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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope
30 (F.W.
Schieck; trichinen mikroskop; c. 1900) Friedrich Wilhelm Schieck (1790 – 1870; also, at times,
spelled Schiek) was the first member of his family to produce scientific
instruments. After serving an apprenticeship, he moved to Berlin where he
worked with Carl Philipp Heinrich Pistor (1778 - 1847). By 1824, he was a
full partner with Pistor. At that time, instruments were signed Pistor &
Schiek. By 1837, the partners separated and Schiek began to produce
instruments under his own name; the microscopes were usually marked “Schiek
in Berlin”. Beginning around 1860, the father began to work with his son,
Friedrich Wilhelm Hermann Schieck, who by 1865 assumed full management of the
firm under the name F. W. Schieck Optisches Institut. The elder Schieck died
in 1870. The son died in 1916, but the firm continued well into the 20th
century. F.W. Schiek produced high quality research microscopes until 1865, when
the business was taken over by his son. Once the younger 'Schieck' took over
he changed the focus of the firm to higher volume and more basic microscopes.
Like several other German makers of the time, he especially sold microscopes
for meat inspection (trichinoscopes). Microscope 30 is portable trichinoscope
dated to c. 1900. The inside of the wooden box is signed as ‘F.W. Schieck,
Optisches Institut, Berlin S.W. 46’. This microscope mounts atop its wood
case and is equipped with an extra-large rectangular stage plate that
accommodate a large dual plate glass compressorium for the examination of
pork (unfortunately broken in this piece). During the meat inspection
process, thinly cut samples of pork dissected from meat samples being
inspected would be placed between the glass plates and compressed resulting
in transparent specimens that could be examined microscopically for the
presence of Trichinella cysts using this instrument. References F.
W. SCHEICK MICROSCOPE (http://www.microscope-antiques.com/schieck.html),
last accessed on 13.08.2020 F.
W. Schieck Berlin S.W. No. 7903, c. 1884 Continental style microscope (http://www.antique-microscopes.com/photos/FW_Schieck.htm),
last accessed on 13.08.2020 Schiek
in Berlin, medium microscope, ~1855 (https://www.microscopehistory.com/schieck-in-berlin),
last accessed on 13.08.2020 LAST EDITED: 15.08.2020 |