Bausch & Lomb Microscopes

[HUGH]

A fellow radio club member went to a major junk sale and picked up an old transceiver. As happens often in these auctions the auctioneer insisted on bundling in unwanted items for many of the bids.

In our radio club it is usually complete trash but in this case the item was most of a Bausch & Lomb laboratory microscope, black enamelled, cast alloy from about the 1960s at a guess. B & L (Rochester N.Y.) were a major and prodigious manufacturer of microscopes and it's hard to trace this one.

I'd just given a Powerpoint presentation on "Aspects of Microscopy" at our local radio club and this kind fellow, Mike GW4IQP, gave me this instrument as a gift becuase it was just gathering dust. It's monocular with a 3-lens turret, one is blanked off, but has a rectangular hole in the base for a (missing) light source. The condenser lens is still there and most of the rest as far as I can tell. What makes it unique is an extra light attached to the field lens housing which seems to give the same results as either a "darkfield" microscope or, less likely, a "phase contrast" microscope.

Naturally I scoured through stacks of pictures on the internet but have seen nothing quite like it so I'd be grateful for information or a guide to a B & L complete catalogue. I will amend this later when I've got a decent picture of "mine".

[K7SGJ]

A fellow radio club member went to a major junk sale and picked up an old transceiver. As happens often in these auctions the auctioneer insisted on bundling in unwanted items for many of the bids.

In our radio club it is usually complete trash but in this case the item was most of a Bausch & Lomb laboratory microscope, black enamelled, cast alloy from about the 1960s at a guess. B & L (Rochester N.Y.) were a major and prodigious manufacturer of microscopes and it's hard to trace this one.

I'd just given a Powerpoint presentation on "Aspects of Microscopy" at our local radio club and this kind fellow, Mike GW4IQP, gave me this instrument as a gift becuase it was just gathering dust. It's monocular with a 3-lens turret, one is blanked off, but has a rectangular hole in the base for a (missing) light source. The condenser lens is still there and most of the rest as far as I can tell. What makes it unique is an extra light attached to the field lens housing which seems to give the same results as either a "darkfield" microscope or, less likely, a "phase contrast" microscope.

Naturally I scoured through stacks of pictures on the internet but have seen nothing quite like it so I'd be grateful for information or a guide to a B & L complete catalogue. I will amend this later when I've got a decent picture of "mine".

You might want to send a photo and description to B&L. They might be able to assist you. I have had dealings with them in the past and found them to be quite helpful. If nothing else, it's worth a try. Good luck, and post what you find out.

[HUGH]

Good idea,thanks for the suggestion.

[K7SGJ]

You'd be surprised what some manufacturers will do for you. My wife had an old non-working barber chair she had in storage when we met. Years later, I tore it all apart and restored the hydraulics, and all of the rest of it. Since parts weren't available, I had to fabricate all of the seals. I got it working well and it still functions perfectly. She still cuts my hair in it, but I don't let her near the straight razor. Anyway, I wrote to Koken and gave them the serial number that was on it, hoping they could tell me something about it. They wrote back and told me the original color of the upholstery on it, and that it was delivered to a shop in Springfield, Il in 1927. Not only is the history interesting, it tends to enhance the value of it, too. We have it looking just like it did when it was shipped in 1927, including the leather razor strop hanging on the side.

[KG4CGC]

You'd be surprised what some manufacturers will do for you. My wife had an old non-working barber chair she had in storage when we met. Years later, I tore it all apart and restored the hydraulics, and all of the rest of it. Since parts weren't available, I had to fabricate all of the seals. I got it working well and it still functions perfectly. She still cuts my hair in it, but I don't let her near the straight razor. Anyway, I wrote to Koken and gave them the serial number that was on it, hoping they could tell me something about it. They wrote back and told me the original color of the upholstery on it, and that it was delivered to a shop in Springfield, Il in 1927. Not only is the history interesting, it tends to enhance the value of it, too. We have it looking just like it did when it was shipped in 1927, including the leather razor strop hanging on the side.

I've seen those things on TV. Restored they tend to fetch quite a bit of money ... but you knew that.

On the B&L. I'd like to see a picture of that. I'll post up a picture of an oldie goldie I have.

[NA4BH]

Bausch & Lomb had major competition from AO (American Optical). One difference was the price, AO was a lot less expensive, which was popular with new graduates of medical schools. The other difference was the resolution, B&L was superior. Monocular scopes lost their following when binocular scopes hit the mainstream. Now you need to find you some cedar oil or mineral oil and place a drop of it on a slide of whatever. Watch how it goes from being blurry to crystal clear at (just guessing) 400 magnification. If the optics are still good you just might have something there. If nothing else, donate it to a University Medical facility that is interested in old equipment to display. It's been too many years but I'm thinking Zeiss optics trended to have the better resolution of a slide as time passed.

[HUGH]

CIMG0557.jpg

This is it, much cleaner, I have to remove some corrosion from the knurled wheels etc. Just using the field illumination I can see fine fibrous material and tweak the field and aperture adjustments to give various, apparent "darkfield" views.

[KG4CGC]

OK. Now I'll have to show you mine.

[NA4BH]

Looks like the slide holder or stage clips are missing

[KG4CGC]

OK. Like I promised, I have this one. Don't know anything about it.