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Opera Glasses " High Style, Spyglass Or Optical Device?

Written by Jeff Bridges Friday, 25 December 2009 08:23

Opera glasses developed from a series of other inventions. All this started in 1608 when the Dutch optician Hans Lipperhey created binoculars consisting of two parallel telescopes. Their magnification capability was a (very impressive for the time) x3. Within one year the Italian mathematician and philosopher Galileo Galilee made massive improvements to the techniques and types of lenses used in telescopes, thereby increasing the magnification ability to x30.

Opera glasses developed from a series of other inventions. All this started in 1608 when the Dutch optician Hans Lipperhey created binoculars consisting of two parallel telescopes. Their magnification capability was a (very impressive for the time) x3. Within one year the Italian mathematician and philosopher Galileo Galilee made massive improvements to the techniques and types of lenses used in telescopes, thereby increasing the magnification ability to x30.

Binoculars of the time had one major disadvantage: Despite offering a much wider field of view than a telescope, they made use of convex lenses - which resulted in the image being inverted! It wasn't before more than 100 years later that Anton Schyrle for the first time manufactured binoculars with an extra lens that re-inverted the image. And it took another--1 years before John Dollond of England solved another big problem that binoculars had - color distortion. He started using achromatic lenses (color free lenses) and thereby solved this problem permanently.

Another major step forward was the development of prismatic binoculars by an Italian by the name of Ignazio Porro - a gunnery officer. Prismatic binoculars had a much wider field of vision than before and offered dramatically improved magnification abilities as well.

We don't find any mention of opera glasses in the printed media before the 1730 - in London. These rather primitive opera glasses were not binoculars - they were mini-sized Galilean telescopes. People used them for decorative purposes as much as to watch opera. The bodies were mostly highly decorated with numerous gems, enamel, mother of pearl and ivory.

We find references to binocular opera glasses for the first time in Vienna during 23. They were still really not much more than two tiny telescopes connected by a bridge. You had to focus the telescopes individually by expanding the tubes.

They proved to be very popular, however, and quickly became items of high fashion. The designs were so elaborate that one often would find both a painter and a goldsmith working on the end product. They were used as much to impress people as to watch opera - not to mention scrutinizing other opera goers to see if their opera glasses were perhaps more fashionable than yours!

The design was further improved substantially when it became possible to adjust both lenses at the same time using a small wheel in the center. This made opera glasses even more popular and soon everyone who was anyone had to have one. They were highly regarded as gifts - as one can clearly see when you study the inscriptions on many of these glasses dating back to the 17th century.

The variety of opera glasses available at present is very large. You still get monoculars, which are considered to be very stylish. You also get glasses with built-in reading lights and others with handles. You can even get one with a built-in jealousy glass - enabling you to discreetly watch someone in the audience without being noticed.!