1917 Spencer model?

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Radazz
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1917 Spencer model?

#1 Post by Radazz » Sun Feb 24, 2019 5:27 pm

Trying to find a model designation for this Spencer microscope. Serial number dates it to 1917.
From the catalogs I have been able to find, it appears to be an early variation or a predecessor to the model 40. Distributed by Aloe Inc. who I believe were based in St. Louis, MO.
Image
Any info would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Radazz
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apochronaut
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Re: 1917 Spencer model?

#2 Post by apochronaut » Sun Feb 24, 2019 7:23 pm

Although I can't see the substage well , it looks to be a model 30. The 30 and 40 had been already made for quite a while by 1917. That might have been the last year they made them. Spencer used to continue older designs in production for quite a few years, I guess until the older and more conservative users stopped buying them.
The microscopes are very similar with the pillar on the 40, a round and lacquered brass affair and that on the 30 , a black lacquered piece of sculped squarish brass stock.
The other difference is that the 30 had a rack and pinion condenser focus and it was a centering type. The 40 had the simpler and older design, raised and lowered by a vertical helical screw. It could be swung in and out of the path.

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Radazz
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Re: 1917 Spencer model?

#3 Post by Radazz » Sun Feb 24, 2019 11:30 pm

Hi, Apo, thanks for the response.
This one does have the swing out condenser. It has an iris just under the top of the condenser.
The horseshoe base is square in section of the pillar, whereas the 40 I found in a catalog had a cilendrical piller.
Does this fit the 30 in your sources?
Radazz
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desertrat
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Re: 1917 Spencer model?

#4 Post by desertrat » Mon Feb 25, 2019 1:45 am

I have an old Spencer monocular model from the mid 1920s, whose objectives look identical in construction to those. The only difference visible is the lacquer finish is a bit darker on mine. Sometimes those objectives are installed on the 4 Series stand to sort of go joy riding with them. I guess it's kind of an oddball hobby that very few people are doing.

The 44X objective was used to take the first diatom image in the MICAM Settings thread, with varying degrees of post processing in GIMP..
Rick

A/O 10 Series Microstar
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Re: 1917 Spencer model?

#5 Post by apochronaut » Mon Feb 25, 2019 2:01 pm

Radazz wrote:Hi, Apo, thanks for the response.
This one does have the swing out condenser. It has an iris just under the top of the condenser.
The horseshoe base is square in section of the pillar, whereas the 40 I found in a catalog had a cilendrical piller.
Does this fit the 30 in your sources?
Radazz
By 1917, of the 22 microscopes Spencer catalogued( not including metallurgical and low power binoculars) only the 30 and 40 were of that retro design. The tubular body/arm section dates back to the late 19th century. I have a similar designed model with a serial # that dates to before 1910, and at 4 digits , likely 1905 or so.

When you say the condenser swings out , it is just the top section, correct? It slides sideways, once lowered below the stage ...and it focuses on a rack and pinion, correct?
The 40 has the older condenser design that also swings out but on the same vertical shaft that also focuses the condenser with a helical screw controlled by a vertically positioned knurled knob, rather than a horizontal knurled knob attached to a pinion gear.

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Radazz
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Re: 1917 Spencer model?

#6 Post by Radazz » Mon Feb 25, 2019 9:12 pm

apochronaut wrote:
Radazz wrote:Hi, Apo, thanks for the response.
This one does have the swing out condenser. It has an iris just under the top of the condenser.
The horseshoe base is square in section of the pillar, whereas the 40 I found in a catalog had a cilendrical piller.
Does this fit the 30 in your sources?
Radazz


When you say the condenser swings out , it is just the top section, correct? It slides sideways, once lowered below the stage ...and it focuses on a rack and pinion, correct?
The 40 has the older condenser design that also swings out but on the same vertical shaft that also focuses the condenser with a helical screw controlled by a vertically positioned knurled knob, rather than a horizontal knurled knob attached to a pinion gear.
Actually the condenser rides a rod down and the same unscrewing motion swings the entire condenser aside like the model 44. Exactly as you describe.
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Re: 1917 Spencer model?

#7 Post by apochronaut » Mon Feb 25, 2019 9:36 pm

When you dated it to 1917, did you use the N0. XXXXX (48597?) that is stamped on the right hand leg of the horseshoe?

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Re: 1917 Spencer model?

#8 Post by Radazz » Tue Feb 26, 2019 1:06 pm

Yes, Apo. No other S/N to be found.
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Re: 1917 Spencer model?

#9 Post by apochronaut » Tue Feb 26, 2019 4:57 pm

I have an instrument at the farm that has both an Aloe no. on it and a serial # elsewhere that don't match.
Older versions of your microscope did have a serial # on the back curved edge of the stage. I'm not sure the Aloe # is the same as a Spencer serial #.

The horseshoe base on your mic. doesn't conform to the images in the 1917 catalogue and the model is extant from the 1924 catalogue. I don't know of one in between. Your base has the lower section of the pillar as part of the horseshoe casting. Earlier ones had the pillar and base as two separate pieces.
It's possible that the model was either continued for a bit of time for Aloe with an improved base or Spencer itself upgraded the base of the 40 to one similar to some of their more modern Oberhauser type stands.

Without the rack and pinion type condenser system, it probably doesn't conform to the standard for the 30, which is the main distinction between the 30 and 40. Despite the rectangular pillar, it might be a later or even the latest incarnation of the 40.

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Re: 1917 Spencer model?

#10 Post by Radazz » Tue Feb 26, 2019 5:30 pm

I’m old and blind, and had to get a bright flashlight to see it but the only thing I can find are two patents on the back curve of the finger hook.
Dec. 11, 1900 and Aug. 28, 1906.
Nothing on the heel or the occuler sleeve nor on the bottom of the foot.
Even swung the mirror to the side to check the front of the pillar.
Can’t think of any other place where they like to hide them.
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Re: 1917 Spencer model?

#11 Post by apochronaut » Tue Feb 26, 2019 9:57 pm

Well. By late 1917, some things were happening. I don't even know if they issued a 1918 catalogue. The horseshoe base and integrated post just looks too modern to be a model 30 or a model 40 as illustrated in the 1917 catalogue but those illustrations were prepared well in advance; in 1916 . The rack and pinion type of focus for condensers had just about eclipsed the older screw post design, so it is probably , with the inclusion of the screw post type condenser mount a very late revision of the earlier microscope that had that feature.
The 1917 catalogue is from May 1, so there was lots of time to make changes in 1917 and any company that was in the business of helping to treat the sick were scrambling to implement any improvement that was either on the table or could conceivably be, by early into 1918.
Even though the Spanish flu was a virus, the second wave of victims showed complications of bacterial infection, so I would bet that microscope development and sales would have soared.

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Re: 1917 Spencer model?

#12 Post by desertrat » Wed Feb 27, 2019 12:30 am

Adding two small data points:

My monocular Spencer microscope with the frame style that was common in the 1920s also has the old style condenser focus mechanism, its serial number in the 57,XXX range dates it around 1920. I have another monocular Spencer microscope with the same frame style and the post imbedded in the underside of the stage for the same old style condenser and focus mechanism, but the condenser and its mount are missing. It's serial number is much higher, 101,XXX range, dating it to around 1932.
Rick

A/O 10 Series Microstar
A/O 4 Series Microstar
A/O 4 Series Phasestar
A/O 4 Series Apostar
A/O Cycloptic Stereo
Several old monocular scopes in more or less decrepit but usable condition

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Re: 1917 Spencer model?

#13 Post by apochronaut » Wed Feb 27, 2019 2:38 am

I guess that's the point. They continued to use that post type condenser mount on their pedestrian scopes for a while. It seems the rationale for using a rack and pinion type condenser mount on a body that had been in existence for over 20 years and therefore exalting it to something other than what it was, didn't exist.

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Re: 1917 Spencer model?

#14 Post by Radazz » Fri Mar 08, 2019 2:44 pm

I guess that would make Spencer microscopes difficult to date.
They even overlapped the logos for a while after AO aquired Spencer, didn’t they?
Radazz
Arnold, Missouri
Olympus IX70
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