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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope
258 (R & J
Beck; ‘British Students’ microscope No. 55; c. 1897)
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. Microscope 258 is from R & J Beck Ltd and date
to c. 1897. The instrument is signed ‘R & J Beck Ltd, London’ and has the
serial number 21632. This instrument should be an earlier version of the
model known as the ‘British Students’ microscope (Figure 1).
Figure
1.
Beck’s ‘British Students’ microscope No. 55, as engraved in a 1910s
catalogue from the company. Reference R & J Beck (1894)
Illustrated catalogue of microscopes James Smith, 1800 –
1873 (http://microscopist.net/SmithJ.html), last accessed on
12.08.2020 R. and J. Beck (https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/R._and_J._Beck), last accessed on
12.08.2020 LAST
EDITED: 02.10.2022 |
