Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

    

Microscope 94 (Smith, Beck & Beck; Universal Microscope, c. 1860)

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Smith, Beck & Beck was originally established in London, by Richard Beck (1827 - 1866) in association with James Smith (1800 – 1873), and later to be joined by his brother Joseph Beck. Richard and Joseph Beck were nephews of Joseph Jackson Lister, who was a respected British optician and physicist who experimented with achromatic lenses and perfected an optical microscope. In commissioning the manufacture of his improved microscope, Lister worked with James Smith, an employee of the instrument-making firm of William Tulley, to create the stand. James Smith went on to establish his own optical instruments workshop in 1837. Through this relationship, Lister arranged for his nephew, Richard Beck to be an apprentice under Smith in 1843. In 1847, James Smith entered into partnership with Richard Beck, and the company was re-named Smith & Beck. In 1854, the company was renamed to Smith, Beck and Beck, as Richard Beck's brother Joseph Beck joined the company in 1851. James Smith retired in 1865 and the company became R & J Beck and this name lasted for long time. Microscope 94 is engraved ‘Smith Beck & Beck, London’, and was known as the company’s ‘Universal Microscope (Figure 1). The instrument contains the serial number 3071 and can be dated to c. 1860. A large cylindrical pillar supports both the body tube and the stage, single mirror, and a bi-convex lens for reflected light illumination. Focus is achieved with a chain rack that serves to elevate and lower the body tube with respect to the stage.

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Figure 1. The Smith Beck & Beck Universal microscope as engraved in Richard Beck’s book ‘The Achromatic Microscope’ from 1865.

 

References

Smith, Beck and Beck (https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/Smith,_Beck_and_Beck), last accessed on 14.08.2020

James Smith, 1800 – 1873 (http://microscopist.net/SmithJ.html), last accessed on 14.08.2020

Smith, Beck & Beck Universal Microscope; No. 163 (http://golubcollection.berkeley.edu/19th/163.html), last accessed on 14.08.2020

Museo Galileo - VIII.34 Compound microscope (https://brunelleschi.imss.fi.it/museum/esim.asp?c=408034), latest accessed on 02.01.2021

 

 

LAST EDITED: 15.08.2020