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How does a monocle work? |
Technology & Communication
Have you ever seen an old picture of a man squinting with one eye around what appears to be half a set of glasses? If so, then you’ve seen a monocle!
A monocle is basically just what it looks like: Half a set of glasses. The funny-sounding word has Latin roots and breaks apart to mean “having one eye”! Monocles are not really used anymore, but they were very fashionable and popular in the late 1800’s and many people thought they implied that someone was wealthy or intelligent.
A monocle worked just like regular eyeglasses – the glass lens was slightly curved in order to bend shapes into place in the way a person’s eye could not. A person who wore a monocle usually kept it attached to his or her waist or neck using a chain and then squinted to keep the lens in place around the eye, or they held the lens up to their eye using a stick attached to the lens.
Some people today still use monocles, but because most people need a corrective lens for both eyes it’s unlikely you’ll ever see one outside of an old photo.
Make a mock monocle!
To see what it would be like to use a monocle, make your own fake one and try wearing it!
Have a grown-up help you cut out two identical circles using some cardstock paper, about the size of a lens you would wear in some glasses. Cut out a hole in the inside of your circles, too, so that they’re shaped like a lens or the letter “O”.
Cut out a small piece of clear plastic cellophane as well, and then sandwich it between your two circles and glue the whole thing together!
When the glue is dry, hold your mock monocle up to your eye and see what it feels like! You can even attach you monocle to a chain or a stick. It probably feels pretty silly to squint and keep the monocle in place!
