Early years In 1853,
John Bausch and
Henry Lomb, both German immigrants, established a small but ambitious workshop producing
monocles in Rochester, New York. By 1861, their operation had expanded to manufacturing
vulcanite rubber eyeglass frames and other precision vision products. During the
American Civil War, the
Union blockade caused the price of gold and European horn to rise dramatically. This resulted in a growing demand for the Bausch + Lomb spectacles made from
vulcanite. In 1876,
Ernst Gundlach joined the company as it began to manufacture
microscopes. Later that year, the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company won a distinction at the Philadelphia
Centennial Exposition. The company also produced
photographic lenses (1883),
spectacle lenses (1889),
microtomes (1890),
binoculars and
telescopes (1893). From 1892 in cooperation with
Zeiss in Germany, the company produced optical
lenses. In this manner, at the end of the 19th century, the product range included
eyeglasses, microscopes and binoculars, as well as
projectors,
camera lenses and
camera diaphragms. File:The American monthly microscopical journal (1883) (17536609574).jpg|Microscope, 1883 File:Universal Microscope, Bausch and Lomb, c. 1890 - Museum of Science and Industry (Chicago) - DSC06400.JPG|Universal Microscope, Bausch and Lomb, c. 1890 Image:Optic Projection fig 169.jpg|Bausch & Lomb Convertible Balopticon projector, c. 1913
20th century With the growth of the US army, under President
Theodore Roosevelt and the buildup of the naval fleet, Bausch & Lomb received the commission, through the supplier
Saegmuller, to manufacture high-precision lenses for optical measurement and founded a
joint venture with Saegmuller. At the same time as this new expansion, a research department with five members was started to develop new products and improve old ones. A new alliance with the Zeiss company in Germany ensured competitive advantages for the three participants, Bausch & Lomb, Saegmuller and Zeiss, in terms of patent use and opening new markets. In 1902, William Bausch, the son of the founder, developed a process to create the desired lens shape directly by casting molten glass. Previously, the glass parts for the lenses had to be separated, ground and polished in a complicated process, and this brought significant savings in time and materials. The company produced the first optical-quality glass in America during the early to mid-1900s. By the year 1903 the company began manufacturing microscopes, binoculars, and
camera shutters. The further development of the firm was affected by political events. Because of the World Wars and the consequent need for optical instruments such as field glasses,
range finders, camera lenses, binocular telescopes, searchlight mirrors, torpedo tube sights, and
periscopes, the product range could be considerably broadened. Until
World War I, optical glass and the instruments made from it (including many military instruments) were often imported into most European and North American countries from Germany. The same was also true of chemical products and laboratory equipment. The outbreak of the war, with Germany's new enemy status, created a scramble to rapidly enhance the domestic industries. In 1933, Bausch + Lomb started to honor outstanding high school science students with the Bausch+Lomb Honorary Science Award. In the 1930s, military products represented 70% of total production. The
Ray-Ban brand of sunglasses was developed for pilots in 1936. At a time when the cinema was being superseded by television, Bausch & Lomb developed improved optics for the
CinemaScope process, which popularized the film-based
anamorphic format and led most cinemas to double the widths of their screens. In 1965 Bausch & Lomb acquired the patent for the hydrogel contact lenses created by Czech scientists
Otto Wichterle and
Drahoslav Lím. In 1971, after three years of development work, two years for the medical approval by the United States
Food and Drug Administration and an investment of three million USD, Bausch + Lomb launched
contact lenses made of
Poly-HEMA. In contrast to the contact lenses previously available, made of glass and Lucite (
acrylic glass), the new lenses were softer. They were marketed under the brand name "Soflens". In the 1970s, the company was a major producer of
spectrophotometers for the dye and chemical business, such as the
Spectronic 20. A massive restructuring of the company began in the mid-1980s. What had been the core divisions, the production of lenses for various purposes, were sold off. The sunglasses division was continued as
Ray-Ban and kept selling well due to effective
product placement. By the planned acquisition of other firms, such as Polymer Technology Corporation and Dr. Mann Pharma, existing business areas such as contact lens production were strengthened and new ones were initiated. In 1997, as a result of a series of company acquisitions, the division for the manufacture of surgical products was established. The
Ray-Ban brand was sold in 1999 to the Italian
Luxottica Group.
21st century Since then, Bausch & Lomb has developed into a globally operating company which is one of the largest producers of contact lenses. As of 2022, about 12,900 employees in approximately 100 countries work for the firm. In 2025, Bausch + Lomb's subsidiaries closed an offering of $790.6 million. ==Operations==