The mysterious Bausch and Lomb Monozoom 4

[Scarodactyl]

Here's an odd speck of history. Years back i was researching the Bausch and Lomb/Cambridge/Leica Monozoom 7, and in trying to find the exact year it was released (1985?) I found a much older reference to a 'Monozoom 4' in 1979 in a German laser journal. The google preview was limited but I managed to get access to the full thing, which included a photo!!

At workplaces, where previously the StereoZoom was used, the newly developed MonoZoom 4 with TV camera connection can now be used. The focus adjustment and sample control are carried out on the monitor. This reduces symptoms of fatigue and the workplace
more ergonomic. By connecting additional monitors, the workplace can also be monitored from a greater distance. Both black and white cameras and monitors can be used. with an intermediate attachment the new binocular viewer can also be used. The
MonoZoom 4 is a complete component of the famous StereoZoom microscope series by
Bausch & Lomb and has a zoom factor from 0.7x-3x, but no stereo image. For further information please contact:
ts-electronic vertriebs-gmbh, W idenmayerstr. 50, 8000 Munich 22, (089) 227373

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Look at this thing! A video microscope sans eyepieces in the 70s (at least 6 years before Hirox claims to have introduced the first video microscope). But why is it only referenced here? Who are TS Electronic? Was this actually a Bausch and Lomb product?? Where did it come from and where did it go?

[apochronaut]

New ideas often are too new and many who are the first to open the door of innovation end up holding it open for those that lined up to follow them. That looks Bausch & Lomb to me.

I am holding in my hand at this very moment , a 25X N.A. 1.40 Flat Field Apochromat made by B & L almost 50 years sgo.. On the desk beside me is a 15X N.A. 1.2 Flat Field Apochromat . Bausch & Lomb were always innovators but if you read Yuquien Zhang's thesis, A Systematic Design of Microscope Objectives, not a single Bausch & Lomb objective is cited and none are listed amongst hundreds of patents. The reason is that their infinity corrected system was too unique and different ;

[Scarodactyl]

Wow, 15x/1.2 is astonishing!