J on Zeiss rotary condensers

[75RR]

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The curious tale of the letter J on Zeiss rotary condensers

Many non German owners of Zeiss rotary condensers have often wondered why the Brightfield port is identified by the letter J



There are even tales of some microscopists losing sleep over this.


Well, wonder no longer, because it never was so designated.

What looks to our eye as a J is in fact a Capital letter i in old German script.

Sütterlin Script as it was known was taught in German schools from 1911 until 1941

The Capital i stands for iris which we can all agree makes much more sense.

[Hobbyst46]

Thanks 75RR. Seeing this table, the J/I/i mix-up is a piece of cake relative to the D that looks like a Greek Theta, the X that looks like an H, the M that looks like a transformer, the T that looks like an inverted t, and the overall similarity of the top-line letters to some far-eastern language - or is it just me ?