Solar eclipse glasses shade 14 welding glass lenses
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- #Solar eclipse glasses shade 14 welding glass lenses windows#
Moreover, goggles left the face completely open to sparks and debris, and face masks hindered work. Now, these did protect the eyes to an extent, but many welders of the era suffered from photokeratitis, a painful condition which is like sunburn of the eye. Before 1937, which means throughout all the big construction projects of the first quarter century of the 1900s (Empire State building, Chrysler building, Hoover Dam etc.) all the welders and steel workers had for protection were a measly pair of goggles or a face mask. The first welding helmets were introduced in 1937 by Wilson Products. The August 1937 edition of Popular Mechanics featured this photo and a four-sentence snippet that began, “Formed of one-piece vulcanized fiber and cut deeply for extra protection, a new welding helmet now on the market is said to have exceptional ruggedness to withstand hard shop use.” Some welding helmets are even solar powered so that the energy used to power the helmet comes from the arc light itself. The auto darkening feature allows welders to keep their helmet on at all times during a job. There I found out about these welding helmets that have sophisticated lenses which automatically darken to protect the welder from ultraviolet (UV) and infrared (IR) light once the torch is lit. I grabbed my phone and took a tumble down the internet rabbit hole, and after clicking a few links I found myself deep in welding country. All I knew about them was that the material used in the glasses had an analog in welding glass. But now I wanted to know all about those little black windows. I had bought them on Amazon and hadn’t really given them much thought.
#Solar eclipse glasses shade 14 welding glass lenses windows#
The little black windows had allowed me to see so much. I had a new found respect and appreciation for them. They were the paper ones, like old 3-D glasses. That’s when I took off my eclipse glasses and really looked at them. I felt special, like I had been given a back-stage pass to life and the universe.Īnd as quickly as totality came it was gone and the sun was shining again and it was all over. The dry climate was ideal for the event and when the moment arrived and the moon completely covered the sun I felt like I was observing a single entity. I traveled to Idaho to observe it, specifically the town of Rexburg which was in the line of totality. I was lucky enough to catch the August 21st eclipse. If you missed the solar eclipse last month, you’ll get another chance on Apwhen another one will be visible across the United States.
#Solar eclipse glasses shade 14 welding glass lenses how to#