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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope
152 (R & J
Beck; pathological microscope; c. 1887)
R & J Beck
occupy an especially important place in the history of the British microscope
manufacturing with its beginning established in London, by Richard Beck (1827
- 1866) in association with James Smith (1800 – 1873), and later to be joined
by his brother Joseph Beck. Richard and Joseph Beck were nephews of Joseph
Jackson Lister, who was a respected British optician and physicist who
experimented with achromatic lenses and perfected an optical microscope. In
commissioning the manufacture of his improved microscope, Lister worked with
James Smith, an employee of the instrument-making firm of William Tulley, to
create the stand. James Smith went on to establish his own optical
instruments workshop in 1837. Through this relationship, Lister arranged for
his nephew, Richard Beck to be an apprentice under Smith in 1843. In 1847,
James Smith entered into partnership with Richard Beck, and the company was
re-named Smith & Beck. In 1854, the company was renamed to Smith,
Beck and Beck, as Richard Beck's brother Joseph Beck joined the company
in 1851. James Smith retired in 1865 and the company became R & J Beck
and this name lasted for long time. In 1866, Richard Beck died at an early
age of 39, and Joseph Beck carried on the business. In 1895 the company
became a limited partnership (R & J Beck Ltd). By 1968, the
company was a subsidiary of the Ealing Corporation of USA. In 2019, Beck
Optronic Solutions Ltd is a descendent of the former R & J Beck Ltd.
Microscope 152 is signed ‘R & J Beck, London’ and is an example of the
pathological microscope model of the firm (Figure 1). The serial number of
the instrument is 14725, allowing to date the microscope to c. 1887. These
instruments were commended to the “scientific investigator for laboratory
work, or to the student of medicine, zoology or petrology”. On the stage
there is a traversing mechanical stage (Figure 1).
Figure
1. R&J Beck’s pathological microscope (left) and
traversing mechanical stage (right) as engraved in a company’s catalogue from
1894. Reference James Smith, 1800 –
1873 (http://microscopist.net/SmithJ.html), last accessed on
12.08.2020 R. and J. Beck (https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/R._and_J._Beck), last accessed on
12.08.2020 R. & J. Beck
brass microscope circa 1895 (http://www.arsmachina.com/RJ-Beck.htm), last accessed on
28.11.2020 LAST
EDITED: 28.11.2020 |
