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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope
147 (C
Reichert; 1920s)
Carl
Reichert (1851 – 1922) was an optician who established one of the principal
microscope manufacturing firms in Europe in the late 19th century.
Reichert married into the Leitz family in 1874 (and was son in law of Ernst
Leitz). In 1876 in Vienna, he founded the Optische Werke C. Reichert. He
employed some Leitz technicians, explaining one reason why his products were
so similar to those of Ernst Leitz of Wetzlar.
Reichert designed new lenses, lighting equipment for microscopes, and one of
the first microscopes for the study of metal surfaces. By 1900, the company
had produced 30,000 microscopes, and 100,000 microscopes in 1930. Instruments
were usually signed "C. Reichert, Wien". The firm was partially
sold to American Optical in 1962, which was taken over in 1968 by Warner
Lambert. By 1986, this company merged with Jung of Heidelberg and was sold to
Cambridge Instruments, which in 1990 merged with Wild Leitz to form the Leica
Group. In 1999 Reichert stopped microscope production, concentrating to
instruments for sample preparations for transmission electron microscopy.
Microscope 147 is a stand D, combination Dafne microscope signed with
‘Reichert, Austria’ (Figure 1). The instrument has the serial number 80270,
being dated to the 1920s.
Figure
1.
Reichert’s stand D, combination Dafne microscope as pictured in one of the
1940s firm catalogues. LAST
EDITED: 08.11.2020 |
