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Help - Identifying old microscopes

Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2021 6:00 am
by JBolevich
Hello,

Researching some items for a hospital heritage exhibition - does anyone know what kind/model of microscopes these are?

Any information about them would be so greatly appreciated! :)

Re: Help - Identifying old microscopes

Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2021 4:30 pm
by apochronaut
JBolevich wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 6:00 am
Hello,

Researching some items for a hospital heritage exhibition - does anyone know what kind/model of microscopes these are?

Any information about them would be so greatly appreciated! :)
There is some stamped information on the heel of #1. That could be either the make or the dealer or both. Also, it is possible and likely that such an instrument still carries the original objectives. If they all match, the maker is likely the same as the objectives. Usually, there is a maker's mark on the front of the optical tube on such instruments but many factories produced custom lots for scientific companies, leaving the maker's name off in favour of profiling the name of the scientific company client. On such instruments, often the maker's name only remains on the Objectives.

#2 is not a microscope. It is a Colorimeter, likely a Dubosque type. Perhaps info is stamped somewhere on the body.

#3 has a splayed base, kind of a modified Jackson type stand. Jackson stands were often referred to as American type stands but similar modified type Jackson stands did also show up on the continent.

Re: Help - Identifying old microscopes

Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:06 pm
by JBolevich
Thanks for your help with this - I thought there was something a little different about #2!

And yes, the heel of #1 is stamped with "C. Reichert Wien," a Viennese manufacturer i'm guessing.

Re: Help - Identifying old microscopes

Posted: Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:20 pm
by deBult
JBolevich wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:06 pm
And yes, the heel of #1 is stamped with "C. Reichert Wien," a Viennese manufacturer i'm guessing.
Reichert is not just “a” Viennese microscope manufacturer, in its time it was one of the best.

http://waywiser.fas.harvard.edu/people/ ... c-reichert

Re: Help - Identifying old microscopes

Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:21 pm
by Charles
The third one is known as a bar limb microscope made in the late 1800s. The best known bar limb was the Ross.

Re: Help - Identifying old microscopes

Posted: Wed Nov 24, 2021 3:42 pm
by Hobbyst46
apochronaut wrote:
Tue Nov 23, 2021 4:30 pm
#2 is not a microscope. It is a Colorimeter, likely a Dubosque type. Perhaps info is stamped somewhere on the body.
Great identification. I did not know that B&L made them - the "oldest" B&L instrument I know was the Spectronic 20...
And the posted colorimeter (#2) relies on electric light... I think that older models relied on natural daylight.