Adapted from the important key article by Dr. Charles
Letocha, also the wonderful book by Dr. John Levene and finally the
comprehensive paper (yet unpublished) by Stuart Green.
In 1990 the year of the bicentennial celebration of Benjamin Franklin’s death
(1706-1790) a comprehensive article was published by Dr. Charles Letocha, “The
Invention and Early Manufacture of Bifocals”. It presented Benjamin Franklin as
the inventor of bifocals. It is still considered the definitive paper on this
topic because no new information has surfaced to the contrary during the past 15
years. This current year 2006 is the tercentenary of Franklin’s birth and
therefore we can again recognize Franklin for his major role in the development
of bifocal eyeglasses. No one else deserves this esteemed honor: Ben
Franklin-Father of the Bifocal.
The invention of bifocals had been reviewed in great detail by
Dr. John R. Levene in Chapter 6 of his book Clinical Refraction and Visual
Science, Butterworth’s, 1977. Highly regarded as a diplomat and as a scientist,
Franklin is generally acknowledged for all his ingenious contributions to many
very practical inventions. He had talents and also numerous interests and his
natural curiosity led to the search to discover ways to make things work better.
One of his greatest innovations was “my double spectacles” and Franklin has been
quite appropriately recognized and universally admired as their inventor.
Certainly among the most useful inventions of all time
bifocals have serviced billions of people over the past 200 + years. Compound
corrective lenses, usually bifocals or trifocals, and with increasing frequency,
progressive multifocal length eyeglasses are the modern-day result of the
remarkable evolution from Benjamin Franklin’s original simple and practical
creation.
THE EVIDENCE SUPPORTING FRANKLIN
1). Benjamin Franklin was a hyperope who likely required
eyeglasses originally in the 1730s. By the late 1750s he was usually described
wearing them and they became an integral part of his face, at least for distance
use. Many paintings and contemporary sketches and satirical cartoons show him
represented wearing his eyeglasses. He admitted that he could not “distinguish a
letter or even of large print without them”.
2). The Library Company of Philadelphia, founded by Franklin
and some of his friends, became America’s first lending library. In its print
archives there exists a 1764 political cartoon which depicts Franklin wearing an
unusual pair of eyeglasses, interpreted by some knowledgeable people as bifocals
because the upper portion of each lens appears different from the lower portion.
Take a close look and decide for yourself.
3). Von Rohr and several others credit optician Samuel Pierce
with making bifocals for Franklin. Pierce described people wearing bifocals in
1775 and he himself may have worn them in the 1760’s. Although this is all noted
in the Levene’s chapter no hard evidence is presented.
4). Mr. H. Sykes, an English optician living in Paris, with a
business on the Place du Palais-Royale, wrote to Franklin April 24, 1779 and
explained the delay in sending Franklin’s order, complained he was having
difficulty making the eyeglasses. “I should have sent your spectacles sooner,
but in compliance with your favor of the 20th inst., have cut a second pair, in
which I have been unfortunate for I broke and spoilt three glasses.”Sykes had
apparently damaged them while “cutting” them in half. The word “cut” is
emphasized as opposed to the word “grind”. Even Sykes’ charge for this service
(18f a pair) was quite excessive when compared to the normal fee of making
simple ordinary glasses.
5). During his stay in Passy, outside of Paris, Franklin
(serving as the American envoy to the Court of Louis XVI) described in a letter
dated August 21, 1784 to his close friend and philanthropist George Whatley:
…….”I cannot distinguish a letter even of large print; but am happy in the
invention of double spectacles, which serving for distant objects as well as
near ones, make my eyes as useful to me as ever they were: If all the other
defects and infirmities were as easily and cheaply remedied, it would be worth
while for friends to live a good deal longer…..”
6). In a letter dated November 15, 1784 Whatley wrote back:
“I have spoken to Peter Dollond about YOUR invention of double spectacles, and,
by all I can garner,…….”
7). Another correspondence with Whatley May 23, 1785 further
explains Franklin’s basic position on this matter. Noted London optician Peter
Dollond had stated they were only good for “particular eyes”. Franklin’s reply
is certainly very persuasive evidence that he was the inventor:
…………..”By M. Dollond’s saying that MY double spectacles can only serve
particular eyes, I doubt he has not been rightly informed of their construction.
I imagine it will be found pretty generally true, that the same convexity of
glass, through which a man sees clearly at distance proper for reading, is not
the best for greater distances. I therefore had formerly two pairs of
spectacles, which I shifted occasionally, as in traveling I sometimes read, and
often wanted to regards the prospects. Finding the change troublesome, and not
always sufficiently ready, I had the glasses cut and half of each kind
associated in the same circle, thus
(his well-known drawing is in this letter which now resides in
the Library of Congress).
By this means, as I wear my spectacles constantly, I have only
to move my eyes up or down, as I want to see distinctly far or near, the proper
glass being always ready.
This I find more particularly convenient since my being in France, the glasses
that serve me best at table to see what I eat, not being the best to see the
faces of those on the other side of the table who speak to me; and when one’s
ears are not well accustomed to the sounds of a language, a sight of the
movements in the features of him that speaks helps to explain, so that I
understand French better by the help of my spectacles.”
8). Whatley’s next reply dated July 22, 1785;
……….”The Dollonds are obliged by what you have been at pains to say, and
describe of your double spectacles. They fully comprehend it at eh same time
say, for such sight as yours are common. That therefore they only make for such
as like yours when bespoke.”
9). Charles Wilson Peale painted Benjamin Franklin in 1785 and
the painting is the only one showing Franklin wearing double spectacles. The
bifocals are a prominent feature of this famous artwork. No earlier depiction of
anyone else wearing bifocals is known to exist anywhere in the world! This
unique art treasure is at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in
Philadelphia.
10). In 1788 Peale made his own bifocals, as noted in his
diary for August 25th. These became quite helpful when he painted miniatures.
“It would appear that Charles Wilson Peale helped to popularize bifocals in
America because he probably taught their method of manufacture to John
McAllister, Sr. first American optician” (the Letocha article).
11). Correspondence from John Fenno, editor of the Gazette of
the United States, to his wife March 8, 1789 described a meeting in Philadelphia
during the last year of Franklin’s life. The evidence in this letter points
strongly to Franklin. It currently is housed at the William C. Clements Library,
University of Michigan.
“He informed me that he had worn spectacles for 50 years. He
had them on and as they appeared to be differently constructed from any I had
seen the circumstance led to some inquiry - each eye appeared to be formed of
two pieces of glass divided horizontally – he informed me that he had always
worn such – the upper part was to view distant objects, the lower to read with.
….”
12). In 1790 Dr. William Rowley published the book A Treatise
on One Hundred and Eighteen Principal Diseases soon after Franklin passed away.
He quoted the May 23, 1785 letter to Whatley… “A species of spectacles has been
recommended by the late Dr. Franklin…” Thus he was the first to inform the
medical community of Franklin’s invention. He also went on to say that he
recommended double spectacles to some of his friends, “by whom they are highly
approved.”
13). In the August 1791 issue of Massachusetts Magazine, the
general public first learned of Franklin’s double spectacles. Lewis Leprelete
wrote to the editors quoting the same May 23, 1785 letter from Franklin to
Whatley announcing that “A species of spectacles has been recommended by the
late Dr. Franklin…..as it is an important object, I have no doubt but you will
be pleased to gratify the publick with it,…”
14). President Thomas Jefferson communicated with John
McAllister Sr. and also with Charles Peale in a fascinating group of letters
between 1806 and 1808. referring to the Franklin bifocal on Nov. 12, 1806. This
letter is held by the Library of Congress:
“You have heretofore furnished me with spectacles, so reduced
in size as to give facility to the looking over their top without moving them.
This has been a great convenience………Those who are obliged to use spectacles know
what a convenience it would be to have different magnifiers in the same frame.
Dr. Franklin tried this by semicircular glasses joined horizontally, the upper &
lower semicircles of different powers, which he told me answered perfectly. I
wish to try it and therefore send you a drawing No. 2 agreeably to which,
exactly, I will ask another pair of spring frames to be made.”
Jefferson had been in France during the 1784-9 period, being
successor to Franklin as minister. Obviously he observed Franklin wearing his
bifocals when they were together. Later in 1807 Jefferson showed his
satisfaction with his new bifocals in a letter to Peale March 29th 1807. He
noted that he had “adopted Dr. Franklin’s plan of half glasses of different
focal distances, with great advantage” Jefferson wrote to McAllister on March
16, 1808 that he was “extremely satisfied with Dr. Franklin’s method of joining
the spectacles by composing each glass of two half-glasses of different
magnifying powers, and those you made for me answer positively except that the
frames being circular, the glasses are always turning around and bringing the
seam between the two half glasses in the way of the eye. To prevent this the
frame should be oval.”
McAllister had earlier replied to Jefferson, who was by then
President of the United, that he had already made such glasses for members of
the Peale family and instructed Jefferson how to measure the distance between
his pupils and determine the focal length of his current glasses.
15). The well-known French optician-engineer Jean Gabriel
Augustin Chevallier discussed the 'Besicles a la Franklin' in the Gazette de
Sante (June 11, 1806) which was subsequently reprinted in his Conservateur de la
Vue (1810) and later editions of this well known book.
16). Seventeen years after Franklin died, Charles Wilson Peale
painted a portrait of himself wearing bifocals.
17). John Isaac Hawkins, engineer and inventor of the trifocal
in 1826, coined the term bifocal in 1824 and he credited Franklin with the
invention of the bifocal.
ADDITIONAL GENERAL POINTS OF INTEREST
1) The idea of a split lens or lenses of different powers in
one frame was originally suggested by J. Zahn back in 1683 and also by CG Hertel
in 1716. In both these instances however it was possibly for trial lenses and
not for use as eyeglasses. Does anyone know what these lenses definitely were
for?
2) Benjamin Franklin began to advertise eyeglasses for sale in
his newspaper, the Pennsylvania Gazette, as early as 1738. With moderate
hyperopia he would have found eyeglasses to correct farsightedness useful by
this time, about age 30.
3) No double spectacles (split-lens bifocals) have ever been found among
Franklin’s possessions nor, for that matter, have any of his ordinary eyeglasses
been found either.
4) Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723-1792), 1st President of the Royal Academy and an
eminent artist, was known to be a myope. His famous self-portrait of 1788 shows
him wearing silver turn-pin wig spectacles. He may have worn bifocals made by
Dollond. However he was myopic and could merely take his glasses off to do
reading and writing and possibly therefore even painting.
5) Benjamin West (1738-1820), 2nd President of the Royal
Academy and another eminent artist, wore bifocals perhaps made by Samuel Pierce.
But West was a hyperope and likely would not have required them until the early
1790s. West was thirty years younger than Franklin and likely too young to have
required them earlier that Franklin. In 1824 Samuel Pierce recorded comments
that West had worn bifocals for years. Any artist would have appreciated the
usefulness of bifocals, especially as he/she grew older. Pierce commented that
he had known “several painters and other artists” who had used bifocals when
they reached 60 – 70 years of age.
6) Since both Benjamin West and his teacher Sir Joshua
Reynolds could have had bifocal spectacles in the mid-1780s it is easy to see
why some historians have suggested that either one of them could have originally
invented them. But neither West nor Reynolds ever spoke up that they had been
the first to conceive of bifocals. Neither of them has been as directly linked
with this invention as Franklin has.
7) Franklin’s name has been typically associated with
bifocals, not the name of West or Reynolds. This invention was attributed to
Franklin during the lifetimes of both West and Reynolds. If either of them was
the inventor or if either knew of an inventor other than Franklin, wouldn’t they
have said something about it?
8) The “London opticians” advertised pretty heavily. If they
had invented something as interesting as bifocals, wouldn’t one expect they
would have mentioned it in their advertising?
9) Patents were granted to Addison Smith in 1783 and to J.R.
Richardson in London in 1797 for what could be called an alternative to
bifocals. Each was comprised of an extra pair of lenses hinged to the main
spectacles, the Addison Smith variety came down from above while the Richardson
variety rotated in from the sides behind the distance correction, in order to
correct for near work. Dutch painter Rienk Jelderhuis is shown in a portrait in
1791 wearing an unusual style of double glasses. He had invented these with the
distance prescription fixed in a frame attached to the top of each reading
glass.
10) Thus during Franklin’s lifetime and shortly thereafter,
imaginative opticians came up with several eyeglasses designs that could be used
for both near and distance vision. Franklin’s bifocals however gradually became
the dominant form of combined eyeglasses, although there were some problems with
them. Opticians had a challenging time grinding the seam edge perfectly flat and
keeping the half lenses from falling out of the frames. Lenses also rotated in
the round frame also creating a problem. Another great annoyance was the dirt
that accumulated in the seam line between the two half lenses, causing a visible
dark line at the transition ridge.
11) Here is a bit of trivia about U.S. presidents and glasses.
H. R. Brands in his biography of Andrew Jackson, writing about his first
inauguration wrote "Jackson remained standing before the crowd. He wore two
pairs of eyeglasses: one currently on his eyes, the other-his reading
glasses-thrown on the top of his head" One can assume from this that Ben
Franklin's bifocals were still not in common use by 1829. (per Paul A.
Rittenhouse)
12) George Elkington (1801-1865) patented two pair together in the same frame
with a 45 degree angle induced in the bottom pair. Therefore they were half eyes
and also pulpit glasses.
13) Isaac Schnaitman (1795-1875) was a German immigrant to Philadelphia who
patented in 1834 a one-piece bifocal which is in fact inverted (upturned). To
create this he took a minus tool and ground a small round section at the top of
a plus lens.
14) 1861 John Braham patented auxiliary glasses (front hangers or grab-fronts).
15) In the OAICC Newsletter July 1998, N. 64 “Now that the College of
Optometrists is housed at 42 Craven Street in London it is of particular note
that Benjamin Franklin, the Inventor of Bifocals, lived at 36 Craven Street,
just a few yards away, from 1757 until 1772. ***This statement is, by itself,
significant confirmation because this publication and its greatly admired and
highly-respected editor Ronald MacGregor are considered authoritative to me -
DAF)
CONCLUSIONS
Bifocals are attributed to Ben Franklin and he probably came
up with the idea by himself. He did not produce them himself but instead had
some optician in London or France make them for him. Franklin and his close
circle of friends, including West and Reynolds, all probably wore them.
Franklin’s discovery of the bifocal is generally felt to have
occurred in the early 1760’s. Most hyperopic presbyopes don't go into bifocals
until their early 40s so a most realistic earliest date, an educated guess
regarding Franklin himself, would be while he was living in London and that
started in 1757.It is only from his 1784 letter to George Whatley that we have
Franklin’s first statement (with his own drawing) to confirm his involvement.
The 1789 Fenno letter is also quite important because it is unique in attempting
to possibly date the invention.
The bifocal was so typical of Franklin’s many inventions -
another practical, elegant, simple solution to a problem he carefully defined.
“It just seems so Franklin-esque”. The important thing to Franklin was always the
idea – it would make life simpler for an aging man – “another thing to be freely
shared with all old men so that their lives might be made easier” (from a famous
quotation by Charles Snyder).
OTHERS WHO ARE ACKNOWLEDGED FOR THEIR KIND SUPPORT
Adrian Whitcher and Jane Wess from the Science Museum
John Alviti from the Franklin Institute
Barbara Katus of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts
Jeffrey Ray of the Atwater Kent Museum
Clayton Lewis and John Dann of the Clements Library
Charlene Peacock and Jim Green from the Library Company of Philadelphia.
Melissa Clemmer and Page Talbott from the Franklin Tercentenary,
Ellen Cohn from the Yale University Library
My good friend and advisor Dr. Charles (Chuck) Letocha
Neil Handley of the British Optical Association Museum
Stuart Green
Several advanced collectors who are sharing photos of their early and more
recent split lens bifocals
SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES
Formal letters have been written to the Citizen’s Stamp
Advisory Committee at the U.S. Postal Service Headquarters in Washington with
the suggestion to honor Benjamin Franklin for the invention of the bifocal. The
bifocal has certainly impacted billions of people worldwide in the last 230 +
years. As one of the greatest Founding Fathers for the United States Ben
Franklin has become world-renowned for his many other achievements. Numerous stamps
already honor him however a U.S. commemorative stamp has never been commissioned
to acknowledge the specific outstanding accomplishment of the BIFOCAL LENS. It
would be appropriate to recognize him for yet another major
contribution to mankind..."Franklin: Father of the Bifocal"
The process of creating a new stamp apparently takes at least
several years. Please read each of the letters below and you are encouraged to
also consider writing. We can all make a difference by lobbying the Committee
and everyone will benefit.
October 10, 2003 letter
April 19, 2005 letter
November 9, 2006 letter
Contact the postal service also by writing to:
Robinson, Ronald A., CHAIRPERSON
Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee
Stamp Development
US Postal Service
1735 North Lynn St. Rm 5013
Arlington VA 22209-6432
