Info about "Bausch & Lomb Criterion 4000"

On Thursday, September 17, 2015 at 3:55:45 PM UTC-5, Helpful person wrote:
If I remember correctly, and I believe I do:

Bausch and Lomb were an old time well respected optical company based in Chicago. They go back before 1900.

In the 1970s (?) they were bought by Hughes (not sure which division) and became known as Hughes Optical Products. They made various products including night vision goggles (using I squared tubes) for the military with a eyepiece lenses containing some plastics.

In the 1980s (?) they were bought by Leitz of Canada, I believe based in the Georgian Bay, north of Toronto. The Chicago factory was soon closed down and the operation moved to Canada.

Various companies have used the name as parts were spun off, the best known being the maker of contact lenses.

http://www.richardfisher.com

B&L was based in Rochester NY. I worked there from 1968 to 1972 in various engineering positions. They made all kinds of optical products, precision microscopes, small telescopes up to 60mm dia, high end binoculars, commercial lenses (example Panavision lenses for the movie industry), military optics for spy planes, chemical analyzers using light beams and lasers, precision diffraction gratings and a host of other products too numerous to list.

B&L had their own glass plant where they made a number of different glasses that were used in their products. Their grating lab was located 100 ft underground on bedrock, where they had numerous grating ruling engines operating around the clock, producing precision master gratings, some for military/space use and some for making replicas.

B&L was an old line parental type company which had company housing surrounding the factory, and even a company store for their employees to use. Most of the optical professionals were imported from Germany after the first world war, and made a lot of the optics used by our military in WW2. By the time I started working there, it was clear that their moment in history was beginning to close, and the executives were beginning to cast about for new markets. They built a new factory for contact lenses, and slowly began to shut down the old line - the glass plant was mothballed, the grating lab was shut down, and eventually the entire plant, buildings and all were razed to the ground.

The new B&L emerged, with contact lenses as their main product. All the old optical masters who had made precision optics for the military had pretty much retired by then, and no new ones were being trained. Some of the younger optical workers opened dozens of small shops in the Rochester area, and most of them have thrived. The optical industry is actually quite alive in Rochester, and it is the center of commercial and industrial production now.. Not really any consumer optics being made there, so most people have not heard of these shops.

UncaB&L

On Friday, September 18, 2015 at 12:55:17 PM UTC-4, Uncarollo2 wrote:
On Thursday, September 17, 2015 at 3:55:45 PM UTC-5, Helpful person wrote:
If I remember correctly, and I believe I do:

Bausch and Lomb were an old time well respected optical company based in Chicago. They go back before 1900.

In the 1970s (?) they were bought by Hughes (not sure which division) and became known as Hughes Optical Products. They made various products including night vision goggles (using I squared tubes) for the military with a eyepiece lenses containing some plastics.

In the 1980s (?) they were bought by Leitz of Canada, I believe based in the Georgian Bay, north of Toronto. The Chicago factory was soon closed down and the operation moved to Canada.

Various companies have used the name as parts were spun off, the best known being the maker of contact lenses.

http://www.richardfisher.com

B&L was based in Rochester NY. I worked there from 1968 to 1972 in various engineering positions. They made all kinds of optical products, precision microscopes, small telescopes up to 60mm dia, high end binoculars, commercial lenses (example Panavision lenses for the movie industry), military optics for spy planes, chemical analyzers using light beams and lasers, precision diffraction gratings and a host of other products too numerous to list.

B&L had their own glass plant where they made a number of different glasses that were used in their products. Their grating lab was located 100 ft underground on bedrock, where they had numerous grating ruling engines operating around the clock, producing precision master gratings, some for military/space use and some for making replicas.

B&L was an old line parental type company which had company housing surrounding the factory, and even a company store for their employees to use. Most of the optical professionals were imported from Germany after the first world war, and made a lot of the optics used by our military in WW2. By the time I started working there, it was clear that their moment in history was beginning to close, and the executives were beginning to cast about for new markets. They built a new factory for contact lenses, and slowly began to shut down the old line - the glass plant was mothballed, the grating lab was shut down, and eventually the entire plant, buildings and all were razed to the ground.

The new B&L emerged, with contact lenses as their main product. All the old optical masters who had made precision optics for the military had pretty much retired by then, and no new ones were being trained. Some of the younger optical workers opened dozens of small shops in the Rochester area, and most of them have thrived. The optical industry is actually quite alive in Rochester, and it is the center of commercial and industrial production now. Not really any consumer optics being made there, so most people have not heard of these shops.

UncaB&L

Do you know where the Chicago factory originated? Did B&L purchase another company? It was in Des Plains.

http://www.richardfisher.com

On Friday, September 18, 2015 at 12:03:13 PM UTC-5, Helpful person wrote:
On Friday, September 18, 2015 at 12:55:17 PM UTC-4, Uncarollo2 wrote:
On Thursday, September 17, 2015 at 3:55:45 PM UTC-5, Helpful person wrote:
If I remember correctly, and I believe I do:

Bausch and Lomb were an old time well respected optical company based in Chicago. They go back before 1900.

In the 1970s (?) they were bought by Hughes (not sure which division) and became known as Hughes Optical Products. They made various products including night vision goggles (using I squared tubes) for the military with a eyepiece lenses containing some plastics.

In the 1980s (?) they were bought by Leitz of Canada, I believe based in the Georgian Bay, north of Toronto. The Chicago factory was soon closed down and the operation moved to Canada.

Various companies have used the name as parts were spun off, the best known being the maker of contact lenses.

http://www.richardfisher.com

B&L was based in Rochester NY. I worked there from 1968 to 1972 in various engineering positions. They made all kinds of optical products, precision microscopes, small telescopes up to 60mm dia, high end binoculars, commercial lenses (example Panavision lenses for the movie industry), military optics for spy planes, chemical analyzers using light beams and lasers, precision diffraction gratings and a host of other products too numerous to list.

B&L had their own glass plant where they made a number of different glasses that were used in their products. Their grating lab was located 100 ft underground on bedrock, where they had numerous grating ruling engines operating around the clock, producing precision master gratings, some for military/space use and some for making replicas.

B&L was an old line parental type company which had company housing surrounding the factory, and even a company store for their employees to use. Most of the optical professionals were imported from Germany after the first world war, and made a lot of the optics used by our military in WW2. By the time I started working there, it was clear that their moment in history was beginning to close, and the executives were beginning to cast about for new markets. They built a new factory for contact lenses, and slowly began to shut down the old line - the glass plant was mothballed, the grating lab was shut down, and eventually the entire plant, buildings and all were razed to the ground.

The new B&L emerged, with contact lenses as their main product. All the old optical masters who had made precision optics for the military had pretty much retired by then, and no new ones were being trained. Some of the younger optical workers opened dozens of small shops in the Rochester area, and most of them have thrived. The optical industry is actually quite alive in Rochester, and it is the center of commercial and industrial production now. Not really any consumer optics being made there, so most people have not heard of these shops.

UncaB&L

Do you know where the Chicago factory originated? Did B&L purchase another company? It was in Des Plains.

http://www.richardfisher.com

There was no Chicago factory when I worked at B&L. It was probably added later after they started the contact lens business.

On Friday, September 18, 2015 at 1:06:19 PM UTC-5, Uncarollo2 wrote:
On Friday, September 18, 2015 at 12:03:13 PM UTC-5, Helpful person wrote:
On Friday, September 18, 2015 at 12:55:17 PM UTC-4, Uncarollo2 wrote:
On Thursday, September 17, 2015 at 3:55:45 PM UTC-5, Helpful person wrote:
If I remember correctly, and I believe I do:

Bausch and Lomb were an old time well respected optical company based in Chicago. They go back before 1900.

In the 1970s (?) they were bought by Hughes (not sure which division) and became known as Hughes Optical Products. They made various products including night vision goggles (using I squared tubes) for the military with a eyepiece lenses containing some plastics.

In the 1980s (?) they were bought by Leitz of Canada, I believe based in the Georgian Bay, north of Toronto. The Chicago factory was soon closed down and the operation moved to Canada.

Various companies have used the name as parts were spun off, the best known being the maker of contact lenses.

http://www.richardfisher.com

B&L was based in Rochester NY. I worked there from 1968 to 1972 in various engineering positions. They made all kinds of optical products, precision microscopes, small telescopes up to 60mm dia, high end binoculars, commercial lenses (example Panavision lenses for the movie industry), military optics for spy planes, chemical analyzers using light beams and lasers, precision diffraction gratings and a host of other products too numerous to list.

B&L had their own glass plant where they made a number of different glasses that were used in their products. Their grating lab was located 100 ft underground on bedrock, where they had numerous grating ruling engines operating around the clock, producing precision master gratings, some for military/space use and some for making replicas.

B&L was an old line parental type company which had company housing surrounding the factory, and even a company store for their employees to use.. Most of the optical professionals were imported from Germany after the first world war, and made a lot of the optics used by our military in WW2. By the time I started working there, it was clear that their moment in history was beginning to close, and the executives were beginning to cast about for new markets. They built a new factory for contact lenses, and slowly began to shut down the old line - the glass plant was mothballed, the grating lab was shut down, and eventually the entire plant, buildings and all were razed to the ground.

The new B&L emerged, with contact lenses as their main product. All the old optical masters who had made precision optics for the military had pretty much retired by then, and no new ones were being trained. Some of the younger optical workers opened dozens of small shops in the Rochester area, and most of them have thrived. The optical industry is actually quite alive in Rochester, and it is the center of commercial and industrial production now. Not really any consumer optics being made there, so most people have not heard of these shops.

UncaB&L

Do you know where the Chicago factory originated? Did B&L purchase another company? It was in Des Plains.

http://www.richardfisher.com

There was no Chicago factory when I worked at B&L. It was probably added later after they started the contact lens business.

Rudy Kingslake did a history of Rochester optical companies that is quite extensive:
http://www.nwmangum.com/Kodak/Roches...h%20and%20Lomb

Since I lived and worked there for a number of years, I got to know quite a few of the early pioneers that worked in the various optical shops in Rochester, and who built side businesses for amateur astronomy. I worked in the same department as ralph Dakin, who designed the Dakin Barlow. There were also a couple of optical engineers who designed microscope optics and had designs for astronomical eyepieces. The R&D department was also experimenting with consumer telescopes and had developed a small 100mm Maksutov that was designed to compete with the 90mm Questar. It never made it into production because production costs were too high.