IMPROVEMENTS IN READING GLASSES AND MAGNIFIERS, TO BE SIMULTANEOUSLY USED WITH BOTH EYES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Beck, of Peartree Cottage, Upper Holloway,
in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
READING GLASSES AND MAGNIFIERS, TO BE SIMULTANEOUSLY USED WITH BOTH
EYES."
Sealed the 24th March 1863, and dated the 18th November 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Beck at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th
November 1862.
I, RICHARD BECK, of Peartree Cottage, Upper Holloway, in the County
of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN READING GLASSES AND MAGNIFIERS, TO BE SIMULTANEOUSLY USED WITH
BOTH EYES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in reading glasses and
magnifiers, to be simultaneously used with both eyes.
Heretofore lenses have frequently been made of such a size that
..J
can see through them with both eyes simultaneously; but these are massive
and expensive. Spectacles have also been made with lenses of considerable
magnifying power, but if such spectacles are used as magnifiers by persons
having natural eyesight to enable them to see objects placed at, say; four or five
inches only from the eye, a considerable strain on the sight is perceptible.
Now according to my Invention, I make a binocular reading glass or

page_text: magnifier by dividing an achromatic lense into two equal parts, and mounting
the two parts in a frame at a short distance apart, but without in other
respects altering the relative positions of the parts, except that I prefer to
incline each part outwards to some extent, so that the foci of the two parts
may coincide.
Reading glasses thus constructed may be used without any strain to the
eye being apparent; they are also much more readily constructed and produce
less distortion than a single lense of sufficient size to be used simultaneously
with both eyes; these advantages become very apparent when the lense is of
short focal length, in which case the constructing a single lens of sufficient
size becomes practically impossible.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Beck in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
May 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
BECK, of Peartree Cottage, Upper Holloway, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Beck, Her special licence that I, the said Richard Beck, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard
Beck, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN READING GLASSES AND MAGNIFIERS, TO BE SIMULTANEOUSLY USED WITH
BOTH EYES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard
Beck, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and
ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard Beck, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in reading glasses and
magnifiers to be used simultaneously with both eyes.
Heretofore lenses have frequently been made of such a size that a person
can see through them with both eyes simultaneously; but these are massive
and expensive. Spectacles have also been made with lenses of considerable
magnifying power, but if such spectacles are used as magnifiers by persons
having natural eyesight to enable them to see objects placed at, say, four or
five inches only from the eye, a considerable strain on the sight is perceptible.
Now according to my Invention I make a binocular reading glass or
magnifier by dividing a lens into two equal parts, and mounting the two parts
at a short distance apart in a frame, but without in other respects altering the
relative positions of the parts, except that with the highest powers I prefer to
incline each part outwards to some extent, so that the axis of each half lens
may be inclined in the direction of the object.
+
Reading glasses thus constructed may be used without any strain to the eye
being apparent; they are also much more readily constructed and produce less
distortion than a single lens of sufficient size to be used simultaneously with
both eyes. These advantages become very apparent when the lens is of short
focal length, in which case the constructing a single lens of sufficient size
becomes practically impossible.
Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto annexed shews a plan view of a reading
glass constructed in the manner I prefer for carrying out my Invention; and
Figure 2 shews a longitudinal section of the same.
a, a', are the two halves of a lens, by preference achromatic, each of which
is mounted in a frame. The frame b, in which the half a of the lens is
mounted, has a handle c connected to it; the other frame b', in which the
half a¹ of the lens is mounted, has a rod projecting from it, which fits within
a tube d carried by the frame b, the two halves of the lens can thus be set at
different distances apart to suit the distance between the eyes of the person
using the glass, as the distance between the eyes of different persons varies
considerably; this adjustment is, however, not necessary when the lens is of
low power.
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of a reading glass having the two halves
of the lens set at an angle; this also is not necessary when the lens is of low
power.

page_text: By constructing reading glasses and magnifiers in the manner herein
described, it is not necessary when looking through them at an object near to
the eyes to direct or converge the eyes upon the object, as is the case when
the eyes look through the centres of two whole lenses set at a distance apart
from each other. The strain upon the muscles of the eyes, which results from
causing them to converge upon an object nearer to them than the distance of
natural vision is thus obviated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Beck, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
RICHARD BECK. (L.S.)