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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope
285 (E A White
Limited; folding linen tester; early 20th century)
Edward
Albert (E. A.) White Ldt. was formed in 1894 and was a manufacturer of
chemicals and insecticides for gardening and agriculture. The company was
based at Paddock Wood, Kent, England. The firm registered the trademark
‘ABOL’ in 1898 and, from 1900, the company formed ‘ABOL Ltd.’. The ‘Abol
White’s superior insecticide’ was available from 1903. The company traded
into at least the 1920s. Microscope 285 is a folding linen tester, or linen
prover, engraved with ‘E. A. White LimTD, Paddock Wood, Kent’ and
‘USE ABOL, WHITE’S SUPERIOR PLANT WASH’. The instrument should be dated from
the early 20th century and would be originally used for counting threads in
fabrics (the number of threads per unit of length provides evidence of a
higher quality of cloth). These instruments fold flat for storing and
transport and form a 'C' shape when in use. The earliest forms have a simple
standard opening on the base, but later versions have an opening marked with
calibrations of some kind. These types of linen testers have been made and
sold by many companies since at least the early 19th century and were rarely
signed by their makers or retailers. This specific instrument was maybe a
gift given by the E. A. White firm, a manufacturer of chemicals for gardening
and agriculture, to its customers at that time to advertise their products
(in this case, the ‘Abol, White’s superior plant wash’). LAST
EDITED: 26.10.2022 |
