|
Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
|
|
Cobweb eyepiece micrometer from Beck
(1930s) This is a cobweb eyepiece micrometer from Beck, London, and should be
dated from the 1930s (Figure 1). This eyepiece has two cobwebs, one of which
is fixed and the other is movable by a micrometer screw. The screw has a
millimetre pitch and a drum divided into 100 parts, each division reading 1
/100 millimetre. The saw-shaped scale of teeth is so arranged that each tooth
is equal to one turn of the screw. 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. Figure 1. Beck’s cobweb eyepiece micrometer as pictured in a
company’s catalogue from the 1920s – 1930s. LAST
EDITED: 22.09.2020 |