Present Technology

Present Technology

Glasses are frames bearing lenses worn below the forehead and in front of your eyes with arms placed over your ears. They are mainly used to correct vision or protection from UV rays. Modern glasses are typically supported by pads on the bridge of the nose and by temples placed over the ears. Lenses were originally made from glass, but many are now made from different types of plastic. These materials reduce the danger of breakage and the greater weight of glass lenses. Plastic also offers more protection from ultraviolet light. Some people do not get glasses to correct their vision some people us them as a source of protection against flying debris. There are many different types of glasses. There are sunglasses, reading glasses, and many others. You can buy non-prescription or prescription sunglasses that are darkened to provide protection against bright light. Good sunglasses should also protect your eyes against ultraviolet light. Another type of glasses is bifocals. They are for people who have reading and seeing far away vision problems. Bifocals are a way to have two glasses in one. There are other names for glasses like spectacles or eyeglasses. Many people find glasses unattractive and prefer to wear contacts. On the other hand, some people prefer to wear glasses. As you get older your vision tends to get worse and causes more and more people to get them. That is why you see many elderly people with glasses. This is hereditary so if your parents or your grandparents have poor eye vision you are likely to have poor eye vision as well.

History

History

Glasses were invented between 1268 and 1289. People before used reading stones that were placed on the text as magnifying glasses. The Venetians learned to make this out of glass. They then put them into frames that would be held in front of the eye instead of being put on the paper or text. It is not known who invented the eyeglasses but they were first seen in a painting in which there were two brothers reading one with the reading stone and the other with glasses clipped to the nose. In the 18^th century concave lenses were invented for short sighted people. Pope Leo X was short sighted and wore these glasses while hunting. He said that these made him see even better than the other hunters. The first glasses had lenses of quartz, because they could still not make lenses out of glass. The lenses were mounted in bone, metal or leather, mostly like two small magnifying glasses with an upside-down V in between. The glasses were placed on the nose, which of course was a problem because noses all had different shapes and sizes and also you had to balance it on the nose. Solutions to the problem were tried and some failed one way though was to use silk ribbons to be passes around the ears. In china small weights were tied at the end of each piece of silk. In 1730 an optician (Edward Scarlett) for the first time attached stiff side parts which were put on the ears. This spread around quickly and in 1752 James Ayscott made glasses with "hinges on the sides". In the 1780's the bifocal glasses were developed by Benjamin Franklin. He was very tired of having to switch between from glasses to glasses to see at different distances. For that reason he put half of the glass of each in one pair of frames. The problem was the joint though, this was not until the end of the 19^th century when we learned to make bifocal lenses. The client is the one who chooses the strength of the glasses. A lot of people bought glasses to prevent eye problems, not because of poor vision. In the 18^th century the lorgnette was invented. A lorgnette is a pair of glasses with a handle. The lorgnette was often used as a piece of jewelry instead of glasses to help you see. It was also popular among fashionable ladies, who did not want to wear glasses. The monocle was introduced in the 18^th century and became extremely popular in the 19^th century particularly in Germany and Russia. The monocle was first worn by men in higher class. After World War I the monocle’s popularity disappeared very quickly. This was probably because it was associated with the German military.

Future Technology

Future Technology

Our technology is the glasses. Our first idea would be to make them easier to clean. We thought of disposable plastic tubes with a highly concentrated liquid inside. There would be a small compartment in the glasses, near the hinge on both sides of the glasses. This compartment would go through the other side for the liquid to come out through to the lenses. You would put the tube in the compartment. In the compartment there would also be a something to break the tube, allowing the liquid to come out. The tube would have a flat end on the outside that would be sticking out. This would be connected to a stick and in the other end would be a flat part too but this part would be on the inside of the tube this is so that you push on the end that’s outside so that the other part (on the inside) would push the liquid and let it go through to the other side. When the liquid got to the lens it would clean and then dry very quickly. Another idea we had was to make the glasses more comfortable. We thought we could make the nose and earpiece made of cushion. This would prevent irritation in the nose or ears, and to help to not to get them uncomfortable and hurting all day. Sometimes you have to adjust your glasses so they will stop hurting, this would help prevent that. Our last idea was that the earpiece would have brain wave detection, this would make you not have to go to the eye doctor. This would also prevent you from having to waste money on new glasses all the time.

Breakthroughs

We need many materials to complete our technology. The most important material would be a highly concentrated liquid to clean the lenses. It would need to be able to dry very quickly on its own. The liquid not need to be rubbed to make it dry faster. The liquid would be anti-fog or it would have to clean fog off the lenses.

This brings us to our second breakthrough, the compartment to store the liquid. The compartment would not need to be very big it would only need to store a very little amount of liquid in it. This is because the liquid is highly concentrated so you would only need a little drop of it. One thing about the tubes is that they would have to be disposable. A little bit after the hinge would be a hole. Also inside the hole would be a small needle that would poke a hole into the tube causing the liquid to come out. The tube would be made of plastic so it would be easy for the needle to poke a hole into it to let the liquid come out. This hole is

for you to insert the tube. Another thing that would have to be invented is that your eyeglasses read your brain waves so that you don’t have to go to the eye doctor to get your glasses. You would not need a prescription from the eye doctor. This would probably have to be done by the ear piece of the eyeglasses.

Design Process

Design Process

We thought of many different technologies before we decided to do the glasses. A couple of the many different ideas that we thought of were:

1. Car
2. Computer
3. Bicycle

We didn’t choose the car for many different reasons. The main reason was that it was a very complex technology. Firstly, a car is very large. It would be hard to explain what we were talking about with such a big complicated piece of machinery. Another reason we didn’t choose the car is because something unique, we thought many people would try to reinvent it. We felt that it was already high tech and that there was not a lot to change.

Next, we have the computer. We didn’t choose this technology for many reasons, some like the car and some very different. Just like the car a computer is a very complex machine. Unlike many other pieces of machinery the computer develops and gets more high tech every day. The computer already has many different programs, games, virus protectors, internet, instant messenger, and many others.

Our last idea was to improve upon a bicycle. One reason that we didn’t decide to improve it was that we thought it would never really change. It is a small, simple thing that we couldn’t put many things on to. Even though a bicycle was unique we didn’t feel it was as needed as much as glasses are.

As we said glasses are very unique. This is only one of the reasons we decided to choose glasses. Glasses are also needed in life. Some other objects we thought of were wanted more than they were needed. In our group 2/3 of the students wear eyeglasses, this is why we understand what it feels to have to clean your glasses every day. That is why we choose glasses.

Consequences

There are many good and bad consequences to our improved technology. One of our good consequences is that people will save time and effort cleaning their glasses. Another good consequence is that you don’t have to take the time to go to the eye doctor. One of our other good consequences is that stores earn money by selling the disposable tubes with the high concentrated liquid as well as the glasses.

For this technology there are bad consequences too. One of our bad consequences is that the eye doctors will go out of business because the patients will not need to go to the eye doctors. This is because the glasses will be able to read your brain waves. Another bad consequence is that people will need to spend more money on the disposable tubes and the glasses as well. If you don’t recycle the tubes, then the environment will suffer.

Bibliography

Bibliography

Websites

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasses

http://www.allynscura.com/images/glasses.gif

www.capioeye.cl.uk/eyeinfo/history/glasses/index.html

http://www.teagleoptometry.com/history.htm

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