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Welcome, my name is John White also known as JetAviator7.
Today I want to talk about the invention of aviator sunglasses.
In historic and prehistoric times Inuit people lived in the northern part of the North American
continent and as hunter gatherers spent a lot of time getting food.
Well, the bright sunlight hurt their eyes and so they squinted all of the time.
My guess is that some Inuit wife got tired of hearing her husband complaining about his
eyes hurting and told him to "Fix It".
Well, we all know that the mother of invention is also the mother of our children.
So an Inuit hunter, probably named Steve Jobs, came up with the idea of taking some ivory
walrus tusks cutting them across the round part
flattening them and then putting slits in them and tied them together around his head
with some string.
Viola! Sunglasses were invented.
Fast forward to the early 19 hundreds and we find silent film stars wearing dark sunglasses
when out in public.
The public thought these sunglasses were to disguise their appearance but the truth is
the harsh arc lamps used for lighting the film sets caused their eyes to become red
and sore.
By 1930 the U.S. Army Air Corp was sending airplanes higher and higher into the sky where
the sunlight was even stronger.
Pilots complained that they had problems spotting other aircraft in the bright sunlight in addition
to ending the flight with red and sore eyes and being very tired.
The Army Air Corp commissioned Baush and Lomb to solve this problem and they came up with
aviator sunglasses that had dark green lenses which absorped ultraviolet light and the tint
reduced the amount of light reaching the pilot's eyes.
These original aviator sunglasses were called Ray Bans because they blocked banned light
rays from reaching the wearer's eyes.
Next came polarized aviator sunglasses using technology created by Edwin H. Lamb who founded
the Polaroid Corporation.
These aviator sunglasses were tinted green had a tear drop shape to maximize eye socket
coverage and absorp ultraviolet radiation quite well.
In 1937 these new aviator sunglasses were introduced to the public through a Woolworth's
store located on the New Jeresy boardwalk.
These aviator sunglasses quickly became popular as a fashion statement.
Today the U.S. military provides aviator sunglasses to all of its pilots, mechanics and ramp rats.
The primary contractor is Randolph Engineering who make their sunglasses right here in Randolph
Massachusets in the USA.
You can find a great selection of aviator sunglasses on our website at www dot aviator
dash sunglasses dot net forward slash randolph dash aviators.
I want to thank you for watching this short video and as always keep your wings straight
and level Hersch!
Oh also don't forget to subscribe to our channel.
Hav a great day!