1959 Radio Sunglasses

1959SeptPELong before Smart Glasses were even a glimmer in some engineer’s eye, a Japanese visionary came up with these fashionable sunglasses that concealed a three transistor radio. They are reviewed here in the October, 1959, issue of Popular Science.

The circuitry was concealed in the arms of the glasses. A one-transistor RF stage was on one side, with a two-stage AF amp on the other side. Sound was produced by a small transducer, and a tuning control was on the RF side. It was powered by a tiny mercury battery.

According to the review, the set was remarkably sensitive, and picked up most of the New York stations from PE headquarters in Manhattan. Selectivity wasn’t the greatest, but it was more than adequate for separating most local stations.

The glasses are apparently no longer available, but you can still buy the Bluetooth speaker glasses shown below: