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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope 292 (R & J
Beck; Luminex microscope; 1930s)
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 292 is a Beck Luminex microscope and should be dated to the 1960s
(Figure 1). The source of light for the illumination of the object is
contained in the instrument. The light is condensed by a specially shaped
reflector. The company sold Luminex magnifiers, made in a fixed focus model,
focussing the object just below the rim of the reflector, with a power of ten
times. Other models allowed higher magnifications and included a focussing
motion to the lens. Microscope 292 is a Luminex microscope, like the above
models in principle, but with a compound microscope giving a magnifying power
of 40 times attached to it. There is a graduated scale in the eyepiece.
Figure
1.
Beck’s Luminex illuminating magnifier (left) and Luminex microscope (right) as
pictured in the 1930 book ‘Beck microscopes’ by Richard Beck and Joseph Beck. Reference R & J Beck
(1920s-1930s) Illustrated catalogue of microscopes 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 East Carolina
University collections – Binomax stereomicroscope (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/21991#?#details&xywh=-4%2C-19%2C2311%2C3108&cv=0),
last accessed on 02.01.2021 LAST
EDITED: 22.10.2022 |
