Life, 1917-09-13 · page 41 of 44
Life — September 13, 1917 — page 41: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This is **not a cartoon or satire**—it's a straightforward product advertisement for automobile headlight lenses from the Macbeth-Evans Glass Company of Pittsburgh. The page promotes premium "green visor" lenses for car headlights, targeting safety-conscious drivers. The image shows the lens design and a hand pointing to demonstrate quality. The ad argues that ordinary window or plate glass in headlights creates dangerous glare and is legally problematic, while Macbeth lenses—engineered with five prismatic surfaces and taking 72 hours to manufacture—properly direct light downward and laterally for safe nighttime driving. The sales pitch equates purchasing Macbeth lenses with avoiding "inferiority" and demonstrates social status. Pricing varied by car model (Ford Special priced lower). This reflects early-20th-century automotive safety marketing, when quality headlight equipment was still a luxury concern rather than a standard feature.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
“LIFE: bag lars of New Vork St Why Is This Green Visor Lens The Most Expensive? When you see a car equipped with Macbeth lenses you recognize the owner as one who does not risk inferiority. Your safety, and that of others on the road at night, is too vital to be trusted to makeshift or nondescript lenses, It makes no difference what make of car you drive, safety at night de- pends upon the efficiency of the lights. Plain window glass, or even plate glass, in your headlights does not help, but, if anything, hinders the light, creates a glaring menace and conflicts with the law. Why not put the lenses that utilize all the light most effectively, give the highest degree of safety and comply with laws on your car? Macbeth lenses are made by Iens experts, based upon forty years of all kinds of lens experience. Macbeth Lens All upward rays are redirected down, avoiding wasted light and dan- gerous glare and increasing the bril- liancy on the road. It concentrates light in front of the car and makes a long light on the road. The front surface of the lens is divided into five horizontal prisms— each inclines at an angle determined with scientific accuracy. These prisms redirect the rays of light at exactly the correct angle. The concave recesses in the back of the lens spread the light laterally, thus providing the very essential side lighting for turning corners. It requires seventy-two hours to build one Macbeth lens. What other lens receives such skill and care? No other lens is backed by the me world-wide lens experience, fa- ies and resources. Price per pair $5—Ford Special $4 Denver and West $5.50—Ford Special $4.50—Canada $6—Ford Special $4.80 Macbeth lenses are for sa if y leading jobbers, accessory dealers and garages everywhere, lealer cannot supply write direct to us. Macbeth-Evans Glass Company, Pittsburgh Branch Offices in Boston; Butta Pit Cleveland; New York; Philadelphia; “comicbooks.com