Activity#2 Technological Innovations

Lens

A lens is an optical object with approximate or perfect axial symmetry which reflects and transmits light. It can diverge or converge the light beam. A simple lens, also called elements, consists of a single optical element made of glass or transparent plastic. In other hand a compound or complex one is a series or simple lenses or elements with a common axis.

The monocles were the first type of lens. The biggest innovation about monocles was the convenience they had, since they were compact and, unlike what most people believed, comfortable if properly customized. They lens were held by a metal frame which later on received its own modifications in order to make it even more comfortable. One of these improvements included a little extension which allowed the monocle to be held in place without touching the eyelashes. Finally one of the last improvements made was in fact to make the monocles frameless therefore making them cheaper thanks to the absence of an expensive metal frame.

Then they appear the glasses …

Glasses are frames holding lenses worn in front of the eyes. They are normally used for vision correction or eye protection. Safety glasses are a kind of eye protection against flying debris or against visible and near visible light or radiation. Sunglasses allow better vision in bright daylight, and may protect against damage from high levels of ultraviolet light. Other types of glasses may be used for viewing visual information or simply just for fashion purposes.

Finally contact lens appear…

A contact lens is a corrective, cosmetic, or therapeutic lens usually placed on the cornea of the eye. Leonardo da Vinci is credited with describing and sketching the first ideas for contact lenses in 1508, but it was more than 300 years later before contact lenses were actually fabricated and worn on the eye.

n 1887, the German engineer Adolf Gaston Eugen Fick constructed and fitted the first successful contact lens. While working in Zürich, he described fabricating afocal scleral contact shells. Experimentally fitting them: initially on rabbits, then on himself, and lastly on a small group of volunteers. These lenses were made from heavy blown glass and were 18–21mm in diameter.

Functions

Corrective contact lenses- designed to improve vision.

Cosmetic contact lens- is designed to change the appearance of the eye. These lenses may also correct the vision, but some obstruction of vision may occur as a result of the color or design.

Types

Daily wear (DW) - designed to be removed when you go to sleeping.

Extended wear (EW)- contact lens is designed for continuous overnight wear, typically for 6 or more consecutive nights.

Intraocular lenses- are special small corrective lenses surgically implanted in the osterior chamber behind the iris and in front of the lens to correct higher degrees of myopia and hyperopia.