Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

Microscope 13 (Cooke, Troughton and Simms; M3000 series; late 1940s)

The parent British companies of Cooke, Troughton and Simms Ltd. had a long history with John Troughton (senior) opening a business as an instrument maker in 1756. William Simms became a partner of Edward Troughton, and the name of Troughton and Simms was established in 1824. CTS was formed in York when Thomas Cooke and Sons Ltd (founded in 1837 and controlled by Vickers since 1915) purchased Troughton and Simms Ltd in 1922. The company was completely taken over by Vickers in 1924 but retained their own name. In 1963 they became part of Vickers Instruments Ltd. Cooke, Troughton and Simms Ltd. ceased trading in 1988. The company had a systematic way of designating their microscope range:  M1005/1025 (student's microscope), M1000 (general purpose microscope; introduced 1946); M2000 (microscope for routine and research investigations; introduced 1942); M3000 (as for the M2000 but with vertical adjustment to the stage; introduced 1946); M4000 (universal stand for visual and photographic examination; introduced 1944); M6000 (stereoscopic microscope; introduced 1946); M7000 (polarising microscope; introduced 1947) (Figure 1).  Microscope 13 is a Cooke, Troughton and Simms’ M3000 series and has the serial number M30352 and the inscription ‘Pat. Nº. 525970’. The serial number is an early number for the M3000 series, allowing to date this microscope in the late 1940s. The condenser, diaphragm and mirror are missing from this microscope.

Figure 1. illustration showing how M1000 (A), M2000 (B), M3000 (C) and M4000 (D) series microscopes looked like in a CTS catalogue from the early 1950s.

References

The Cooke, Troughton and Simms M2000 (http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/indexmag.html?http://www.microscopy-uk.org.uk/mag/artsep98/cts.html), last accessed on 12.08.2020

LAST EDITED: 15.08.2020