Description

Willson goggles

Vintage early 1900’s Willson goggles. Motorcycle, automobile and aviator safety goggles. They have folding leather side shields in good condition. “Made by WIllson in the USA” is stamped on the back side of the brow bar and on the leather side shields. The frames are in good condition with some fraying of the rubberized coating near the right ear piece. There is a minute surface scratch on the right lens near the bottom and out of the range of vision. Glass lenses such as these have better clarity than polycarbonate, plastic and acrylic lenses. The frames measure 5 ¼ inches across and 2 inches high. Can be worn as is or have your optician put new prescription lenses in them.
Gile J. Willson and his son Dr. Thomas A. Willson founded Thomas A. Willson & Co. in 1871. This was the first factory in the world to make optical glass for lenses and reading glasses. The compay was in Reading, Pennsylvania. It was known for its innovative strides in addressing the occupational hazards faced by factory workers and is credited with launching the safety protection industry. During the 1890s the company expanded the reach of the safety industry by addressing hearing, respiratory and head protection equipment. Through the 1920s, they expanded their line of safety equipment to the protection of coal miners, military personnel, and aviation. By World War II, the company, renamed Wilson Goggles, was helping the war effort by making aviator goggles and high altitude oxygen masks for pilots in the military. In 1936, the company again changed its name, to Willson Products, Inc., to reflect an expanding product line including fashionable sunglasses, as modeled by the contestants of the 1938 Miss America pageant, and swim goggles. In 1989, Dalloz bought Willson Products, and changed the company name to Dalloz Safety in 1997. Dalloz closed the plant in May 2002.