Orthoilluminator vrs more compact field illuminators, why the huge Ortho-component?

[charlie g]

Hi all, happy new year all...please offer coments when you have time? I have a circa 1950's Reichert/Austria Biozet.trinocular stand.It has a compact field illuminator ( filter trays,field iris lever, lens focus lever, square filament tungsten bulb.).

And I latter purchased an AO Orthoiluminator low cost on eBay. I realize we left film microphotography...and the microscopists of 1950's-1960's contended with both film emulsions and tungsten filament illuminators (yes they had the carbon arc and mercury arc furnaces too).

But seeing how over the decades...major microscope firms 'borrowed' similar styles , similar stand components...why on earth was that huge monster: "Orthoilluminator" developed?

I noticed a variety of field illuminators similar to my Biozets...why a need for that Orthoilluminator?

When I was in highschool, I saw a sketch of the Orthoilluminator and fondly was thrilled by this component! charlie guevara

[charlie g]

I am able to achieve Kholer illumination with the Biozet field illuminator...and it's compact...and be used with other stands...just pluck out their substage mirror fork, and center the Reicher/Austria field illuminator. charlie guevara, it's now 29 F in finger lakes,US.

[charlie g]

why did the huge Orthoilluminator fill a need not met by compact illuminators? charlie guevara

[charlie g]

My stands often shuddered and whispered about :'who will be clamped down on the OrthoIlluminator?'. when the eBay component arrived at my home. charlie guevara

[charlie g]

My trinoc Biozet was my workhorse stand until I purchased my circa 1990's Nikon Labophot. charlie guevara

[charlie]

When I was in highschool, I saw a sketch of the Orthoilluminator and fondly was thrilled by this component! charlie guevara

How could you not be thrilled? This is the only time I have ever seen a 'Hood Scoop' on a microscope! It looks like a mean machine! (first image)

[KurtM]

...why on earth was that huge monster: "Orthoilluminator" developed?

Because it looks cooler than a Biozet compact lamp of course. What home laboratory doesn't look nicer with a cherry AO/Spencer Series 2 Trinocular PhaseStar on an Ortho Illuminator just like that first image in this thread?



Since I answered your question so handily, it's my turn: What book is that

[Charles]

This was made primarily for the AO model 2 (but can be used with most horseshoe based microscopes), to provide 100W lighting with multiple filters and to provide Kohler illumination for photomicrography at a time when other makers were also coming out large illumination devices.
Looks almost like a spaceship and everyone should have one.

AO Ortho Illuminator Right.jpg (66.09 KiB) Viewed 12416 times

[charlie g]

I wonder if it could be used in shoe stores to measure foot size? Well that's what it most looks like to me!

It is odd how such a huge footprint component...when compact system would do the job...or is it the heat of the lamphouse which needed distance from the stand? all the best, charlie guevara

[zzffnn]

I think the key difference is light output. Big illuminator produces 3-5 times more light for light-hungry contrast techniques such as high NA darkfield and phase contrast. Bigger illuminator also allows better cooling.

Ask Phil and he will tell you high NA darkfield is very difficult without 100w illuminator. Those smaller one won't produce that much light.

[75RR]

Very Flash Gordon!

Agree on the light output and cooling.

[KurtM]

Yeah, think ol' Fan hit the nail on the head alright. The Ortho-Illuminator was an improvement over using a separate 100W research lamp like the AO/Spencer No. 370 or No. 735. Setting up Kohler illumination with these lamps takes learning and practice, and some people have an easier time of it than others getting it down. The basic sales pitch goes like this then: the Ortho-Illuminator provides all the photons with none of the hassle. And as we see, occupied bench space is very similar.


Above: Spencer Model 13 MLH with Spencer No. 735 Research Lamp.



Above: Burton Model 1100 lamp, a refined clone of the Spencer No. 370 lamp.

[apochronaut]

The same choice of illuminators; basic or research grade has almost always existed and continues to exist. On any quality microscope today, you can have the choice of a 20 or so watt illuminator or the same basic stand fitted with a research grade high output illuminator. The ortho-illuminator was just the last of it's kind; a remote 100 watt illuminator with multiple on board filters and kohler but made more compact , because the microscope sat upon it. Other companies, even Reichert had their versions of it. Baker made a very similar one, actually called an Ortho illuminator too but Baker and AO had a working relationship in the 1950's and shared concepts and even some parts.

In the next generation of microscopes, larger bases were included, which housed the illumination optics and with the deluxe model of each, a 100 watt or sometimes more, pumpkin style illuminator hung off the rear . If you mount a series 4 Apostar or Spencer 5 onto the ortho illuminator the only parts of it that extend it's footprint are the 100 watt illuminator housing and the filter section, so it's total footprint isn't any larger, than a 100 watt Reichert Zetopan , Zeiss axiophot or even an AO 20 which was it's direct descendent. They were widely used in research in the 1950's and can turn any modest horseshoe base microscope , outfitted of course with superior optics, into a photo research microscope. What seems like excessive finning on the aluminum lamp cover, is necessary to dissipate the fairly high heat levels of the 100 watt tungsten filament lamp and are no odder than the finning cast into the lamphouses of any 100 watt microscope illuminator.

High output illuminators became necessary for high resolution DF, something that the research community has, since DF's introduction, found very useful and has advanced many fields that utilize microscopy as a tool, in a very positive way. In this capacity, as a remote illuminator , the ortho illuminator is unexcelled.

In former times, black and white emulsion film provided much higher resolution than colour film and for critical microphotography, where colour was not a factor, was always employed. The ortho illuminator has 4 colour coded filter settings, attached to a turret , so that precise spectral transmissions using the various filters supplied, can be used to maximize photographic resolution in black and white .The green and red filter settings cover 4600A to 5300A and 5750A to the end respectively. At full intensity the illuminator provides a 3200k colour temperature and is perfectly balanced for the common professional colour films of the time. Other types of film, balanced for flash at around 3800k can also be accommodated with the addition of 82A and 82C filters to the carousel, with the aim of achieving a true and accurate colour rendition of the sample.

[charlie g]

Good point, zzffnn, and then Kurt building on the point...err that it takes a size of lamphouse, and a bulk of 'heat sink/heat shielding' for higher intensity illuminators.

But even my circa late 1950's-early 1960's Steindorf-Berlin trinoc stand...has a 'pumkin-lamp house' for use with mercury blast for flouresence (?sp?)..which tube attaches as an exterior component..and is smaller than OrthoIlluminator...and the fittings totally avoid a free standing field illuminator ( like Kurt shared in his recent post...thank you as always for the great posts, Kurt). Most high intensity lamphouses tube attach for ease of setup...look at all those 'docking clamps' alone which need be twiddled with on the Ortho Illuminator...I don't get it.

But I hear you, zzffnn, that sometimes for intensity..the lamp house doesn.t fit under the stage..that was in the 1950's. And yes I noted, apochronaut, that film image captures demanded filter setups as much as the lens setups..but filter combo's abounded on racks for exterior lamp houses. Even as Phil here notes the OrthoIlluminator was unexcelled in it's performance...it's evolution in size at the bench...from tube connected lamp houses..just has me curious!

I ask if with the huge footprint it demands on the bench...with all it's docking clamps..was the OrthoIlluminator a brief period of usage ? As I took it for granted that zzffnn and Kurt would see 'huge high intensity lamp houses were often tube conected to the stands...so I was/am puzzeled by all the clamps/the metal base...of the OrthoIlluminator..which I plopped on my bench when I purchased it...scared a few of my stands by docking them to it..then I happily sent that component to a forum microscopist in a swap. Thanks for all helping me to appreciate just what that device was/is. charlie guevara 29 degrees F, in finger lakes,US

[charlie g]

Thanks, apochronaught for the context and timeframe in which the OrthoIlluminator shined(oops, my bad).

My Steindorf-Berlin (I purchased it from the original owner, a prof who was developing vital stains for cancerous tissue cell diagnostics, useing transmitted fluor novel dyes...late 1960's...thank you Dr.Anthoney Bedrick!)...my Steindorf has a external Pumpkin lamphouse component'..it just seems less daunting than the OrthoIlluminator.

Thank you for the historical organic conections you share with us on the stands and their evolution,apochronaught. charlie guevara

[KurtM]

So what book is that in the first images of this thread?

Incidentally, those aren't "clamps", but guides. It takes a bit of doing to properly position a microscope over the field lens on the Ortho-Illuminator. Once you get it just right, you may then adjust the "hands" to touch the horseshoe base, and then you easily can remove and replace the scope without fussy re-alignment.

Phil, thanks for that!

[apochronaut]

Steindorff is unique in that they have to be considered the Edsel of microscopes. Of magnificent scope , sweeping design and grand execution, they did not manufacture their own optics and never had anything made for them but achromats. Unforgiveable for a research oriented microscope. Despite the fleeting use by some hardcore researchers, no one immersing themselves in high end research requiring the use of a high resolution microscope would be able to make one of those provide what was needed.
Since the first W.W. and before, .95 N.A. dry and 1.4 N.A. immersion apochromats have been primary requirements for " microbe hunting". The ortho illuminator was made with design specifications that supported the use of such optics and the stands that went with them. That all ended with the end of the Spencer/AO 160mm era and the development of microscopes by many companies including AO , with in base electronics and illuminators and a footprint that is just as large as the ortho illuminator.

[charlie g]

Hi, apochonaut...err...bite your tounge...my Steindorf-Berlin...circa 1960's indeed has speced objectives:"Flour"!

I could dig this stand off the huge shelf I keep boxed stands on..to share a image of: "Steindorf-Berlin Flour" objectives.

I could also share an article on this firms stands which the author sent me a signed copy of..in a forum swap a few years ago.

Nothing in this historian of microscopes opinion, nothing in the fact that my Steindorf-Berlin stands :"Flour objectives"...none of this agrees with your terse opine that 'Steindorf-Berlin had only achromat objectives...not research level stands'. But I respect your vital energy to microscopy through the times, Phil.

All the best, it's 9 degrees F in finger lakes/US this evening, charlie guevara.

[apochronaut]

I just gave it a good chomp, Charlie. They are a beautiful well thought out instrument but without apochromats, how many of them could they expect were going to be put to use as serious research instruments? It seems to me a serious oversight, especially when they were up against Zeiss and Leitz who were actively disputing their patent applications. It was almost a harbinger of doom, because they probably had a lot of eggs in that basket and needed it's success to stay alive financially, which they didn't. Your fluorites must be quite rare. Do they have those little thin colour coded bands around the bottom?

[charlie g]

Thanks as always for your knowledge and kind shareing in forum,Phil...no, my Steindorf-Berlin Flour objectives are not rare.


Dr.Anthony Bedrick, at NYU medical/dental system did clinical and basic science research in oral tissue cancer diagnostics via vital stain flour dyes circa late 1960's-to 1970's ( and tobacco products then were not designated carcinogenic...yuck, yuck! Yet there is a need for 1.4 NA apochromatic objectives in cancer cutting edge research....humm, I think not.).

I enjoy the velocity to disparage circa 1960's : Steindorf-Berlin which you crafted into almost one sentence, Phil...'the Edsil of stands'...humm. I enjoy your energy as it opens my mind to how it is that I have a signed by the articles author, historical article on Steindorf-Berlin microscopes ...which totally disagrees with your brief critical eye to these instruments ever having a place in research projects.

As always, Phil, I learn from your posts, thank you! I will dig the boxed stand off the shelves..I will revisit your posts here...and see what specs/ what markings are on the stands flour objectives...thank you for suggesting certain 'ring markings' might be on the objectives. 9 degrees F here in finger lakes,US charlie guevara

[Charles]

In regards to the Steindorff (I have a few including the MH), although the objectives are listed as achromats, they have very high NA. The 10X is 0.30, 45X is 0.85 and the 100X is 1.30.

[apochronaut]

I don't know. It just seems that whenever I look into the work that professionals are involved in, whether it be occasionally on a personal level( fisheries biologists, cancer research) or in any articles, it is a rare thing, or not at all that achromats are being used on their microscopes. Why would anyone, unless they were under budgetary restrictions? The fact that a certain individual might have had a preference for a specific instrument stylistically, that had high quality achromats, doesn't in any way imply that achromatic objectives are therefore good enough to meet the rigorous demands of cutting edge research in general.

Sure, Charles they have high N.A. objectives and that in itself is suspicious. They needed to keep the microscope at a certain price, in order to market it against the competition. High N.A. achromats are way cheaper to produce than an apochromat and they had a freelance mathematician designing their objectives from formula, not a physicist. The stand alone was clearly very costly to execute, so adding very expensive apochromats to the mix, which also might have been beyond their mathematician/contractee's capacity to design, probably would have priced it out of the market. As I said before, it is a nice and well executed stand but for it to be considered at the same level as it's contemporaries, as a capable research microscope it would have to have had apochromats. Every other research stand had them available and they were and are heavily relied upon for critical imaging. One should never allow style to trump substance, as I'm sure should be quite evident, especially recently.

[charlie g]

Hi, Phil and Charles. Charles...you had me excited when I finally was able to dig out my Stein-dorf Berlin stand...and rotate through the objective combination! The 4/0.15 plan ff with color white band. And yes, yes, the 10/0.30 plan ff with color green band. But then apochronaaut pegs my combo correct..the 40/0.65 plan ff with color yellow band ( not NA 0.85 as Charles has on the 40X...sigh). And the 100/1.25 Oil plan ff with color red band (not the higher NA objective which Charles has). The specs on the objectives are as I typed: "plan ff".

Correctly apochronaut speculated the objectives have color band designations...but Dr.Bedrick never mentioned the objectives are rare. He was part of the clinical pathology department...maybee his funding was weak,Phil

I have no use for the independantly cased, 'pumpkin lamp house'...and boxes of color filters which Dr.Bedrick used with transmitted flour illumination of his subject specimens. Humm...please Pm me if you have need for any of that kit ( for your Stein-dor Berlin), Charles...err if you wish to part with any of your Stein-dorf Berlin components...please contact me!

Anyway, thanks to apochronauts strong opine on Stein-dorf Berlin...I need to read the signed article which Dr,deCero published in the now defunct: "Journal of Historical Microscopy" ( I'm not sure of the title.

all the best, charlie guevara.

[charlie g]

When I dug out the Stein-dorf Berlin..I came across something on my brief adventure with the OrthoIlluminator

Thanks all for fleshing out for me the Ortho Illuminator...and I err hope Charles might part with some Stein-dorf Berlin components! charlie guevara

[charlie g]

Ooops!

[charlie g]

I just stumbled upon a late 1940's-early 1952 cousin of the OrthoIlluminator! Phil is right about 'foot print size' at the bench.

charlie guevara

[charlie g]

Did this 'fashion texture' of the metal surface have a name? Same texture ( like sponge worked stucco to give walls a texture)...same texture on the A/O Orthoilluminator, same texture on my families late 1940's-early 1950's spoked reels movie projector...what is this metal finish called?

http://www.blackortholux,com/pdf/stands/Leitz The Microscope 1952 pdf

The 'lock the stand' is called: "Monlafix Lamp", the free standing lamphouse is called: "Monla Lamp" ( love to hear thoughts on the roots of these names!??). charlie guevara

[charlie g]

http://www.blackortholux.com/pdf/stands ... ope1952pdf


The brochure states this is great for high magnification dark field illumination.

[apochronaut]

The finish is called a wrinkle finish. In the 1940's it was done with tung oil paint with cobalt added and then baked t a high temp. I have no idea why it became de rigeur but perhaps because it doesn't show dust and dirt that easily on equipment that seldom gets cleaned.

[charlie g]

Hi, apochronaut, if you have time (some time), could you comment on thr Stein-dorf flour objectives with 'the tiny colored rings'? Do you recall why these objectives are rare? I'm curious ( as I know the work history of my stand) how you came upon info on these flour objectives with color rings? all the best, charlie guevara