Object Details
- Description
- Bausch & Lomb introduced their Investigator microscope in 1880, telling the American Society of Microscopists that they “confidently claim to have reached a higher degree of perfection than is possessed by any one approximating it in price.” Three years later, the firm termed this a “moderate-priced instrument” with “features of a first-class and high-priced stand.” At that time, the instrument and case cost $40; with two objectives and camera lucida it cost $65. In the 1890s, Bausch & Lomb termed this an American Type Microscope, model H. With triple nosepiece, as here, it cost $81.50.
- This example is of that sort. It is a compound monocular with coarse and fine focus, inclination joint, triple nosepiece, circular stage, sub-stage dome diaphragm and double-sided mirror attach to a bar that can be angled up and down, and trileg base. The inscription on the stage reads “Bausch & Lomb / Optical Co.” The inscription on the arm reads “PAT. OCT. 3, 1876 / PAT. OCT. 13, 1885.” There are three objectives: one by Bausch & Lomb, and two by Spencer & Smith.
- Ref: “Microscopes and Objectives by the Bausch & Lomb Optical Company,” in J. Edwards Smith, How to See with the Microscope (Chicago, 1880), pp. 344-345.
- Bausch & Lomb, Price List of Microscopes, Objectives and Accessories (Rochester, 1883), pp. 22-23.
- Bausch & Lomb, Microscope, Microtomes, Apparatus for Photo-Micrography, and Bacteriology Laboratory Supplies (Rochester and New York, 1896), pp. 38-39.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- maker
- Bausch & Lomb
- date made
- ca 1890
- Credit Line
- Bausch & Lomb Optical Company
- Physical Description
- glass (overall material)
- brass (overall material)
- Measurements
- overall: 33 cm x 18.3 cm x 21.6 cm; 13 in x 7 3/16 in x 8 1/2 in
- Object Name
- microscope
