Presentation
Digital Lens Grinding in the Optical Industry
Jim Lewis
As Bob Cave was introducing Jim Lewis of Harvey & Lewis, Nancy Nation gave a Happy Dollar to thank the company for their continued support of the club's golf outing. Jim Lewis is actually the fourth generation of his family to head the firm which was founded in 1890. His dad Stuart was also at the meeting. Jim has been very involved with Rotary in Hartford, and his great-grandfather was one of the founders of the Hartford club.
Here are some of the pictures which show the history of Harvey & Lewis.
The last picture is a photo of a Norman Rockwell painting that was based on a visit by the artist to Harvey & Lewis with a note of thanks he sent after the visit.
Jim reminded us that opticians differ from ophthalmologists in that the latter are concerned about the eye from the surface into the eye, while the latter is concerned with the surface out through the lenses which aid in vision. So he has given the same presentation to a group of ophthalmologist that he gave to our Rotary.
Lens technology began with glasses developed in Florence, Italy in 1286 from bean-shaped pebbles. From the Italian word for beans, similar to lentils, comes the word for lenses. In 1784 Benjamin Franklin developed the first bifocal glasses. Through the 1950's lenses were made of glass. As plastic lenses came into use in the 60's and 70's, it was possible to have larger lenses and lighter frames. In the 1980's progressive lenses were developed which allowed for lenses suitable for several distances. In the 1990's high definition lenses were developed in Germany which allowed for grinding the backs of lenses as well as the front.
The development of a small computerized grinder by Gerber Scientific in South Windsor made it possible to grind and polish lenses in one hour with less danger of breakage. However there are huge inventory requirements for this sort of equipment. To cover all the options 3500 different items must be available per lens design, and there are hundreds of designs. Today lenses are created from a high definition machine using a $400,000 machine according to calculations created by the physics department at the University of Madrid. Each design is purchased online as it is needed. The advantage of this sort of system is increased accuracy, greater area of visibility, and much better adjustment for astigmatism. Of course this machine is much bigger than the former desktop model, so all the grinding for the various Harvey & Lewis locations is done in East Hartford on a machine still produced by Gerber Scientific in South Windsor using a $ 1,500 diamond chip. Most of the frames worn today require a great deal of handwork.
Now you know why glasses cost so much!
