8/19/2026 at 2:49:08 AM
> Tower Optical began in a Norwalk, Connecticut, machine shop in 1933, and remained in the same family until 2025.The article doesn't go into too much detail beyond this snippet, but yeah, the original family business was sold to a cohort of investors in 2025[1]. The retrofit was outsourced to a European firm to add the tap-to-pay functionality, so I guess there's nothing left of the original manufacturing business.
[1] https://www.wsj.com/business/entrepreneurship/tourist-binocu...
by ctippett
8/19/2026 at 12:39:52 PM
Why should one have to pay for it in the first place ? Seems like it would be easier to just maintain it together with the viewpoint & avoid the unnecessary complexity of a payment system - previously one had to go there to retrieve the coins, now you need to get electricity & Internet connectivity in.by m4rtink
8/19/2026 at 1:44:57 PM
Providing the binoculars 'freely' increases the admissions price even for those who might have brought their own pair and didn't need a provided set. Also how would visitors share the binoculars fairly between them, time-wise? Having them available for rent, essentially, solves these questions (albeit at a cost).by markoman