#4
Post
by apochronaut » Fri Jul 28, 2017 9:52 am
Bakelite is brittle and if one of those was dropped on a hard floor ,the base could sustain some damage, however the interior does have structural ribs. I haven't come across a broken one yet.
I have a Field MIcroscope project on the go based on one of them, with a rack and binocular head from a series 15 installed and a 4 position nosepiece. About a week ago I had it sitting on the far side of a stairs, waiting to be ferried up to it's resting place while I set the project away for a while to ponder the condenser options for it, that will go in the base. Well, wouldn't you know it, my wife , accidentally knocked it down about 5 flights of stairs. Pretty bad place to leave it but, no damage.
I'm sure it was always a struggle, putting a simple, functional microscope into schools that could provide optical quality at a price the educational system could afford. As well, if one did get dropped and cracked or broken, how much would it cost to put another base on? Very little and anyone could do it.
The Scholars Microscope was designed in the 40's, so the inexpensive plastic choices were probably poorer
Overall it was a successful microscope and had the added bonus of having first rate objectives possible for it, with a decently wide f.o.v. They even made a polarizing version, with a slider above the the nosepiece.