Benjamin Franklin: The Original Hipster Eyewear Aficionado

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Benjamin Franklin: Eyewear Aficionado
Credit
Rick Adams

 

In 1784, Benjamin Franklin made a special request to his optician: he wanted the lenses of his reading glasses and long-distance glasses sliced in half, then sutured together with the reading lenses on top and the long-distance lenses on the bottom. He dubbed the glasses “double spectacles,” though we now know them as bifocals. Like his other inventions, Franklin had little interest in profiting from his creation, instead preferring to share it with the community to help improve quality of life for others suffering from vision deterioration.

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BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: THE ORIGINAL HIPSTER

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