founder edwin land headquarters z rich switzerland products eyewear and sunglasses owner safilo group s.p.a. website http www.polaroideyewear.com polaroid eyewear manufactures polarized sunglasses and polarized lenses as well as optical frames reading glasses and clip on lenses . the company also sells eyewear under the polaroid polarized sunglasses polaroid eyewear disney revlon hello kitty and sunmate brand names . polaroid eyewear was a part of the stylemark group and sold to the safilo group in november 2011 . they have offices in the united kingdom switzerland italy sweden the netherlands russia hong kong and the united states . contents 1 corporate history 2 polarization and eyes 3 manufacturing techniques 4 see also 5 references 6 external links corporate history edit see also polaroid corporation edwin land born in 1909 in connecticut invented polaroid the world s first polarizing material for commercial use in 1929 . he founded the polaroid corporation in 1937 in cambridge massachusetts . 1 the company initially produced polaroid day glasses the first sunglasses with a polarizing filter . 2 petters group worldwide the owner of the polaroid brand at the time sold polaroid eyewear to specialist eyewear company stylemark in march 2007 . 3 stylemark is a global distributor of fashion sport and children s sunglasses . in 2011 it was acquired by the italian group safilo . 4 with its headquarters in z rich switzerland polaroid eyewear operates as an autonomous business . the company manufactures its polaroid polarizing lenses at its european research centre in the vale of leven scotland . 5 a complete historical collection of polaroid glasses can be found at safilo private collection 6 other historical glasses are collected by mit and moma . polarization and eyes edit see also polarization waves polaroid sunglass visible light waves from the sun travel in all directions . when this scattered light meets a horizontal surface like a road or water a large portion of the light is reflected with horizontal polarization . this horizontally polarized light is seen as white glare and masks light that is useful to the human eye reducing visibility . by using a sheet of vertical polarizing material the horizontally polarized component can be significantly attenuated reducing the overall light level reaching the eye . this improves contrast and thus perception of the scene . manufacturing techniques edit polaroid eyewear uses press polishing to manufacture their polarized lenses . press polishing preserves polarizing capability . it also allows polaroid eyewear to produce lenses that are thicker at the center and tapered towards the edges . 7 greater degrees of curvature in polarized lenses for 2 6 and 8 base frames and 6 base masks plus toric lenses are possible . citation needed see also edit polaroid corporation polaroid polarizer references edit edwin herbert land 1909 1991 instant photography . inventor of the week . cambridge massachusetts massachusetts institute of technology . may 2007 . archived from the original on may 10 2010 . retrieved november 5 2010 . polaroid day glasses advertisement . life . time . 7 2 71 . july 10 1939 . issn 0024 3019 . stylemark to acquire polaroid eyewear international ; creates new global sunglass power press release . stylemark . march 6 2007 . retrieved november 5 2010 . safilo to acquire polaroid eyewear press release . ophthalmology times . nov 30 2011 . retrieved march 6 2014 . industry in the vale of leven . the vale of leven . vale of leven west dunbartonshire scotland toucher web design uk . p. 5 . retrieved november 5 2010 . i musei delle aziende la cultura della tecnica tra arte e storia polaroid eyewear experts in polarized lens technology pdf polaroid eyewear p. 11 retrieved november 5 2010 external links edit polaroid eyewear stylemark.net poloroid sunglasses v t e polaroid corporation cameras list of polaroid instant cameras land camera swinger sx 70 land camera 1000 impulse i zone 20 24 z340 other products polachrome polavision polarizer eyewear type 55 film related topics edwin h. land instant camera instant film impossible project mint camera retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title polaroid eyewear & oldid 742694369 categories eyewear brandspolaroid corporationcompanies established in 19371937 introductionshidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parametersall articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from february 2016 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages edit links this page was last modified on 5 october 2016 at 06 31 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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