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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope 299 (Chronik Brothers; triplex
thread counting micrometer; 1910s)
Microscope
299 is a thread counter, also called fabric tester, linen tester
and pick counter. The instrument is engraved with ‘PAT SEPT 20-10, No.
901879’, and the serial number ‘5917’. The bottom surface is marked with
‘Chronik Bros. New York’. The instrument should be dated to the 1910s, and its
original box identifies the firm ‘E. V. COOKE & CO. (PATRICROFT &
MANCHESTER)’ as the retailer. E. V. Cooke was the sales agent in the United
Kingdom (probably a reference to the textile engineer Ellis Vinson Cooke, who
was active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries).
These optical instruments were used to check the threads that criss-cross
each other within a specific area of woven cloth. The number of stitches and
spaces between the stiches of the warp (thread that is held in tension on the
loom or frame) and weft (the thread that is drawn over and under the warp)
reveal information about the quality and type of fabric. This thread counter
was identified as ‘The Triplex Thread Counting Micrometer’ in a 1909
edition of the journal Silk (in an article entitled ‘A new Thread-Counting
Device’; Figure 1). The patent number engraved on the instrument was
dated from 20th October 1908, and was attributed to August Chronik
and Louis Chronik, of New York, covering a thread-counting apparatus. The
Chronik Brothers obtained several patents on their thread counter between
1909 and 1929.
Figure 1. The ‘Triplex Thread Counting Micrometer’ as featured in a 1909
edition of the journal Silk. |
