19000001_0640

© Fonds historique / CNRS Images

Reference

19000001_0640

Sight obstructing goggles, photographed in December 1926

Sight obstructing goggles, photographed on December 1926. The “metal shrapnel protector” was a pair of goggles used for ocular protec¬tion in times of peace. It was the result of research conducted during the war to protect soldiers and was directly inspired by a model developed in Great Britain in 1917 and in the United States. The goggles were composed of a chromed steel plate protected with “comfortable padding” and faste¬ned with clamped straps. This splinter fragment protection contained “four slots measuring about half a millimeter in width that crossed or converged in front of the pupillary opening.” In 1926, the French military staff ulti¬mately turned down the sight obstruc¬ting goggles, an invention deemed too dangerous due to its high visual obstruction. This was not the case for other dust and particle protection devices, which were preferred over this model. Office national des recherches scientifiques et industrielles et des inventions.

Scientific topics

CNRS Images,

Our work is guided by the way scientists question the world around them and we translate their research into images to help people to understand the world better and to awaken their curiosity and wonderment.