Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

      

Microscope 435 (American Optical; stereoscopic microscope series 25; 1960s)

 

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The American Optical has its origins in 1826 when William Beecher started a modest jewellery store in Southbridge, Massachusetts, USA. In 1869, the company was established as American Optical (AO) Company, mostly focussed on spectacles and sunglasses. In 1935, the American Optical purchased the Spencer Lens Company, located in Buffalo, New York. The company was a manufacturer of high-quality microscopes and is considered the first American microscope maker. In 1945, the name Spencer Lens Company was changed to American Optical Scientific Instrument Division and, in 1950, AO relocated their Southbridge ophthalmic instrument manufacturing to the Buffalo facility. In 1967, AO was purchased by Warner Lambert Pharmaceutical. Over the next two decades the company changed hands several times, carrying the names: Cambridge Instruments, Reichert-Jung, Inc., and Leica Microsystems. Finally, in December of 2002, a management buyout in collaboration with Summer Street Capital Partners of Buffalo, NY, occurred, and Reichert, Inc. was formed. Microscope 435 is a series 25 stereoscopic microscope with the binocular head engraved with “AO SPENCER” and the serial number 196217. The instrument should be dated to the 1960s (Figure 1).

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

 

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Figure 1. Stereoscopic microscope series 25 as featured in a 1967 American Optical’s catalogue.