[2][3][4] At the age of eighteen he moved to Bern, Switzerland, where he worked as a lens grinder in an optical shop designing camera lenses.

[6] In Lomb's absence, Bausch accidentally made a fortuitous discovery: he found a piece of vulcanite rubber on a New York street.

Bausch realized he could make stronger and less expensive vulcanite eyeglass frames, but soon he struggled to keep up with demand.

During the Civil War, the blockade caused the price of gold and European horn to rise dramatically.

The firm took yet another name in 1876, "Bausch and Lomb Optical Company", and began manufacturing microscopes.

The U.S. government became Bausch and Lomb's major customer as the company produced related optical instruments for the armed forces.