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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope
201 (Paul
Waechter; microscope – trichinoscope - stand Va; c. 1900)
Paul Waechter (1847 -
1893) was trained to be an optician and mechanic at the famous Zeiss Optical
Workshop in Jena, Germany. In 1872, Waechter founded his own optical workshop
and his earlier instruments were signed ‘Paul Waechter, Berlin’. Between 1872
and 1892, Waechter produced over 20,000 microscopes, mostly for the
examination of trichinae in meat. By 1890, Paul Waechter moved his workshop
to Friedenau and the microscopes produced were then signed ‘Paul Waechter,
Friedenau’. After the death of Waechter in 1893, his longtime assistant, Herr
Puchler, directed the company. Later, Puchler and another master mechanic,
Paul Prasser, formed a partnership and continued the business into the early
20th century. At this time, the business was named ‘Optische
Werkstaette Paul Waechter’. Microscopes produced by the company often did not
bear a signature or serial number on the microscope itself, but these items
were reserved for the wood case that normally accompanied the instrument.
Sometime after the turn of the century, the firm was moved from Berlin to
Potsdam in the former German State of Prussia (now Poland). At that time,
instruments were signed ‘Paul Waechter, Potsdam’. By the mid-1930s the
business was taken over by the Pridat family. Operations of the firm appear
to have been suspended during and immediately after the Second World War. In
1958, the company again reappeared when their registered office moved to
Wetzlar, Germany. Microscopes produced in the 1960s and 1970s were signed ‘P.
Waechter, Wetzlar’. Microscope 201 is a trichinoscope signed as “Paul
Waechter, Friedenau”, contains the serial number 19426, and can be dated to
c. 1900. This is an example of a Waechter’s stand Va microscope, and versions
were sold with and without a joint allowing the inclination of the limb
(Figure 1).
Figure 1. Waechter’s stand Va microscope as
pictured in the 1903
catalogue of Henry Heil, St. Louis, USA. References Paul Carl Friedrich
Waechter, 1847 – 1893 (http://microscopist.net/Waechter.html), last accessed on
22.07.2021 Paul Waechter 15937, Model
Va, circa 1890 (https://www.bononiaemicroscope.com/en/the-microscopes/germany/126-paul-waechter-15937.html), last accessed on
22.07.2021 LAST
EDITED: 31.08.2021 |
