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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope
130 (Ernst
Leitz, Wetzlar; stand IIb microscope; c. 1906)
In 1849, Karl Kellner
founded the Optical Institute in Wetzlar, Germany, which in a few years had
microscopes as the main product. The company hired an engineer named Ernst
Leitz in 1865, who soon became a partner. Leitz took over the company in 1869
and renamed it Optical Institute of Ernst Leitz. Ernst Leitz died in 1920,
and his son Ernst Leitz II became the sole owner of the business. During the
1970s, competition increased from several companies in Japan, especially
Olympus and Nikon, which were producing modern microscope designs of
excellent quality at relatively low prices. Several venerable microscope
companies closed, merged, or were bought out in Europe and the USA. Wild Heerbrugg
bought the majority ownership of the Leitz Wetzlar company in 1974, but Leitz
continued to develop their new lines of compound microscopes. The last member
of the Leitz family retired from the board of directors in 1986. At the
beginning of 1987, Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH and Wild Heerbrugg AG merged to
form the Wild Leitz Group. The Wild Leitz Group was broken into smaller
companies in 1988, and Leica Camera was split off. The merger of Wild Leitz
Holding AG with the Cambridge Instrument Company in 1990 created the new
Leica Holding B.V. group. The Leica name is now used for all microscopes and
other scientific optical instruments. Microscope 130 is a stand IIb
microscope which was described as a medium size inclinable microscope in the
1907 Ernst Leitz catalogue (Figure 1). The instrument is signed on the tube
‘E. Leitz, Wetzlar, No. 94395’. The serial number suggests that this
microscope was produced in c. 1906. Microscope 130 came with its original
wooden case.
Figure 1. The
stand IIb microscope as engraved in the 1907 Ernst Leitz catalogue. References Ernst Leitz (1907) Microscopes catalogue Ernst Leitz Wetzlar Microscopes (http://earth2geologists.net/Microscopes/LeitzScopes.htm) LAST
EDITED: 22.09.2020 |
