It wouldn’t be until the widespread adoption of a different prism style that military binoculars would be highly regarded for their efficacy. These field glasses were quite bulky, though, and prone to the same problems of a small field of vision that any Galilean telescope is plagued by. The turn of the century saw aluminum production come into its own, allowing for wider production of military field glasses - large Galilean binoculars with rugged construction that could magnify 5-6X. Once durable binoculars could be made affordably enough, European and American militaries quickly pounced on the tactical advantages given by enhanced vision capabilities. Combined with optical improvements that allowed for multiple ranges of magnification, this led to increases in efficiency that would be adopted for military use. Lemiére quickly improved on this design, offering an extra bridge that allowed for adjustable focusing.īy the late 1800s, widespread adoption of aluminum processing methods led to even lighter weight opera glasses, including folding and collapsible glasses. Voigtländer would go on to patent the combination of two spyglasses in 1823, connecting them with a metal bridge to allow for easy holding and double-eyed viewing. They would lay the foundation for the next step of binocular evolution: Opera glasses.
More commonly, however, they were used to observe plays from the far reaches of opera seating.Įssentially a collapsible, handheld-sized telescope, the spyglass allowed for magnifications of 2-3X.
Precursor to Binoculars: The SpyglassĪlso known as prospect glasses, spyglasses may remind you of popular images of pirates sailing the high seas. Let’s take a look through these early attempts at creating binoculars, as well as the turning point that gave us modern binocular technology.
#VINTAGE LEITZ BINOCULARS PORTABLE#
Since Galileo’s introduction of the telescope in the early 1600s, pioneering inventors sought to improve on his designs, making them more portable and user friendly. What took so long for binocular technology to catch up to telescopes? To discover the answer to that question, keep reading in the next section as we discuss the chronological development of side-by-side binoculars. While Lipperhay would go on to lose his bid for a patent on this device, the historical record clearly marks the concurrent development of telescope and binocular technology.Įven though the telescope became a fixture of scientific communities within 100 years of Lipperhay’s invention, it wouldn’t be until 1894 that the modern style of prism binoculars came to be. Our earliest recorded evidence of a binocular-like device comes to us courtesy of a Dutch-German inventor named Hans Lipperhay.Īs early as 1608, Lipperhay submitted a letter to the States-General in charge of patents, seeking to verify his invention of “a certain device by means of which all things at a very great distance can be seen as if they were nearby, by looking through glasses…” - essentially, a telescope with a convenient viewing port.Īnd the States-General’s response? Only to ask Lipperhay to make the invention suitable for using through both eyes. £55.5.1 Related Posts: Telescopes: The Origins of Binoculars
#VINTAGE LEITZ BINOCULARS FULL#
Includes a full strip-down for cleaning of mechanical parts, renewal of lubricants with correct types, minor repairs, cleaning of optics, reassembly, adjustment for smooth operation, collimation, testing and external cleaning.Īpprox.
Full service of a Porro-prism binocularĪpprox.Straightforward correction of assembly, collimation and test. Re-alignment of a binocular giving a double imageĪpprox.When sending your instruments for repair please complete a customer repair form and send them to: East Coast Binocular Repairs Stable Yard Ryston Hall Ryston Norfolk PE38 0AA ********************** Telescope & Binocular Repair Examples Servicing is always carried out to manufacturer standards.Ĭustomers are requested to use the contact us, or call 01366 387581 before sending any items for repair or servicing that are not listed above. Please note that we are no longer able to repair astronomical binoculars, ‘Zeiss Jena Notarem’ any wartime binoculars or Bushnell binoculars, as we are unable to obtain spares.Īll repair work is undertaken on-site in our modern fully equipped workshop located in East Anglia. We offer a fast and efficient repair service for many popular makes including Zeiss, Swarovski, Hawke, Opticron, Optolyth, Swift, Carl Zeiss Jena, Leica and Leitz. With well over 35 years experience in telescope and binocular repair, both old and new.