Temple glasses

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The temple glasses was early to mid-18th century, the transition from nose Klemmer ( Nietbrille ) to the subsequent genus of ears glasses .

The temple glasses were the first glasses with side arms, which at that time were still called side arms, rods or springs in German-speaking countries. Right from the start, these brackets could be folded in using a hinge. The peculiarity was that these side arms did not reach up to or behind the ear, but only went up to the temple, against which they pressed. Temple glasses with longer temple bars were intended as reading glasses and were accordingly worn further forward on the nose.

  • Temple glasses made of iron

  • Silver-plated ornate temple glasses

  • various temple and ear glasses

Different variants of the temple glasses

  • The temple glasses are shown for the first time on Edward Scarlett's trading cards in the period from 1714 to 1727. These had conspicuously large snail-shaped eyelets at the end of the short temple bars. This snail shape should ensure a particularly good hold on the temple.
  • From 1746, stirrups with large closed circular rings are known. This much more common variant is awarded to the French optician Marc Thomin, Paris. As a result, the rings became smaller and smaller in diameter, up to small oval eyelets.
  • Elaborately designed ivory and silver glasses with paddle-shaped side parts in the shape of a sword in early sailing boats.

The glasses with snail, ring and eyelet hangers were made of iron and pressed with great force on the temples. This made wearing temple glasses, to some extent, uncomfortable and painful. So the end pieces were often covered with a silk cloth to make them more comfortable to wear. The round ends were also used to fasten straps to tighten the glasses behind the head.

From today's perspective, it is a little incomprehensible why, after around 400 years of glasses, the idea of ​​temples was finally not taken up to the ear. If you ignore some scholars who wear glasses, people at the time were often embarrassed about using glasses. Wearers of glasses were considered disabled or old. Goethe was even uncomfortable when someone came across him with his glasses on, and he only used his short-sighted distance glasses for a short time and sporadically (because of his short-sightedness he didn't need reading glasses). Because of this also in the 18th century. usual setting glasses had to be as small as possible in order to be able to use them before and after short-term use, e.g. B. to hide in the cupped hand. So long hangers, which also had to be slipped under hairstyles or wigs, or could get stuck in them when removed, were not in demand. In keeping with this circumstance, the ear glasses that followed had temple bars that could be shortened (push bars, buckling bars). Certainly also a reason why clip-on glasses (from around 1840 then Zwicker ), lorgnets and monocles enjoyed great popularity until the beginning of the 20th century, which only slowly disappeared with the invention of today's golf hangers (around 1930).

After the ear glasses appeared, the temple glasses disappeared again in the second half of the 18th century.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Edward Scarlett Trade Card , accessed May 22, 2020
  2. ↑ History of Glasses , accessed May 22, 2020
  3. ↑ http://klappentexter.blogspot.com/2012/11/goethes-brillenphobie.html
  4. ↑ https://www.gutzitiert.de/zitat_autor_johann_wolfgang_von_goethe_thema_gesicht_zitat_9905.html
  5. ↑ A pair of ear glasses from around 1800 , Schlossmuseum Jever, accessed on May 22, 2020

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