Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

    

Microscope 38A (R & J Beck; improved continental microscope; c. 1900)

A close up of a box Description automatically generatedA picture containing table, wooden, yellow, sitting Description automatically generatedA picture containing yellow Description automatically generatedA picture containing yellow, sitting, table, banana Description automatically generatedA picture containing yellow, table Description automatically generated

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 38A is from R & J Beck Ltd, date from c. 1900, and is known as improved continental microscope (Figure 1). These are compound microscopes made from lacquered brass with a continental horseshoe base which is solid brass. The substage double-sided mirror, which includes a concave side, is attached via a gimbal arm to a swinging tailpiece that is connected to the pillar. The square, mechanical stage is painted black and has two metal clips to secure a specimen. There are two holes on both corners of the stage in which accessories such as stage forceps can be attached. The coarse focusing functions via a rack and pinion mechanism which moves the body tube closer or further away from the stage. The fine focusing mechanism is controlled by a thumbscrew located at the top of the pillar. The serial number of microscope 38A is 22494.

Figure 1. Beck’s improved continental microscope as engraved in the company’s 1894 catalogue.

 

 

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: 15.08.2020