Bausch & Lomb Perfecting vision, enhancing life for 150 years A ...

and J.J. Bausch stand in the second row, left. The metal-framed spectacles
shown above feature a nosepiece of the type patented by J.J. Bausch.
Page 16: 1875 Bausch & Lomb began manufacturing microscopes under the
direction of Edward Bausch. A replica of the first microscope he designed is at
right. Above and opposite are other early Bausch & Lomb microscopes.
Page 18: 1891 Bausch & Lomb established a Mutual Benefit Association to
provide insurance for its workers. Pictured are employees in the packaging
department (above) and others grinding glass for lenses (opposite).
Page 20: 1887 Rochester-based Eastman Kodak Company relied heavily on
Bausch & Lomb to supply lenses and shutters for cameras, like the one pictured
here.
1887 Edward Bausch’s between-the-lenses iris diaphragm and
shutter (right; detail opposite) were constructed of overlapping leaves that could
be adjusted to control the amount of light admitted through the lens.
Page 22: 1902 Bausch & Lomb entered the projection field with the introduction
of Balopticon slide projectors (above and right).
Page 23: 1902 Balopticon projectors could be used to show both transparent
and opaque images. Slide shows became frequent adjuncts to lectures,
presentations and even dramatic entertainments. The glass slide shown here
features Bausch & Lomb factory workers on lunch break.
Turbulent times, extraordinary accomplishments
The year was 1905. Intent on proving that the United States was ready to take its
place as a world power, President Theodore Roosevelt was building the “Great
White Fleet” – sixteen new battleships that would make up the first naval fleet
ever to circumnavigate the globe. The U.S. Navy’s gunsights had been produced
since 1896 by the Saegmuller Company, a small instrument maker based in
Washington, D.C. that bought its lenses from Bausch & Lomb. Now that the
press of work had made alliance with a larger, more capable company desirable
for Saegmuller, Bausch & Lomb purchased the Saegmuller Company and moved
its entire operation to Rochester, thereby entering the field of optical
measurement. A sign of the importance to the company of these new quantitative
instruments – surveying equipment, range finders and gunsights – was that for a
short time the company was renamed Bausch & Lomb-Saegmuller.
The year 1905 also marked the birth of Bausch & Lomb’s Scientific Bureau,
under the direction of German-trained optician A.H. Kellner. Prior to the
establishment of the bureau, Bausch & Lomb’s research in optical design and in