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Details
An early 19th-Century probably Dutch chest microscope in brass, compound and simple,
the chest made of wood, the underside of the base painted black, and all other surfaces coated in impressed paper painted black. The painting is possibly a late way of covering blemishes in the paper through time. The top of the lid has a raised panel forming a shallow pyramid. The inside of the chest is covered in buff suede. There are two lift-out trays, the upper for the parts of the instrument and the lower for specimens and a simple microscope. The dismantled parts of the instrument and accessories are stored in moulded sections.
The chest: 13½in. (34.3cm.) wide, 8in. (20.4cm.) deep, 5¼in. (13.3cm.) wide
Upper tray: the stand has a circular base with an internal screw underneath to fit over a brass ring, with an external thread, screwed to the top of the chest lid. A short pillar rises to a compass joint that allows the limb to tilt as required. At the top of the limb is a bracket to hold the sleeve in which the body tube slides, gripped by a three-panel collar. The front of the limb has a rack, over which runs the pinion attached to the stage bracket. The pinion wheel is too small and too close to the stage lever for convenience. The stage is a unique design: a dovetailed slide, to provide a Y movement to the specimen holder, is operated by a curved lever held by a screw to the left and with a turned ivory handle to the right. The specimens are held by a curved wing stage with three equal apertures to accommodate a spring stage or specimen tray. All three apertures are threaded, and the spring stage screws into any of them. Near the centre is a socket to take the shaft of stage forceps. On the left side is an articulated arm composed of four brass links, ending with a collar with a screw to attach a stage bull's-eye lens.
Two brass optical tubes are provided, both with screw-on eye-caps and objective substitutes to protect the interiors. The tubes are made from curved brass sheet, the edges soldered together, each 1 5/8in. (4.1cm.) diameter. Each body tube comprises: eye-cap, aperture, eye lens, and field lens. All the lenses are biconvex, made of clear glass with a very pale yellow-green tinge, and the edges carefully ground.
Short tube: 6½in. (16.5cm.) overall length; eye lens 2.4cm. diameter, 0.52cm. thick; the body unscrews at the position of a field lens, 3.3cm. diameter, 0.58cm. thick.
Long tube: 8in. (20cm.) overall length; eye lens 2.27cm. diameter, 0.41cm. thick; field lens 3.65cm. diameter (thickness cannot be measured as tight in mount).
The 4.8cm. diameter plano-concave substage mirror is in a U-mount, the base of which screws over a threaded ring screwed to the top of the chest. There are also: three objective lenses in individual sockets; a small Wilson-type screw-barrel microscope, the barrel frame 4.3cm. long, 2.8cm. diameter; screw-on objective lens holder shared with the compass microscope in the lower tray; condensor lens; ivory handle (in lower tray); large screw-barrel microscope, approx. 11cm. long overall, the barrel frame 6.5cm. long, 3.7cm. diameter; condensor lens; screw-on objective holder.
Lower tray: there is a compass microscope, 4 7/8in. (12.4cm.) long overall, with screw control to focus, ivory handle and a socket to accept specimen holders; two stage forceps; two brass stage pins, brass tweezers; brass frame with spring grip on a shaft to hold the sliders; brass frame and glass slide with 3 wet cells. Eight objective lenses in brass mounts fit simple and compound arrangements. Each mount is with an ivory dust cap. Both parts are labelled, ivory in ink, brass engraved, with the focal length in Paris lines: 16. lin.; 10. lin.; 8. lin.; 6. lin.; 4. lin.; 2. lin.; 1. lin. The eighth is engraved 10. on the mount, scratched ½. at the edge, and ½ lin on the ivory cap. The 'line' was the standard measure used by the optical instrument trade on the Continent of Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century. The line is 1/12 of a Paris inch, or 1/144 of a Paris foot, or pied du roi. One Paris line is equivalent to 2.2558 millimetres and 0.0888 English inches. Therefore 16 lines = 3.6cm, and 1.42in.
There is also a set of 72 preparations and 4 blank slides, 52 of rosewood and 22 of boxwood, mixed together, with white painted numbers, each 6.7 x 1.3 x 0.3cm. Each slide has 4 apertures containing convex glass held by a brass split ring. The specimens are mostly insects and their parts, or wood sections. There are also 5 assorted ivory slides and one long plain glass slide, 8.3 x 1.3 x 0.16, square at one end and tapered at the other for inserting into a spring stage.
The axles of the compass joints, and several hand-made screws, are made of iron, a material regularly found on Dutch microscopes. The craftsman is skilled, but not fully conversant with making microscopes, as is clear from the clumsy stage movement, and the provision of a single lens in the eyepiece. The style stems from a desire to improve the microscope during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, but without abandoning some of the features of the later eighteenth century.
See Colour Illustrations and Details
the chest made of wood, the underside of the base painted black, and all other surfaces coated in impressed paper painted black. The painting is possibly a late way of covering blemishes in the paper through time. The top of the lid has a raised panel forming a shallow pyramid. The inside of the chest is covered in buff suede. There are two lift-out trays, the upper for the parts of the instrument and the lower for specimens and a simple microscope. The dismantled parts of the instrument and accessories are stored in moulded sections.
The chest: 13½in. (34.3cm.) wide, 8in. (20.4cm.) deep, 5¼in. (13.3cm.) wide
Upper tray: the stand has a circular base with an internal screw underneath to fit over a brass ring, with an external thread, screwed to the top of the chest lid. A short pillar rises to a compass joint that allows the limb to tilt as required. At the top of the limb is a bracket to hold the sleeve in which the body tube slides, gripped by a three-panel collar. The front of the limb has a rack, over which runs the pinion attached to the stage bracket. The pinion wheel is too small and too close to the stage lever for convenience. The stage is a unique design: a dovetailed slide, to provide a Y movement to the specimen holder, is operated by a curved lever held by a screw to the left and with a turned ivory handle to the right. The specimens are held by a curved wing stage with three equal apertures to accommodate a spring stage or specimen tray. All three apertures are threaded, and the spring stage screws into any of them. Near the centre is a socket to take the shaft of stage forceps. On the left side is an articulated arm composed of four brass links, ending with a collar with a screw to attach a stage bull's-eye lens.
Two brass optical tubes are provided, both with screw-on eye-caps and objective substitutes to protect the interiors. The tubes are made from curved brass sheet, the edges soldered together, each 1 5/8in. (4.1cm.) diameter. Each body tube comprises: eye-cap, aperture, eye lens, and field lens. All the lenses are biconvex, made of clear glass with a very pale yellow-green tinge, and the edges carefully ground.
Short tube: 6½in. (16.5cm.) overall length; eye lens 2.4cm. diameter, 0.52cm. thick; the body unscrews at the position of a field lens, 3.3cm. diameter, 0.58cm. thick.
Long tube: 8in. (20cm.) overall length; eye lens 2.27cm. diameter, 0.41cm. thick; field lens 3.65cm. diameter (thickness cannot be measured as tight in mount).
The 4.8cm. diameter plano-concave substage mirror is in a U-mount, the base of which screws over a threaded ring screwed to the top of the chest. There are also: three objective lenses in individual sockets; a small Wilson-type screw-barrel microscope, the barrel frame 4.3cm. long, 2.8cm. diameter; screw-on objective lens holder shared with the compass microscope in the lower tray; condensor lens; ivory handle (in lower tray); large screw-barrel microscope, approx. 11cm. long overall, the barrel frame 6.5cm. long, 3.7cm. diameter; condensor lens; screw-on objective holder.
Lower tray: there is a compass microscope, 4 7/8in. (12.4cm.) long overall, with screw control to focus, ivory handle and a socket to accept specimen holders; two stage forceps; two brass stage pins, brass tweezers; brass frame with spring grip on a shaft to hold the sliders; brass frame and glass slide with 3 wet cells. Eight objective lenses in brass mounts fit simple and compound arrangements. Each mount is with an ivory dust cap. Both parts are labelled, ivory in ink, brass engraved, with the focal length in Paris lines: 16. lin.; 10. lin.; 8. lin.; 6. lin.; 4. lin.; 2. lin.; 1. lin. The eighth is engraved 10. on the mount, scratched ½. at the edge, and ½ lin on the ivory cap. The 'line' was the standard measure used by the optical instrument trade on the Continent of Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century. The line is 1/12 of a Paris inch, or 1/144 of a Paris foot, or pied du roi. One Paris line is equivalent to 2.2558 millimetres and 0.0888 English inches. Therefore 16 lines = 3.6cm, and 1.42in.
There is also a set of 72 preparations and 4 blank slides, 52 of rosewood and 22 of boxwood, mixed together, with white painted numbers, each 6.7 x 1.3 x 0.3cm. Each slide has 4 apertures containing convex glass held by a brass split ring. The specimens are mostly insects and their parts, or wood sections. There are also 5 assorted ivory slides and one long plain glass slide, 8.3 x 1.3 x 0.16, square at one end and tapered at the other for inserting into a spring stage.
The axles of the compass joints, and several hand-made screws, are made of iron, a material regularly found on Dutch microscopes. The craftsman is skilled, but not fully conversant with making microscopes, as is clear from the clumsy stage movement, and the provision of a single lens in the eyepiece. The style stems from a desire to improve the microscope during the first quarter of the nineteenth century, but without abandoning some of the features of the later eighteenth century.
See Colour Illustrations and Details
Special notice
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