Antique Micrometer System for Microscope. C. Reichert. Austria, 1920

Complex and antique micrometrical adjustment for microscope, designed to move precisely the sample plates without touching them with the fingers. The system is signed by C. Reichert and was manufactured in Austria circa 1920. This curious mechanism is strikingly well preserved: all its brass and silvery-metal component parts are original from the period and remain in perfect working order. The small pieces move softly and precisely, and can be moved by operating the different screws and gears that make up the mechanism. The system mounts a clamp (designed to attach it to a microscope), two graduated scales to calculate the position of the samples to the millimeter and two screws that make it possible to move the metal pieces. The beauty of this antique micrometrical adjustment system is given by its extreme precision and functionality, two features than make up a quality and interesting piece.History of Reichert The Reichert company was founded by Carl Reichert in 1876 in Vienna. Carl Reichert was a son in law of Ernst Leitz. He learned microscopy business from Leitz in Wetzlar (Germany) and then moved to Vienna to establish his own company. His company was successful and by 1930 the 100000th microscope was produced. However in 1962, the family Reichert sold the business to the company American Optical (AO). American Optical, in turn, was taken over in 1968 by the worldwide pharmaceutical company Warner Lambert. Later, within Warner Lambert, Reichert was merged with Jung, another microscopy company established by Rudolf Jung in Heidelberg in 1872. In 1986 Warner Lambert sold all non-pharmaceutical companies to Cambridge Instruments (the optical company established in 1881 by the son of Charles Darwin, Horace). And finally, in 1990 Cambridge Instruments merged with the Wild Leitz to form Leica group. In 1999 Reichert stopped microscope production, concentrating to instruments for sample preparations for transmission electron microscopy. (Source: http://cellbiology.science.uu.nl/facilities/biology-imaging-center-bic/bic-museum-of-microscopy-overview/bic-museum-of-microscopy-reichert/