A recent article in the Chicago Tribune caught my attention, and it's worth paying attention to in our current economy. I've done a little more reading on the subject since that initial article and I think this guy is on to something great.
On Tuesday, February 3, the Trib's Laurie Goering wrote an article about Oxford University Atomic Physicist Joshua Silver. He started experimenting with optics when trying to find a better way to view atomic strucure. The man is also a tinkerer, and in the process of that tinkering he's come up with self-adjusting eyeglasses that will provide improved vision for the world's poor.
Mr. Silver's invention starts with a standard-looking eyeglass frame, but there the similarities to your usual prescription eyewear ends. Instead, he uses hard plastic lenses separated by two circular clear sacs of liquid. The sacs are attached to syringes, which are attached to the arms on each side of the glasses frame. The wearer can use dials on the syringes to adjust the amount of liquid between the lenses, and thereby adjust the power of each lens. The wearer dials in his own prescription without the need for doctors, waiting or follow-up visits. While the glasses don't correct astigmatism, most astigmatism is mild enough that the glasses can still be very effective. The alternative for Mr. Silver's target user is deteriorating or no useful vision whatsoever. He's found that in Britain there is one optometrist for every 4,500 people, but in sub-Saharan Africa that ratio is 1:1,000,000. The benefit of this invention is immediately apparent.
To correct farsightedness, the wearer covers one eye and turns an adjustment wheel on the open-eye side of the glasses until vision is corrected in the open eye. Turning the wheel forces liquid into the fluid-filled sac in the lens and creates a positive lens that corrects farsighted vision. Removing liquid creates a negative lens that corrects nearsigntedness. When the wearer reaches the optimal vision, the wearer locks the setting in place with a screw and can remove the pump, syringe and tube assembly. The assembly can also be left intact to allow for further adjustments. The glasses currently have a power range of -6 to +6 diopters. This range covers more than 90% of those requiring vision correction.
Since his recent retirement from Oxford, Mr. Silver's begun a program with the lofty goal of bringing better sight to One Billion of the world's poorest people by 2020. He thinks that his overall market can be close to three billion people.
His first field test experience uncovered a strategic error in his test program, he says, when those using his prototypes did not want to give them back. Since that time, Mr. Silver's invention is now in use in at least 15 African and East European nations. Even the USMC and US Dept of Defense got into the act when Major Kevin White, a logistics expert, persuaded the DOD to buy 20,000 pair of Mr. Silver's glasses to distribute as humanitarian aid.
The current cost of a pair of these glasses is about $19. Mr. Silver is working to streamline the look of the glasses and bring the cost down to about $1 to $2/pair. Indian businessman and humanitarian Mehmood Kahn recently teamed up with Mr. Silver to work on more wide-spread distribution experiment in the northern Indian state of Haryana. He thinks his goal of a million pair of glasses in one year will be a drop in the bucket when compared to the need in the region.
But Mr. Silver's invention should also be a boon to those aging people the world over who need reading glasses. With one twist, the strength of lens needed can be achieved - and goodbye bifocals. For this reason, rich-world optics firms are interested in Mr. Silver's invention. In the near future, perhaps America's aging boomers on fixed incomes will use Mr. Silver's invention as a low-cost alternative to their current prescription glasses.
For now, Mr. Silver says that while he is not primarily interested in making money off his invention, he wouldn't mind it. Right now, he is working with Mr. Kahn on their Indian distribution project; at his request, Oxford University is hosting a Center for Vision in the Developing World; and Mr. Silver is working to entice governments and the UN to participate in his goal of bringing sight to the poor.
Congratulations and best of luck to Mr. Silver. He could have gained a lot financially with his invention, and instead is working to help those much less fortunate.