Help me find an odd magnifying glass.

September 29, 2009 2:16 PM

Help me find an odd magnifying glass.

A guy at the coffee shop was reading with a magnifying glass, but I'd never seen one like it. Just a chunk of glass, no frame. 3-4 inches in diameter. about an inch think, with a convex top that rose another half inch or so. THe man using it must have had horrible vision, so I was thinking it might be available through a medical supply house, but I can't find it.

posted by dogwelder to health & fitness (6 comments total)

I found this, was it similar to that?

I looked for old-style and vintage magnifying glasses to locate that one.
posted by empyrean at 2:30 PM on September 29

Sounds like it could have once been a lens from something - a theatre light, an old-style CRT data projector, a telescope?
posted by aeschenkarnos at 2:58 PM on September 29

Dome magnifiers.
posted by gyusan at 2:59 PM on September 29

You can get beautiful square ones from those old slide viewers found in every thrift store, since few people use them nowadays.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 4:44 PM on September 29

Condenser lenses in projectors are shaped like this. You'll find those inside slide projectors next to the light bulb.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 4:53 PM on September 29

I have a dictionary stand from Levenger that came with one of these in a little holder. They also sell them separately.
posted by dizziest at 12:28 PM on September 30