Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

    

Microscope 82 (Paul Waechter; trichinoscope; 1920s)

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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 82 is a trichinoscope signed as “Paul Waechter, Potsdam”, and can be dated to the 1920s. Neither the instrument nor its case bears a serial number. This microscope mounts atop its wood case and is equipped with an extra-large rectangular stage plate that normally accommodated a unique large dual plate glass compressorium for the examination of pork (missing from this instrument).

 

References

Paul Carl Friedrich Waechter, 1847 – 1893 (http://microscopist.net/Waechter.html), last accessed on 13.08.2020

'STATIV IV (V) OR STAND #4 (5)MICROSCOPE' (https://www.microscope-antiques.com/waechter.html), last accessed on 13.08.2020

'STATIV Vb MICROSCOPE' (https://www.microscope-antiques.com/vbtrichinascope.html), last accessed on 13.08.2020

East Carolina University – Trichinoscope (https://digital.lib.ecu.edu/22094#?c=0&m=0&s=0&cv=0&xywh=-219%2C-19%2C2320%2C3120), last accessed on 02.01.2021

 

LAST EDITED: 15.08.2020