British instrument maker Henry Crouch developed this microscope in the nineteenth century to serve the needs of medical students by attempting to make a fully functional, yet portable, universal microscope.

The microscope is constructed mainly of brass and polished/plated metal and is supported by a curved foot with trunnions supporting the limbs. Coarse focus is achieved with a rackwork that moves the Wenham binocular body tube, while fine focus is by a short lever situated near the nosepiece. A plano-concave mirror reflects light through a substage-mounted rotating disc unit containing three apertures. The stage is made of black glass and will rotate providing universal movement. Samples are secured to the stage with a pair of pressure clips adjacent to a ledge. This compact microscope met the needs of medical students who needed a high-quality research microscope that was light enough to be conveniently mobile.

BACK TO NINETEENTH CENTURY MICROSCOPES

Questions or comments? Send us an email.

© 1998-2022 by Michael W. Davidson and The Florida State University. All Rights Reserved. No images, graphics, scripts, or applets may be reproduced or used in any manner without permission from the copyright holders. Use of this website means you agree to all of the Legal Terms and Conditions set forth by the owners.

This website is maintained by our
Graphics & Web Programming Team
in collaboration with Optical Microscopy at the
National High Magnetic Field Laboratory.

Last modification: Friday, Nov 13, 2015 at 02:19 PM

Access Count Since April 6, 1999: 56322

For more information on microscope manufacturers,
use the buttons below to navigate to their websites: