Optician more important and dignified. Far-sighted or aging colonial Americans imported spectacles from Europe. Spectacles were primarily for the affluent and literate colonists, who required a valuable and precious appliance. Benjamin Franklin in the 1780s developed the bifocal. Bifocal lenses advanced little in the first half of the 19th century. The terms bifocal and trifocal were introduced in London by John Isaac Hawkins, whose trifocals were patented in 1827. In 1884 B. M. Hanna was granted patents on two forms of bifocals which become commercially standardized as the "cemented" and "perfection" bifocals. Both had the serious faults of ugly appearance, fragility,
Liberty (1784 ship) Liberty (1784 ship) Liberty was built at Broadstairs in 1784 as a West Indiaman. She made one voyage to the West Indies for the British East India Company (EIC) in 1795. A French squadron burnt her at Montserrat in 1805 "Liberty" first appeared in "Lloyd's Register" in 1784 with R. Carey, master, Blackman, owner, and trade London–Barbados. The entry also showed her as "British" built. In 1795 Captain Richard Carey sailed "Liberty" to the West Indies on a voyage for the EIC. "Liberty" sailed from Dunnose, Isle of Wight, on 25 May, and arrived at Barbados on 25 July. She