History and innovation

When German immi-grant John Jacob Bausch opened a small shop selling spectacles in Roch-ester, New York, in November 1853, he started a business that is now one of the oldest continually operating companies in the US.
But Bausch & Lomb would not be celebrating its 150th anniversary this year had it not been for a loan of $60 from Bausch's friend and fellow immigrant Henry Lomb. It was in 1855 that they formed a partnership that was to endure throughout their lives. And when Lomb left to fight in the Civil War he sent back his army pay to keep the business going.
Imported from Europe, Bausch's spectacles were too expensive for most Americans. But in 1875, the company patented a new design of affordable flexible frames made with vulcanised rubber that was a major success.
Like many optical companies at that time, they also began manufacturing instruments and, by the turn of the century, Bausch & Lomb had 1,000 employees making a range of optical products, from spectacle and photographic lenses to microscopes and binoculars, as well as a chain of US optical stores.
Patenting a new manufacturing process, the company became the largest maker of optical glass in the US. This technology was applied to binoculars, riflescopes and periscopes that played a major role in both world wars. It also led to the development of a range of sunglasses, designed for military pilots and given the name Ray-Ban, which was soon to become the most famous sunglass brand in the world.

Award winning performance
During the 1950s, the company was known for its fashion eyewear but also developed the first instruments for screening children's vision in schools. Its Cinemascope lens even took home an Academy Award for performance and technology in the movie industry. And in 1965, it was Bausch & Lomb that supplied the camera lenses used in the first satellite pictures of the moon's surface.
The most significant development for the company in recent times was the introduction in 1971 of the world's first soft contact lenses, which were to transform the contact lens industry.
Two polymer scientists, Wichterle and Lim, working in Prague, Czechoslovakia, had produced the first prototype hydrogel lenses in the 1960s. The rights to these early polyHEMA lenses were bought by the National Patents Development Corporation of America, which then licensed B&L to make the lenses by the spin-casting technique.
Contact lenses and lens care products fuelled rapid growth and new manufacturing facilities were built, including the Waterford site in Ireland. The company sold its instrument and eyewear interests and invested in non-optical products such as dental and skin care products and hearing aids. In the early1990s, the acquisition of Chiron Vision and the Storz instrument company led to the establishment of its surgical business.
By 1999, B&L had recognised the need to return to its roots, shed its non-core businesses and focus on being 'a healthcare company for the eye'. Ocular pharmaceuticals, lasers for eye surgery, and cataract and vitreo-retinal interests followed, to form the portfolio of products that the company has today.
By 2002, B&L's annual revenues were close to $2bn; it now employs around 11,500 people worldwide and its products are available in more than 100 countries.

Looking ahead
Investment in research and development has been a tradition at B&L since its earliest days. Current research interests include new materials for contact lenses capable of a year or more of continuous wear, customised lenses to correct the higher order aberrations of the eye and novel systems for ocular drug delivery.
To mark the 150th anniversary, B&L is also going to donate $1m to Vision 2020: The Right to Sight, the global initiative aimed at eliminating avoidable blindness by the year 2020.
B&L UK was the first subsidiary the company established outside the US; originally known as the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company, it opened premises in the Hatton Garden area of London in 1916. Ten years ago Bausch & Lomb UK moved to its current premises in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey.
At the start of a year-long programme of events to celebrate the company's anniversary, UK managing director Nick Loan said: 'Bausch & Lomb has continued to strive over the past 150 years to develop innovative eye care solutions.
'Everyone at B&L UK is proud of our company's history. However, we are clearly focused on the future. These are exciting times and we look forward to making new products and services available, adding to today's broad portfolio of products.'
When German immi-grant John Jacob Bausch opened a small shop selling spectacles in Roch-ester, New York, in November 1853, he started a business that is now one of the oldest continually operating companies in the US.
But Bausch & Lomb would not be celebrating its 150th anniversary this year had it not been for a loan of $60 from Bausch's friend and fellow immigrant Henry Lomb. It was in 1855 that they formed a partnership that was to endure throughout their lives. And when Lomb left to fight in the Civil War he sent back his army pay to keep the business going.
Imported from Europe, Bausch's spectacles were too expensive for most Americans. But in 1875, the company patented a new design of affordable flexible frames made with vulcanised rubber that was a major success.
Like many optical companies at that time, they also began manufacturing instruments and, by the turn of the century, Bausch & Lomb had 1,000 employees making a range of optical products, from spectacle and photographic lenses to microscopes and binoculars, as well as a chain of US optical stores.
Patenting a new manufacturing process, the company became the largest maker of optical glass in the US. This technology was applied to binoculars, riflescopes and periscopes that played a major role in both world wars. It also led to the development of a range of sunglasses, designed for military pilots and given the name Ray-Ban, which was soon to become the most famous sunglass brand in the world.

Award winning performance
During the 1950s, the company was known for its fashion eyewear but also developed the first instruments for screening children's vision in schools. Its Cinemascope lens even took home an Academy Award for performance and technology in the movie industry. And in 1965, it was Bausch & Lomb that supplied the camera lenses used in the first satellite pictures of the moon's surface.
The most significant development for the company in recent times was the introduction in 1971 of the world's first soft contact lenses, which were to transform the contact lens industry.
Two polymer scientists, Wichterle and Lim, working in Prague, Czechoslovakia, had produced the first prototype hydrogel lenses in the 1960s. The rights to these early polyHEMA lenses were bought by the National Patents Development Corporation of America, which then licensed B&L to make the lenses by the spin-casting technique.
Contact lenses and lens care products fuelled rapid growth and new manufacturing facilities were built, including the Waterford site in Ireland. The company sold its instrument and eyewear interests and invested in non-optical products such as dental and skin care products and hearing aids. In the early1990s, the acquisition of Chiron Vision and the Storz instrument company led to the establishment of its surgical business.
By 1999, B&L had recognised the need to return to its roots, shed its non-core businesses and focus on being 'a healthcare company for the eye'. Ocular pharmaceuticals, lasers for eye surgery, and cataract and vitreo-retinal interests followed, to form the portfolio of products that the company has today.
By 2002, B&L's annual revenues were close to $2bn; it now employs around 11,500 people worldwide and its products are available in more than 100 countries.

Looking ahead
Investment in research and development has been a tradition at B&L since its earliest days. Current research interests include new materials for contact lenses capable of a year or more of continuous wear, customised lenses to correct the higher order aberrations of the eye and novel systems for ocular drug delivery.
To mark the 150th anniversary, B&L is also going to donate $1m to Vision 2020: The Right to Sight, the global initiative aimed at eliminating avoidable blindness by the year 2020.
B&L UK was the first subsidiary the company established outside the US; originally known as the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company, it opened premises in the Hatton Garden area of London in 1916. Ten years ago Bausch & Lomb UK moved to its current premises in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey.
At the start of a year-long programme of events to celebrate the company's anniversary, UK managing director Nick Loan said: 'Bausch & Lomb has continued to strive over the past 150 years to develop innovative eye care solutions.
'Everyone at B&L UK is proud of our company's history. However, we are clearly focused on the future. These are exciting times and we look forward to making new products and services available, adding to today's broad portfolio of products.'
When German immi-grant John Jacob Bausch opened a small shop selling spectacles in Roch-ester, New York, in November 1853, he started a business that is now one of the oldest continually operating companies in the US.
But Bausch & Lomb would not be celebrating its 150th anniversary this year had it not been for a loan of $60 from Bausch's friend and fellow immigrant Henry Lomb. It was in 1855 that they formed a partnership that was to endure throughout their lives. And when Lomb left to fight in the Civil War he sent back his army pay to keep the business going.
Imported from Europe, Bausch's spectacles were too expensive for most Americans. But in 1875, the company patented a new design of affordable flexible frames made with vulcanised rubber that was a major success.
Like many optical companies at that time, they also began manufacturing instruments and, by the turn of the century, Bausch & Lomb had 1,000 employees making a range of optical products, from spectacle and photographic lenses to microscopes and binoculars, as well as a chain of US optical stores.
Patenting a new manufacturing process, the company became the largest maker of optical glass in the US. This technology was applied to binoculars, riflescopes and periscopes that played a major role in both world wars. It also led to the development of a range of sunglasses, designed for military pilots and given the name Ray-Ban, which was soon to become the most famous sunglass brand in the world.

Award winning performance
During the 1950s, the company was known for its fashion eyewear but also developed the first instruments for screening children's vision in schools. Its Cinemascope lens even took home an Academy Award for performance and technology in the movie industry. And in 1965, it was Bausch & Lomb that supplied the camera lenses used in the first satellite pictures of the moon's surface.
The most significant development for the company in recent times was the introduction in 1971 of the world's first soft contact lenses, which were to transform the contact lens industry.
Two polymer scientists, Wichterle and Lim, working in Prague, Czechoslovakia, had produced the first prototype hydrogel lenses in the 1960s. The rights to these early polyHEMA lenses were bought by the National Patents Development Corporation of America, which then licensed B&L to make the lenses by the spin-casting technique.
Contact lenses and lens care products fuelled rapid growth and new manufacturing facilities were built, including the Waterford site in Ireland. The company sold its instrument and eyewear interests and invested in non-optical products such as dental and skin care products and hearing aids. In the early1990s, the acquisition of Chiron Vision and the Storz instrument company led to the establishment of its surgical business.
By 1999, B&L had recognised the need to return to its roots, shed its non-core businesses and focus on being 'a healthcare company for the eye'. Ocular pharmaceuticals, lasers for eye surgery, and cataract and vitreo-retinal interests followed, to form the portfolio of products that the company has today.
By 2002, B&L's annual revenues were close to $2bn; it now employs around 11,500 people worldwide and its products are available in more than 100 countries.

Looking ahead
Investment in research and development has been a tradition at B&L since its earliest days. Current research interests include new materials for contact lenses capable of a year or more of continuous wear, customised lenses to correct the higher order aberrations of the eye and novel systems for ocular drug delivery.
To mark the 150th anniversary, B&L is also going to donate $1m to Vision 2020: The Right to Sight, the global initiative aimed at eliminating avoidable blindness by the year 2020.
B&L UK was the first subsidiary the company established outside the US; originally known as the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company, it opened premises in the Hatton Garden area of London in 1916. Ten years ago Bausch & Lomb UK moved to its current premises in Kingston upon Thames, Surrey.
At the start of a year-long programme of events to celebrate the company's anniversary, UK managing director Nick Loan said: 'Bausch & Lomb has continued to strive over the past 150 years to develop innovative eye care solutions.
'Everyone at B&L UK is proud of our company's history. However, we are clearly focused on the future. These are exciting times and we look forward to making new products and services available, adding to today's broad portfolio of products.'