VISION FOR VICTORY

[Music] America musters its might for defense millions of the nation's youth join the colors or stand vigilant for their summons to duty and tens of millions all the rest of us pitch in to maintain our precious birthright the democratic way of life everything we have been to the defense effort muscle and brawn mind and brain and priceless vision most marvelous and useful of all our faculties vision eyesight vital in an emergency the eyesight of the artilleryman plotting the fire of his gun the eyesight of the aviator when you bring his bomber where it needs to go [Music] the eyesight of the tank driver without it his juggernaut would be worthless the eyesight of the infantryman as important as the weapon he uses and the eyesight of the worker who makes the weapon yes in every branch of Defence from the plants that build equipment to the offices where facts are collated where the vast file of our resources is assembled eyesight plays a vital part as always our safety depends on it and today American eyes are ready as never before to do a real job thanks to optical science yes thanks to optical science thanks to the research man and the trained specialists your eyes and mine perform better than those of any people that ever lived your eyes and mine through them we obtained 83% of all our knowledge the human eye the most complicated and at the same time the most delicate and sensitive organ in all physiology to the optical scientists every part of the eyes a field for intensive research he studies the eyelids that provide protection close over the eye when danger threatens he studies the muscles of the eye muscles that permit our gaze to move freely from point to point muscles that give complete mobility permitting the eyes to work as a team in perfect coordination [Music] the optical scientist studies the glands that lubricate the eye and the ducts that produce tears tears that actually keep our eyes clean and especially is he interested in the primary elements of the eye the actual mechanism that miraculously enables us to see the cornea the outer covering a tough transparent protective cartilage the pupil the black dot in the center through which light rays are admitted and the iris which controls the admittance of those Rays the iris the colored ring around the pupil really a self-adjusting curtain watch when a bright light approaches the eye the iris closes in the pupil becomes smaller shutting out excess light remove the light and the pupil gets larger as the iris our curtain opens a curtain that automatically protects the sensitive structure behind it it protects the lens the most critical operating part yes there's a lens in the eye and just as there is in the camera self focusing bending the light rays so that they register properly on the retina the picture taker which transmits images through the optic nerve to the brain so sensitive is this picture taker that the naked eye can detect variations on the surface of the Moon 239,000 miles away yet one of these variations will major on the retina less than four thousandths of an inch and this little picture taker smaller than a postage stamp can detect changes in tone differences between areas of light and dark so subtle that even a photoelectric meter scarcely registers them your eyes and mine enabling us to understand and appreciate the sciences and the arts to perceive the wonder of the universe to become the most fortunate of nature's creations for only man has complete vision thousands of times a day our eyes bring us view after view scene after scene creating in the brain a picture palace with a program that's ever-changing ever very yes all too seldom do we think of the magic and meaning of the human eye that precious irreplaceable organ which brings us nearly all of our impressions makes possible the joy and thrill of modern living the distant object the subtle tone the ever-changing ever lovely contours of nature these become focused on the Rezanov yet this tiny surface and the brain behind it are all the equipment that we need to learn of what stuff clouds are made all we need to watch a bird in flight to absorb the beauty of a sunset all we need to make our way in the world [Music] eyes were never meant to remain indoors like this yet man and civilization have taken them indoors where they were two long hours at hard close tests nature originally intended man to follow the outdoor life of the primitive hunter uman eyes were designed for distance seeing but today they pour over printed words or watch the intricate action of a machine continuously they focus on a point only a few feet away with the result that they break down the constant close-range work exact subtlety as optical science has discovered we become nearsighted or farsighted or develop one of any number of aya defects now to the normal eye every line on this i testing chart is black and clear like this but in a common type of what is known as a stigmatism the lines that go across are blurred only the lines that go up and down remain distinct those who see like this are only have seen they have horizontal a stigmatism and there are thousands who have vertical astigmatism where the lines that go up and down are blurred while in oblique astigmatism the blur is like this yes when our eyes developed any of these or other common faults when they do not see properly not only is our own health our own safety jeopardized but the safety of the nation a man cannot do a good job for defense or for himself unless he is able to see truly and well [Music] the special ingredients of optical glass have to be carefully measured and blended then into a special kind of furnace because everything about optical glass is very special in special clay pots the ingredients become molten while frequent temperature readings are taken with sensitive pyrometers and meanwhile elsewhere the frames are being created a fascinating series of operations gold wire being made thinner and thinner gold wire with an alloy core for strength drawn through various machines until it becomes slender enough yet strong enough to do the work for which it's intended more gold gold strips and stamping machines that produce other of the many needed parts countless processes fitting flat parts and wired parts together delicate manipulating machinery of intricate design the skilled fingers of many artisans all of these contributing to the manufacture of a seemingly simple frame a frame to hold a lens and how are the lenses coming along well after 24 hours in the carefully controlled furnace the various ingredients in the clay pots are a mass of liquid heat 2,800 degrees Fahrenheit and ready for pouring [Music] all right let her go a white-hot pancake made of such things as barium silica lime and lead and as the roller passes over it liquid becomes solid a mammoth sheet of optical glass finest glass in the world later and cooler it's marked and divided into squares and subjected to the first of many examinations for quality the squares that pass the exam are reheated and softened for shaping into a proximate lens formed first roughly in an oven then more exactly in a molding press the one time squares have an official name now they are called blanks now by means of pitch the blanks are held to the various rotating forms used in preliminary grinding machines designed to provide perfect lens blanks or your own specialist to give him a perfect product for use when he grinds individually to your own prescription but before the blanks are sent to your specialist optical centers have to be checked each blank has to be checked for accurate base curves proper thickness [Music] then in his own establishment your specialist turns the blanks into lenses here the real lens making begins and ends intricate grinding and polishing to accommodate your vision and yours alone for no two eyes are ever alike and all finished lenses are different edge grinding shaping the lens to the individual face making it oval or round or angular or any style you like later each lens in its proper frame lenses and frames together ensuring better eyesight every finished pair of eyeglasses a contribution of optical science toward better vision [Music] better vision for America that's theme of the optical industry better vision through improved age to eyesight better vision through education by teaching the youth how to take care of its eyes not to read like this right mother but like this good general light in the room proper reading position not lying down correct posture the book held at a proper distance from the eye not too close and an extra area of illumination a lamp that gives high visibility but no glare see fine now don't you sister and rest your eyes occasionally by changing focus look away from your book and at some distant object instead result better vision for normal eyes and there's better vision for sup normalized through correction with lenses glasses for every purpose every occasion and styles to flatter any personality better vision for better living through instruments that fortify the human eye enabling it to probe the mysteries of the universe optical science provides microscopes and we enter a heretofore invisible world of microorganisms telescopes bring cosmic distance to our fingertips and for defense there are range finders used on battleships to ensure accuracy of gunfire a device that's 40 feet long a device that has a hundred and sixty optical parts 1,500 mechanical parts one of the optical industry's mightiest achievements and yet the finest prisons for the rangefinder and other products of optical ingenuity would be worthless without human eyes human eyes most precious organs of the body American eyes best in the world ready as never before to play their part in the defense of the nation [Music]