AO Spencer 13 Research Not, But is a 3

[Charles]

I believe this is an AO Spencer 13 research scope with both binocular and monocular heads, three APO objectives 10X, 40X and 90X, with 1.3 NA condenser and rotating circular mechanical stage.

In the Binoc mode:

AO Spencer 13 Binoc

AO Spencer 13 Circular Stage.jpg (93.04 KiB) Viewed 7848 times

In Mono mode with camera Lucida:

AO Spencer Mono

AO Spencer 13 Circular Stage Mono.jpg (71.81 KiB) Viewed 7848 times

[billbillt]

What is the attachment on top of the tube?..

[Charles]

That is a camera lucida which is used to reflect the image onto a piece of paper along side the microscope so you can draw what you see.

[billbillt]

Thanks for clearing that up!....

[Crater Eddie]

Very nice looking instrument.

[Dennis]

That is a camera lucida which is used to reflect the image onto a piece of paper along side the microscope so you can draw what you see.

That is off the charts cool!!!!!!!!!!!

Did you ever try it?

Of course today we can take a photo and even print it out.

-Dennis

[apochronaut]

Great little stand , in terrific shape. That's a series # 3. When they brought out the low fine focus, around 1932., the older high focus research stands lingered on for a few years but were eventually shelved. The series #3, and the considerably larger and heavier series #5 became the workhorse research stands. There was also a series 30, I believe. It also had the fine focus down low, but was much lighter bodied instrument , and was often a monocular.
The stage on that one is a W , circular stage. Those lavender plastic objective cannisters , place the mic. as a 1950's instrument, made just before they shelved it....... virtually unused and very nice to have the entire set of compens oculars too!

[Charles]

Phil, Thanks for the identification. I always thought this was the 13 because the head is tilted back where as the 3, I think, had a straight up and down head. Here is a couple of Spencers for comparison. The one on the left has the low fine focus with AO Spencer on the head. The one on the right has the high fine focus with Spencer Buffalo on the head. Both have tilted back heads and the rest of the stand is pretty similar...with the exception of the stage. So is the left a model 3 and the right a model 13?

AO and Buffalo Spencer

AO and Spencer 13.jpg (76.84 KiB) Viewed 7817 times

And another shot of the first one:

AO Spencer

AO 13.jpg (62.04 KiB) Viewed 7817 times

[apochronaut]

The #13 was the basic body they built their lab microscopes around. It had a high fine focus and was a reasonably weighty cast iron instrument. On that basic frame , applicable accessories could be placed. They catalogued specific packages, such as a Brewmaster's microscope,a Mold Count microscope, a Pathologist's microscope,a Dark Field microscope,a Bacteria Count microscope,a Water and Sewage microscope and a Textile microscope. Each one was assembled with the assistance of experts in the particular field and incorporated specific components that tuned the instrument to it's task. These were off the shelf units, likely stocked as such by dealers. However any microscope could be fine tuned , and any specific accessory could be added or subtracted from the basic #13 stand as a special order, as long as it would fit, and some of the accessories for the research stands would not fit. For some time, Spencer also advertised that they would make custom made objectives, so there are lots of permutations of the the basic #13 stand around and many companies purchased stands, to use as a base for the specialized equipment that they produced as an industrial or medical accessory. The elegant classic bodies of the Spencer scopes, were however only kept in production due to the war, and shortly after most models were discontinued and replaced by the # 15 and # 35 , which were mostly cast aluminum but upgraded somewhat with Spencer's broad spectrum phase contrast array and other accessories necessary in the post w.w. II world.
The low focus research stand, first introduced in 1932 however was continued until 1955 or so. They were different than the lab scopes, being fine tuned to research needs and were available in two versions. The smaller of the two, the # 3 stand , superficially resembles the # 13 but close examination reveals that the similarity is entirely based on the premise of making a small research stand, one that in many ways mirrors their lab microscopes in size but offers the extra stability and features consistent with a research, rather than a lab microscope. The # 3 is slightly larger and heavier than the #13, in most of it's structural castings, although both are mostly cast iron. Although the bases are the same size, the # 3 has a lead filled base, a cast brass arm of larger dimension, a thicker piller and larger mounting bosses, so it is heavier and more vibration resistant. The mounting flange for the stage is the same , so each can be fitted with any stage Spencer made but the 5 research stages, in addition to the 2 standard stages are usually found on a #3 or #5, so presumably a request to have a super fancy stage on a #13 probably vaulted the cost sufficiently, that a # 3 became more cost attractive.
Any optical body could be ordered, so whether it is monocular, a photo tube,straight or inclined has no relevance to the model. That was an optional choice , as were the choices in objectives( achromat,strain free achromat,fluorite or apochromat) and eyepieces ( huygens,W.F., high eyepoint or compens).

[Charles]

Thanks Phil, I found it in the AO 'Blue' book page 50. Indeed it shows a Model 3 with the various components. I had initially looked in the Spencer catalog of 1924 which shows a very different scope.

AO Spencer 3 Components

AO Spencer 3.JPG (93.83 KiB) Viewed 7799 times

[apochronaut]

Spencer did reuse model numbers but only usually after quite a while, when the earlier incarnation was clearly discontinued and also usually, when there was a distinct and evident difference between the two. There also was an earlier series 2. series 4, series 5, series 10, series 15. The series 5, prior to the widespread adoption of the binocular tube was their flagship model, and then became so again, with it's reintroduction as a binocular.
It is interesting that the components pictured are in fact the same components , that are normally found on their standard lab microscopes and in my experience , are not very often found on a 3. They did not picture the more advanced stages ,nor optics but clearly designate that stand as a research stand and promote it as such. Maybe it is a way of distancing it from their real research stands( #5 and the super rare #8).

[KurtM]

Greetings! First post on this forum. Charles, your threads have caused me to register and join in; not only is your collection just absolutely wonderful, but I see a "familiar face" here too, I believe. Hi, Phil!

[Rodney]

As always what a fantastic collection you have Charles. I don`t think I showed my AO Spencer 15 on this forum, but now I must, just for the beauty of these old instruments.

Rodney

[apochronaut]

Greetings! First post on this forum. Charles, your threads have caused me to register and join in; not only is your collection just absolutely wonderful, but I see a "familiar face" here too, I believe. Hi, Phil!

Howdy, Kurt. I recognize your diatom too.

[Charles]

Hi Kurt and Welcome!