Luxor Goggles
All the poster photos appear
courtesy of EB Meyrowitz
While safety protection of racers in the early days of
automotive competition were rudimentary with no seat belts and the use of cloth
helmets, from the start racers recognized the importance of protecting their
vision from dust. The brand of choice for many early racers was a pair of Luxor
Goggles manufactured by Meyrowitz Manufacturing Company which sold by E.B.
Meyrowitz Incorporated from its eleven stores in five cities - New York City (seven stores), Minneapolis and Saint Paul
Minnesota and two subsidiaries in Paris and
London and many local distributors nationwide
Emil Bruno (E.B.) Meyrowitz was born in 1852 in the city of
Danzig, then part of the Prussian Empire, today known as the Polish city of
Gdansk. Emil graduated from optical
college in Russia, and after he served his apprenticeship, he immigrated to
America in 1872. In New York City He worked for Benjamin Pike & Sons
opticians but also tinkered in his spare time in a workshop in his basement.
Emil and his two younger brothers Oscar and Paul started the
Meyrowitz Brothers Company in Albany New York in 1875 before Emil became a
naturalized United States citizen in 1878. By 1886 he and his brothers had
opened E.B. Meyrowitz Incorporated at 104 East 23rd Street in New York City and
later would establish their flagship store at 520 Fifth Avenue.
EB Meyrowitz Incorporated optician stores in New York City,
Paris, London, and Minnesota specialized in custom hand-made eyewear with the
last King of France, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, painter Claude Monet (whose
glasses were tinted blue) and Winston Churchill all mentioned as past
customers. The stores also sold precision vision-related instruments such as
microscopes and binoculars along with a line of cameras and offered film
processing.
Emil had a curious mind and during his life invented and
patented many instruments used in the optical trade. In April 1893 Emil received US
patent number 495506A for a perimeter, an instrument used to measure the extent
of a patient’s visual field with moving targets. Emil’s invention combined the
principles of the existing Landolt and Priestley-Smith perimeters along with “certain
novel features peculiar to the improved instrument itself.”
Emil followed his first invention with two more devices for
the support of optical testing instruments which received US patent protection in
1897 and in 1898. Also in 1898 Emil received a patent for “a saddle for
spectacles” designed “to give the wearers of spectacles relief from the
pressure upon the nose due to the weight of the lenses and their frames with a
novel device with a pair of pads rest upon the face at the sides of the nose
attached to the bridge of any make of spectacles.”
Emil Meyrowitz’ two major inventions were patented during
the first decade of the twentieth century; in 1902 he patented an ophthalmoscope
which allowed the optician to see inside the eye and in 1907 an ophthalmometer
an instrument to measure the curvature of the surface of the cornea.
To manufacture Emil’s many inventions, the brothers set up a
factory known as the Meyrowitz Surgical Manufacturing Company in New Jersey,
and the three brothers prospered until tragedy struck on Wednesday January 8,
1902. In a snowstorm as an inbound
express train from Connecticut, stopped in the Yorkville tunnel is it waited to
enter the overcrowded Grand Central Depot, a second train inbound from White
Plains plowed into the waiting express and destroyed its two rear passenger
cars.
Oscar Meyrowitz, 47 years old, who had gotten on the express
train in New Rochelle, was among the fifteen people killed (two more died later
of their injuries). Oscar’s widow filed a $150,000 suit against the railroad (equivalent
to $4 million today) but a jury later awarded her just $20,000. The public
outcry after the accident led to the construction of the larger Grand Central
Terminal and the replacement of steam locomotives with electric units on city
routes.
Two years later, it was discovered that a night watchman at
the Meyrowitz flagship store had surreptitiously looted the store and attempted
to sell through an auction the $20,000 in stolen merchandise (mainly eyeglass
frames) under an assumed name. His crime was discovered when John Schwenger an
employee of the firm inspected the goods at the auction and found the ‘EBM’
trademark on the frames. Why the watchman William Cooper did not melt down the
gold and sell it instead of trying to auction the frames was never
explained.
Meyrowitz had first advertised goggles in their catalog in
1905 which included a water-roof mask and nose piece for ‘rainy day’ driving
but Meyrowitz’ place in racing history was cemented with the issuance on
November 11 1907 of United States patent 871762A for “improved construction of
goggles, goggles or protecting glasses for the use of motorists and other
persons, for preventing dust and particles from entering the eyes particularly
to render them more easily applied and removed in use.”
Over the next 26 years Meyrowitz was issued nine more
patents for improvements to his original goggle design. Through the years, Emil (and in one case an
employee) patented different bridge designs, various cushion styles and methods to attach the cushion to the eye
cups, ventilating inlets to prevent fogging, and even a moveable shutter so the
wearer could adjust the amount of opening.
Truly, E B Meyrowitz Inc.’s Luxor brand of goggles became
the standard of the industry and was sold at air fields, opticians, and
sporting goods stores. A 1933 Luxor advertisement modestly proclaimed “there
has been hardly a flight of consequence since aviation first began when Luxor
Goggles were not worn. This is also true in important motor and speed-boat
races. There must be a reason why the leaders of air and track races prefer
Luxor.”
All the most experienced Hollywood stunt pilots of their day
including Frank Clarke, Roscoe Turner, Al Wilson, Frank Tomick, Elmer Dyer and
Garland Lincoln took part in the two years’ filming of Howard Hughes' epic
motion picture Hells Angels and all wore Luxor goggles.
Colonel Charles
Lindbergh and Art Goebel Jr. both appeared in Luxor print advertisements and
Royal Air Force Lt. Sidney Webster wore Luxor goggles when he won the 1927
Schneider Cup air race at 281 miles per hour (MPH). Most famously, aviatrix
Amelia Earhart wore Luxor #6 goggles fitted with hand-ground curved lenses, and
a pair of her Luxor goggles with a cracked left lens sold at auction in 2011 for
nearly $20,000.
The mention of Earhart’s goggles brings up the point that the
standard lenses in Luxor goggles, whether flat or curved, while precision
ground were not shatter-proof, although “non-shatterable” glass was an option
on the model 8 which doubled the standard $18.00 list price. Buyers could also
opt for meniscus, or convex-concave, lenses which had the effect of
magnification.
Clear or “white” lenses were standard but amber, green or
smoked lenses were also available and on special order, EB Meyrowitz Inc. could
grind the goggle lenses to match a prescription. Whatever model was purchased,
Luxor goggles always came furnished in a metal case engraved the Meyrowitz’
signature which remain a relatively inexpensive collector’s item today; cases
usually sell for $50, while the goggles themselves often fetch more than $400.
Tommy Milton in 1923 wore Luxor goggles with clear (white) flat lenses
Ralph DePalma in 1923 wore Luxor goggles with clear (white) flat lenses
Peter DePaolo in 1926 seated in the Marmon Wasp
wore Luxor goggles with curved lenses that appear tinted
In the world of automobile racing, Meyrowitz boasted a
powerful line-up of customers which included the first two-time Indianapolis
500-mile race winner Tommy Milton, the 1924 ‘500’ co-winner LL ‘Slim’ Corum,
the 1915 ‘500 winner Ralph DePalma and his nephew Peter DePaolo, who signed a photograph to Emil after this 1925 Indianapolis victory which read in
part “Luxor goggles have been with me in all my victories” which was reproduced in advertisements.
Harry Hartz in 1923 wore Luxor goggles with white flat lenses
According to other print
advertisements other noted racers such as Harry Hartz, the 1926 AAA (American
Automobile Association) national champion, the 1920 AAA national champion Louis
Chevrolet, and Cliff Durant also wore Luxor goggles in competition.
There were of course competitors for Luxor Goggles such as
General Optical Co. Inc.’s “Gogglette #3” which were used by drivers that
included the legendary barnstormer Berna
Eli “Barney” Oldfield, the inaugural Indianapolis 500’ winning relief driver Cyrus
Patschke, 1916 Indianapolis ‘500’ winner Dario Resta and the 1919 Liberty ‘500’
winner Howard Wilcox. EB Meyrowitz
advertising warned discerning customers to make sure their goggles “have the
new red rubber cushions bearing the word Luxor.”
Eventually center-hinged “tank style” goggles which had Triplex
laminated flat clear glass and provided a wider field of vision grew in
popularity and eventually replaced Luxor goggles. Company founder Emil Meyrowitz
passed away at age 85 in 1937 after a two-month illness and the control of EB
Meyrowitz Incorporated and its subsidiaries passed to his two sons, Ernest DuPont
and Russell Alexander. Paul the youngest of the three original Meyrowitz
brothers retired from the firm in 1943 and passed away at age 82 in 1946 in his
apartment in New York’s swank Hotel Seymour.
Emil’s son eldest son Ernest also passed away in 1946 at the
age of 61 in New Jersey while his brother, Russell born in 1890, died in 1965
in New Rochelle New York. Although no longer owned by family members, the EB
Meyrowitz brand still exists; although the three locations in New York City, Paris
and London are each owned by separate owners, they all sell a line of custom
hand-made eyeglasses and frames. You can visit the three EB Meyrowitz stores
websites by clicking the following links
All the black and white driver photographs with Luxor goggles appear courtesy of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway collection in the IUPUI University Library Center for Digital Studies
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