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| Title | Contact Lens Color Selector Circle |
| Object Name | Contact Lens Color Selector Circle |
| Manufactured By | Glasflex, Inc." Moris Klinger
Al Small
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| Description | This color selection wheel allowed patients to choose the color of their contact lenses. Contact lenses were originally made from modified acrylic material. They were "hard" lenses and had to be machined from "buttons" cut from rod stock. These buttons sold for 2-3 cents and the finished lenses sold for up to $400.00. The material used for these contact lenses had been developed by two jewelry salesmen that contracted with Booton Molding to produce ladies watch crystal faces from regular acrylic. The winter after selling the "faces" they fell out of the watches due to shrinkage from the cold. So with no previous knowledge they developed a "no shrink" acrylic material. The material was discovered by the people who were developing contact lenses and their company became the sole supplier to the entire contact lens industry." worldwide. They remained the sole supplier until the advent of the "soft" lens many years later. |
| Material | Polymethyl methacrylate - Acrylic (PMMA) with proprietary modifier |
| Manufacturing Process | The rod was made by "casting" the acrylic in a metal pipe with 3/4" inside diameter.Casting drum about 5' in diameter c 8' long, with rotating rack on which the metal tubes were held. The drum was filled with hot water. The rod was centerless ground to a constant outside dimension and then cut to produce the buttons. |
| Number of Objects | 1 |
| Accession Number | 2010.033 |
| Donor | Gift of Harry Greenwald. |
| Broad Subject | Optical
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| Subjects | Optical
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| For More Information | Please address inquires to the Public Services Librarian, Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Library (e-mail: scrc@syr.edu, tel. 315-443-2697). |
| Rights | Publication of images from the Special Collections Research Center is subject to approval and fees may be charged for such use. Publication includes the following media: print, electronic/digital, videotape, film, or microfilm. Permission to use images must be obtained in advance and in writing from the Special Collections Research Center by writing to plastics@syr.edu or going to http://scrc.syr.edu . These fees are separate from any which might be assigned/assessed by the copyright holder. |
