Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

    

Microscope 355 (Carl Reichert; stereoscopic microscope MAK; 1950s)

 

A close-up of a microscope

Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope

Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope

Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope

Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope

Description automatically generatedClose-up of a microscope

Description automatically generatedA close-up of a microscope

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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 355 is a jug-handle Greenough stereoscopic microscope with triple objective drum, model MAK, engraved with “REICHERT, AUSTRIA”, and the serial number 249282. The instrument should be dated to the 1950s.

Note: this instrument was kindly donated by Dave Levell (Pembrokeshire, Wales) in May 2023.

 

A close-up of a microscope

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Figure 1. Reichert’s stereoscopic microscope MAK as engraved in a 1949 brochure of the firm.