John Jacob Bausch (born Johann Jakob Bausch; July 25, 1830 – February 14, 1926) was a German-American maker of
optical instruments
An optical instrument (or "optic" for short) is a device that processes light waves (or photons), either to enhance an image for viewing or to analyze and determine their characteristic properties. Common examples include periscopes, microscopes ...
who co-founded
Bausch & Lomb
Bausch + Lomb is an eye health products company based in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. It is one of the world's largest suppliers of contact lenses, lens care products, pharmaceuticals, intraocular lenses, and other eye surgery products. The compan ...
(with
Henry Lomb
Henry Lomb ( – ) was a German-American optician who co-founded Bausch & Lomb (with John Jacob Bausch) and led a group of businessmen to found The Mechanics Institute, the forerunner of Rochester Institute of Technology.
Biography
Lomb was bo ...
). Over six decades he transformed his small, local optical shop into a large-scale international enterprise, pioneering the American optical industry.
Early years
Bausch was born Johann Jakob Bausch to Georg Bausch, a baker, and his wife Anna Schmid, in Groß Süßen (today part of
Süßen
Süßen (or Süssen) is a town in the district of Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. It is located on the river Fils 8 km east of Göppingen, near Stuttgart.
History
Süßen was first mentioned with the name of ''Siezun'' ...
) in the
Kingdom of Württemberg
The Kingdom of Württemberg (german: Königreich Württemberg ) was a German state that existed from 1805 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which exist ...
, then part of the
German Confederation
The German Confederation (german: Deutscher Bund, ) was an association of 39 predominantly German-speaking sovereign states in Central Europe. It was created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 as a replacement of the former Holy Roman Empire, w ...
.
At the age of eighteen he moved to
Bern, Switzerland
german: Berner(in)french: Bernois(e) it, bernese
, neighboring_municipalities = Bremgarten bei Bern, Frauenkappelen, Ittigen, Kirchlindach, Köniz, Mühleberg, Muri bei Bern, Neuenegg, Ostermundigen, Wohlen bei Bern, Zollikofen
, website ...
, where he worked as a lens grinder in an optical shop designing
camera lenses
A camera lens (also known as photographic lens or photographic objective) is an optical lens or assembly of lenses used in conjunction with a camera body and mechanism to make images of objects either on photographic film or on other media capa ...
. In 1850 he emigrated to the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Upon his arrival, he made his way to a German community in Buffalo, New York, but because of a cholera epidemic there he settled in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
, and Anglicized his name to John Jacob.
Business Development
In 1853, Bausch opened a retail optical shop in Rochester. Bausch sold
spectacles
Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are vision eyewear, with lenses (clear or tinted) mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically utilizing a bridge over the nose and hinged arms (known as temples o ...
,
thermometers
A thermometer is a device that measures temperature or a temperature gradient (the degree of hotness or coldness of an object). A thermometer has two important elements: (1) a temperature sensor (e.g. the bulb of a mercury-in-glass thermomete ...
,
field glasses
Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same direction, allowing the viewer to use both eyes (binocular vision) when viewing distant objects. Most binoculars are sized to be held ...
,
magnifiers and
opera glasses
Opera glasses, also known as theater binoculars or Galilean binoculars, are compact, low-power optical magnification devices, usually used at performance events, whose name is derived from traditional use of binoculars at opera performances. Mag ...
. His friend Henry Lomb, also a German immigrant (from Burghaun, Hesse-Kassel or Hesse-Cassel), who had immigrated in 1849, invested his $60 in savings in Bausch's shop and in 1855, on a handshake, became his partner. By 1856 Bausch renamed the company the "Optical Institute of Rochester."
In the spring of 1861, Lomb enlisted and served in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
for two years.
In Lomb's absence, Bausch accidentally made a fortuitous discovery: he found a piece of
vulcanite
Vulcanite is a rare copper telluride mineral. The mineral has a metallic luster, and has a green or bronze-yellow tint. It has a hardness between 1 and 2 on the Mohs scale (between talc and gypsum). Its crystal structure is orthorhombic.
Vulcanit ...
rubber on a New York street. He took it home and experimented making eyeglass frames from the material. At that time wire frames were mainly made from
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...
, and
horn-rimmed frames were made from either European deer horn or tortoise shell, so eyeglasses were considered an expensive luxury. Bausch realized he could make stronger and less expensive vulcanite eyeglass frames, but soon he struggled to keep up with demand. During the Civil War, the blockade caused the price of gold and European horn to rise dramatically. This resulted in a growing demand for the Bausch and Lomb spectacles made from vulcanite.
In 1864 they renamed the company "Bausch and Lomb, Opticians," and reorganized again as the "Vulcanite Optical Instrument Company" in 1866.
They built the first machine in America to produce spectacles beginning in the early 1870s. Lomb was in charge of sales and finance, while Bausch concentrated on the manufacturing side of the business.
The firm took yet another name in 1876, "Bausch and Lomb Optical Company," and began manufacturing
microscope
A microscope () is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisibl ...
s. Later that year they exhibited at the
Philadelphia Centennial Exposition
The Centennial International Exhibition of 1876, the first official World's Fair to be held in the United States, was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from May 10 to November 10, 1876, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the ...
. The company also produced photographic lenses (1883), spectacle lenses (1889),
microtome
A microtome (from the Greek ''mikros'', meaning "small", and ''temnein'', meaning "to cut") is a cutting tool used to produce extremely thin slices of material known as ''sections''. Important in science, microtomes are used in microscopy, allow ...
s (1890), binoculars and telescopes (1893). The firm was incorporated as "Bausch and Lomb Optical Company, Inc.," in 1908, the year Bausch's long-time partner died.
Bausch's company did very well during the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
as the war created a demand for binocular telescopes, range-finders, gunsights, searchlight mirrors,
periscopes
A periscope is an instrument for observation over, around or through an object, obstacle or condition that prevents direct line-of-sight observation from an observer's current position.
In its simplest form, it consists of an outer case with ...
and
torpedo
A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, and with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, su ...
tube sights. The U.S. government became Bausch and Lomb's major customer as the company produced related optical instruments for the armed forces.
One of their famous products was
Ray-ban
Ray-Ban is an American-Italian brand of luxury sunglasses and eyeglasses created in 1936 by Bausch & Lomb. The brand is known for its Wayfarer and Aviator lines of sunglasses. In 1999, Bausch & Lomb sold the brand to Italian eyewear conglomerate ...
sunglasses, until they sold it to the Italian eyewear conglomerate
Luxottica
Luxottica Group S.p.A. is an Italian eyewear conglomerate and the world's largest company in the eyewear industry. It is based in Milan, Italy.
Luxottica is a vertically integrated company, which has been described as a monopoly—it designs, m ...
.
Bausch led his company for more than six decades. He died in 1926 in
Rochester, New York
Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...
.
Bausch & Lomb continued to flourish under the leadership of his son
Edward Bausch
Edward Bausch (September 26, 1854 – July 30, 1941) was an American engineer and business executive, who served as president of Bausch & Lomb Optical Company from 1926 to 1935. , remaining preeminent in its field. It was named to the ''
Fortune
Fortune may refer to:
General
* Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck
* Luck
* Wealth
* Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling
* Fortune, in a fortune cookie
Arts and entertainment Film and television
* ''The Fortune'' (1931 film) ...
''
500 list of America's leading companies in 1975.
References
External links
Johan Jacob Bauschon
Find a Grave
Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present fin ...
Bibliography
"The Bausch & Lomb Story."in ''About Bausch & Lomb.'' Bausch & Lomb. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
"John Jacob Bausch."in ''Innovation Hall of Fame, Gallery of Innovators.'' Rochester Institute of Technology. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
* Keen, Ann T
American National Biography Online. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
* Kolbow, Berti
"John Bausch."in Immigrant Entrepreneurship: The German-American Business Biography, 1720 to the Present, vol. 2, edited by William J. Hausman. German Historical Institute. Last modified January 25, 2012.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bausch, John Jacob
1830 births
1926 deaths
American manufacturing businesspeople
American Civil War industrialists
Burials at Mount Hope Cemetery (Rochester)
German emigrants to the United States
Businesspeople from Rochester, New York