Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

    

Microscope 52 (Banks Bros; late 19th century)

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Limited information is available about the company Banks Bros. The only reference found to this company was in an 1881 edition of the journal “The Northern Microscopist”, where we can read “On Nov. 19th, the third annual Conversazione of this Society [Bolton Microscopical Society] was held in the Albert Hall … As to microscope stands and objectives, nearly all the leading makers in this country were well represented. Messrs. Ross and Co., Smith and Beck, Messrs. R. and J. Beck, Messrs Swift and Son, Crouch, Baker, Dancer, Parkes and Banks Bros., of Corporation Street, Bolton, all seemed to have found purchasers in the members of this Society”. Microscope 52 is signed “Banks Bros, Corporation St, Bolton” and should be dated from the late 19th century. An identical instrument is featured in a late 1800s catalogue of Negretti and Zambra (Figure 1), where it was described as the Brewer’s microscope and “specially constructed for the examination and selection of hops, yeast, malt, sugar and water previous to use for brewing”.

 

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Figure 1. Brewer’s microscope as featured in a late 1800s catalogue of Negretti and Zambra

 

LAST EDITED: 15.08.2020