American Optical (USA)

The American Optical has its origins in 1826 when William Beecher started a modest jewellery store in Southbridge, Massachusetts, USA. In 1869, the company was established as American Optical (AO) Company, mostly focussed on spectacles and sunglasses. In 1935, the American Optical purchased the Spencer Lens Company, located in Buffalo, New York. The company was a manufacturer of high-quality microscopes and is considered the first American microscope maker. In 1945, the name Spencer Lens Company was changed to American Optical Scientific Instrument Division and, in 1950, AO relocated their Southbridge ophthalmic instrument manufacturing to the Buffalo facility. In 1967, AO was purchased by Warner Lambert Pharmaceutical. Over the next two decades the company changed hands several times, carrying the names: Cambridge Instruments, Reichert-Jung, Inc., and Leica Microsystems. Finally, in December of 2002, a management buyout in collaboration with Summer Street Capital Partners of Buffalo, NY, occurred, and Reichert, Inc. was formed.

* Instrument kindly donated by Dave Levell (Pembrokeshire, Wales) in May 2023

Bausch & Lomb (Rochester, USA)

Bausch & Lomb was founded by two immigrants from Germany, Jacob Bausch and Henry Lomb. Bausch was both an optician and woodworker by training. Their company first became successful with the use of hard rubber eyeglass frames. This eventually allowed expansion of the business into other optical areas including microscopes. Bausch’s son Edward learned to make microscopes, and the company prospered after it began to manufacture them. The first patent granted to Bausch was for a very simple Linen prover type microscope in 1865. About 1874, the firm started to produce both simple and compound microscopes. In 1890 Edward Bausch contacted Carl Zeiss, a German optics firm, and soon arranged for Bausch & Lomb to license Zeiss’s patents, with the exclusive rights to the U.S. market. In 1907 Zeiss bought 20 percent of Bausch & Lomb, granting the company free use of Zeiss patents in the United States. In 1915 Zeiss sold its 20% share back to Bausch & Lomb, and until 1921, the two companies had no dealings with one another (although Bausch & Lomb continued to use Zeiss patents). In 1926 Jacob Bausch died, and Edward Bausch became chairman of the board. In 1937 Bausch & Lomb went public. The Bausch & Lomb's optical systems division was bought by Cambridge Instruments in 1987, using the name Cambridge instruments. Cambridge Instruments merged with Wild-Leitz in 1990 to form Leica plc.

* Instrument kindly donated by Dave Levell (Pembrokeshire, Wales) in May 2023

Spencer (Buffalo, USA)

Charles Achilles Spencer was the first successful American maker of microscopes, publishing his first catalogue in 1838.  Later, in 1865, he began operating as C.A. Spencer & Sons.  In 1873 Spencer and his sons moved from the original shop in Canastota, New York to Geneva, New York. After Charles death in 1881 the business was carried on by his son Herbert, who, after a time moved to Cleveland, Ohio, and then, in 1890, to Buffalo, New York, where the company remained. Between 1890 and 1895 the company operated by the name of Spencer & Smith. The Spencer Company was incorporated in 1895, using the name Spencer Lens Company up into the 1940's. American Optical bought the Spencer Lens Company in 1935 and by 1945 it was known as the Instrument Division of American Optical Company (hence the designation found on many microscopes as ‘AO Spencer’). In 1982 Reichert partnered with AO, by that time a part of the Warner-Lambert Group. The partnership used the name Reichert-Jung. They were bought by Cambridge Instruments in 1986, which then purchased Bausch & Lomb's optical systems division in 1987, using the name Cambridge instruments. Cambridge Instruments merged with Wild-Leitz in 1990 to form Leica plc.

* Instrument kindly donated by Dave Levell (Pembrokeshire, Wales) in May 2023

J Zentmayer (Philadelphia, USA)

Joseph Zentmayer (1826 – 1888) worked as an instrument maker in Germany before emigrating to the USA in 1848. Zentmayer started his own business in 1853 for making mathematical instruments. He made his first microscope in about 1856 and continued producing these instruments during the following 30 years. After Zentmayer’s death in 1888, his sons continued to supply microscopes signed with his name until at least 1895. The firm traded from 147 South Fourth Street, Philadelphia, USA (1853 – 1876) and 209 South Eleventh Street, Philadelphia (from 1876).