WASHINGTON, May 22 Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090226/CENSUSLOGO)
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SATURDAY, MAY 22: BIFOCALS
Profile America -- Saturday, May 22nd. One of the most versatile and gifted people in American history announced the invention of bifocal eyeglasses this month in 1785. Benjamin Franklin had been using one pair of glasses to read with and another for distant vision. Tired of switching between pairs, he had the two pairs of lenses cut in half and mounted in the same frame. The idea of these split lenses, or bifocals, was slow to be adopted because of cost. Among Franklin's many other inventions were watertight bulkheads for ships, the lightning rod and the wood stove. Today, Americans spend $6.8 billion a year at optical stores for frames and lenses, including bifocals. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.
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Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 5072
2002 Economic Census, NAICS 446130
Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).
SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau
