The Top Sunglasses

Long ago, early sunglasses served a unique purpose. No it was not to block the sun’s rays. To understand, let’s go back to China in the 15th century. Smoke tinting was the first way of darkening eyeglasses, developed in China prior to 1430. The darkened lenses were not vision-corrected. They initially intended to reduce solar glare. For centuries, Chinese judges had routinely worn smoke-colored quartz lenses to conceal their eye expressions in court. A judge’s evaluation of evidence as credible or mendacious was to remain secret until the trial ended. Then as time passed, smoke-tinted lenses came to serve also as sunglasses. However that was never their primary function. Then around 1430, when vision-correcting eyeglasses were introduced into the country of China from Italy, they, too, were darkened. Again, it was mainly for judicial use. Later on, James Ayscough began experimenting with tinted lenses in spectacles in the18th century. These were not “sunglasses” as such; Ayscough believed blue- or green-tinted glass could correct specific vision impairments. Protection from the sun’s rays was not a concern of his at that point. The popularity of sunglasses really became a twentieth-century phenomenon. The American military, which played a role in the development of sunscreens, also was at the forefront of sunglass technology.

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