The Inventions and Scientific Achievements of Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin - Bifocals

In 1784, Ben Franklin developed bifocal glasses. He was getting old and was having trouble seeing both up-close and at a distance. Getting tired of switching between two types of glasses, he devised a way to have both types of lenses fit into the frame. The distance lens was placed at the top and the the up-close lens was placed at the bottom.