Had this since I was a teen , can find little history of the Denkar company anywhere ?, seems very well made ,adjustable tube length and is quite heavy has the standard 10 40 100 oil objectives ,I recently tried a Nikon 4x but is far from parfocal, had thoughts of upgrading the eyepieces and objectives or be better to just get something better with a Trinocular head?
https://ibb.co/PznY0yn
For some reason after selecting link above you have to click on the small pic to get the full size one?
My old 70s Japanese Denkar microscope
My old 70s Japanese Denkar microscope
Last edited by Clifford on Mon Mar 18, 2024 11:05 am, edited 1 time in total.
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apochronaut
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Re: My old 70s Japanese Denkar microscope
A bigger picture would give some further clues about it's origins if you are interested, Clifford.
. Japan's postwar optical industry had several big players and numerous smaller ones .The larger ones such as Nippon Kogaku, which adopted the Nikkor and Nikon brand as well as Nikko, Nikkorette and others were heavily supported by the Japanese gov't until after the war and manufactured most of their own parts, even postwar. Many smaller companies utilized a pool of components produced by jobbers such as knobs, bases, stages to produce their finished units but also in some cases , optics too. Many microscope " brands" were identical and simply badged with different names and sometimes colours of enamel. Almost every colour of the rainbow could be found and there were at least 50, maybe 100+ brands. A few companies produced almost exclusively stencil brands for North American, European and presumably Australian distributors and retailers but others tried to or made it in the face of stiff competition from Nikon and Olympus.
As a result of the plethora of smaller companies, optics became standardized under a Japanese standards authority, the JIS. Companies that relied on outsourced parts, in general were JIS, wheras some of the industry leaders used unique specifications. The first JIS standard for microscope optics used a 36mm parfocal length and a 170mm tube for a total optical tube lerngth of 206mm, later changing to 45mm parfocal and a 160mm tube.
Nikon used originally 33.5mm parfocal and prewar Olympus were 37mm, switching to the Bausch & Lomb standard of 36.65mm during the U.S. occupation of Japan. Both changed to 45mm parfocal by the 80's.
Your Denkar microscope is most likely JIS, thus the parfocal clash with any Nikon objective.
Denkar seems to have been a brand common in Australia. There were a range of models from hobby or dept. store grades up to small lab models, similar to the North American brands Tasco, Lafayette, Propper, Lumex and others. Many or possibly all of the smaller hobby scopes with smaller optics were made by COC : Carton Optical Company. The full size or small laboratory models, which seamlessly expanded the hobby line but featured JIS optics may be Kyowa manufactured. The companies may have cooperated on supplying an export lineup . Both companies are still in business.
A few other mfg.'s and some still in business, although many having given up microscopes are/were : Shimadzu Kalnew, Fuji, Tiyoda, Union Optical, Meiji, Nissin, Toyo/Sump, Nikken, Ozumi.
. Japan's postwar optical industry had several big players and numerous smaller ones .The larger ones such as Nippon Kogaku, which adopted the Nikkor and Nikon brand as well as Nikko, Nikkorette and others were heavily supported by the Japanese gov't until after the war and manufactured most of their own parts, even postwar. Many smaller companies utilized a pool of components produced by jobbers such as knobs, bases, stages to produce their finished units but also in some cases , optics too. Many microscope " brands" were identical and simply badged with different names and sometimes colours of enamel. Almost every colour of the rainbow could be found and there were at least 50, maybe 100+ brands. A few companies produced almost exclusively stencil brands for North American, European and presumably Australian distributors and retailers but others tried to or made it in the face of stiff competition from Nikon and Olympus.
As a result of the plethora of smaller companies, optics became standardized under a Japanese standards authority, the JIS. Companies that relied on outsourced parts, in general were JIS, wheras some of the industry leaders used unique specifications. The first JIS standard for microscope optics used a 36mm parfocal length and a 170mm tube for a total optical tube lerngth of 206mm, later changing to 45mm parfocal and a 160mm tube.
Nikon used originally 33.5mm parfocal and prewar Olympus were 37mm, switching to the Bausch & Lomb standard of 36.65mm during the U.S. occupation of Japan. Both changed to 45mm parfocal by the 80's.
Your Denkar microscope is most likely JIS, thus the parfocal clash with any Nikon objective.
Denkar seems to have been a brand common in Australia. There were a range of models from hobby or dept. store grades up to small lab models, similar to the North American brands Tasco, Lafayette, Propper, Lumex and others. Many or possibly all of the smaller hobby scopes with smaller optics were made by COC : Carton Optical Company. The full size or small laboratory models, which seamlessly expanded the hobby line but featured JIS optics may be Kyowa manufactured. The companies may have cooperated on supplying an export lineup . Both companies are still in business.
A few other mfg.'s and some still in business, although many having given up microscopes are/were : Shimadzu Kalnew, Fuji, Tiyoda, Union Optical, Meiji, Nissin, Toyo/Sump, Nikken, Ozumi.
Re: My old 70s Japanese Denkar microscope
Thank you ,
I think you have given me some real ideas of its origins, I’ll link some larger images
Here’s a link I uploaded to cloudynights forum years ago might be good enough
https://www.cloudynights.com/gallery/im ... icroscope/
Certainly built to last , looks a bit like an earlier Olympus which had a round stage also .
Yes the adjustable tube length has a mark at 170mm goes from 150-200 so you are right to it being jis standard no tube length marked on the original objectives
I think you have given me some real ideas of its origins, I’ll link some larger images
Here’s a link I uploaded to cloudynights forum years ago might be good enough
https://www.cloudynights.com/gallery/im ... icroscope/
Certainly built to last , looks a bit like an earlier Olympus which had a round stage also .
Yes the adjustable tube length has a mark at 170mm goes from 150-200 so you are right to it being jis standard no tube length marked on the original objectives
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apochronaut
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Re: My old 70s Japanese Denkar microscope
Those rounded cast horseshoes were common to many brands at certain times in certain periods. They seemed to be on Tiyoda most often but I suspect that there was a casting plant that churned out a series of horseshoe bases for just about everybody in Tokyo. The rounded stage too is a feature that showed up variably on a number of brand's certain models. Usually, there were stage clips and control knobs underneath that controlled a degree of xy movement that could orbitally move the entire stage around with the slide. That one has one of the standard add on xy controls plugged into the holes in the stage.Those could be rotated but only by loosening some screws.
The objective with the tapered end has a logo on it, which I cannot read but it's physical structure looks like the Kyowa over Tokyo logo.
Pretty sure it is a Kyowa product.
The objective with the tapered end has a logo on it, which I cannot read but it's physical structure looks like the Kyowa over Tokyo logo.
Pretty sure it is a Kyowa product.
Re: My old 70s Japanese Denkar microscope
The mechanical stage I added , the scope was a Birthday present as my dad worked in optics I had a choice of several used scopes but this one was the only one with a condenser, still have the clips , no rotation possible with this stage , the objective is one I swapped in Shamadzu(kalnew),has a spring ; have the original seem almost identical optically.
Appreciate your insight into what has been a bit of a mystery scope to me have only seen one other online.
Have tried selling it several times without success.
Appreciate your insight into what has been a bit of a mystery scope to me have only seen one other online.
Have tried selling it several times without success.
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Macro_Cosmos
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Re: My old 70s Japanese Denkar microscope
Denkar was one of the many many white labelled Japanese optical products, others include Kenko, Sumo, Tasco, KKK-kogaku (yes, really 
) and so on.
Unless it has a made in Japan signage, you can probably assume it came from one of the few Chinese optics factories. The famous Swift field microscopes were Chinese made and then white labelled in Japan.
Additionally, all Japanese made bellows for macro photography came from the same factory.
The same applies to the various "branded" Japanese made T2 mount adaptors..
) and so on. Unless it has a made in Japan signage, you can probably assume it came from one of the few Chinese optics factories. The famous Swift field microscopes were Chinese made and then white labelled in Japan.
Additionally, all Japanese made bellows for macro photography came from the same factory.
The same applies to the various "branded" Japanese made T2 mount adaptors..