ................................
Actually I started in 1954 doing my 3 years of apprentiship. I did all the things I mentioned in my previous postings and a lot more. By 1961 as a full fledged optician I had sold hundreds of pairs of progessive lenses in the retail, made only by SL (ESSILOR today) at the time.
I could actually write a book having sold and made glasses for King Bhumipol of Siam, a race car fan (Thailand), The old Ex-Queen of Spain, The old Aga Khan (special story), The old King Farouk playboy of Egypt, and many more, just because I worked in a place were all these at the time famous and rich circulated. If you ask me nicely I could write up my story and expirience about the old Aga Khan, who was paid his weight in diamonds every 2 years. He must have been at least 200 Lbs when I saw him last and his wife the Begum was a beautiful slim looking woman.
I have been there, long time ago, but learned a lot of it and from all of them.
First plastic lenses.....repolishing
The first company to come out with plastic lenses that I know of, was in England in the mid 1950's. Called Igard......so were the lenses.
The material was so soft that they continiously scratched by just looking through them. Igard supplied a polishing liquid, slightly abrasive and we used to sit for hours with a cotton swab rubbing and ploishing by hand. Of course the optics of the lenses did not improve.
CR 39 is 52 years old...............
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jacqui
..............................I seen he first pair of plastic lenses in 1969.
What we worked withy in the 50 I think was some type of plexglass, anyhow that what everybody said. We had to order the Rx'S finished mounted. Only when CR39 arrived one could work it in a normal optical lab.
CR39 came out in 1947 and celebrated 50 years in 1997:
CR39® Monomer
Plastics made from CR-39 allyl diglycol carbonate monomer combine the optics of glass with excellent mechanical, thermal, and chemical resistance properties of a thermoset material. CR-39 monomer is used for casting plastic lenses for prescription eyewear, sunglasses and other plastic products requiring eye abrasion resistance and high quality optical properties. Lenses from CR-39 monomer give less chromatic aberration as measured by Abbe number than polycarbonate lenses.
The history of CR-39 monomer is told in excerpts (see links) from PPG's commemorative booklet, "More Than Meets the Eye: The Stories Behind the Development of Plastic Lenses," written by Joseph L. Bruneni and published in 1997 during our 50th anniversary celebration of CR-39 monomer.
You can see all about the old and new monomers on the following PPG link:
http://corporate.ppg.com/PPG/optical...ts/default.htm
Maybe a book would do it......................
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew Weiss
............................. I'd be glad to read yours -- especially, where did you work that you had access to the SL progressives and ILite lenses in the late 50s early 60s?
Andrew.................it's been a long road so far........and I should get the guts together and write a book, like you did.
Here is the link: http://www.beginningmindfulness.com/pages/1/index.htm
You seem to have been successful, and I congratulate you.
Your right there would be lot of expieriences and inexpieriences to gather on the Optiboard and write about it.
As for your question in short, I got born into the optical trade. Father had one of the larger optician stores in Switzerland. There was also an optical instruments (microscopes -geodesical) , ophthalmological instruments, manufacturing of orthoptic and pleoptic instruments and a camera department. I had some good training and learning to do in all the parts of the business, which has given me good background knowdlege for the rest.
I did an apprentiship of 3 years in Lausanne on Lake Geneva in an optical business were all the European old royalties, kings, ex-queens got their glasses from. I got to know and work on glasses from the old ex Queen of Spain to Charliy Chaplin just about everybody of name and fame at the time, (while making $5.00 per month/ $ 10.00 second year / $ 20.00 third year).
After that I took courses in ophthalmic optics in London for a few years. While doing above I also became pretty fluent in the French and English while having a Swiss-German background.
The first and longest reigning SL president Mr Cottet and family were close friends of our family since I can remember. Therefore my father who then was vice-president of the Iinternational Opticians Association was one of the first to try out Varilux lenses outside of SL, We started to sell them to the public very successfully around 1957-58. SL used to give courses in every larger town teaching opticians how to, and to whom to sell as well as to whom NOT to sell progressives.
Fantastic Idea, But ...........................
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shutterbug
Maybe we could do an on-line book. Start with a table of contents and just fire away with our memories ...........................
Shutterbug
Shutterbug, you got a point, but would we be making a buck out of anotherwise maybe bestseller ,on-line? Every movie company would steal the ideas and you would see yourself on a sit-com at 8pm and which would suddenly be the a success, and you could not collect a royalty for selling a progressive on the screen to some old lady with a 8mm height and she could not read anything?
The idea is fantastic but...................never on line. A ghostwriter would have to do it.
Anonimous.......................................
Quote:
Originally Posted by Uncle Fester
...........................One of the chapter's to be titled My Most Embarrassing Moment, but I'd insist on anonymity! Can we do that in this forum? .............
It could be posted here but would have to be published elsewhere..........or it will not become a book. Would have to be posted here and then copied to a permanent separate website. I could come up with a solution.
Will make a proposal over the next few days.