Microscope with stage fine focus adjustment, c. 1878
This microscope is supplied with two oculars,
two W. Wales objectives stored in a leather covered box, a brass
and glass slide carrier, a sub-stage aperture wheel, and a free standing
bullseye condenser. The microscope has an unusual fine focus adjustment
mechanism where the knob operates by tilting the stage.
Elsewhere in this collection is another microscope marked Benj. Pike's Son & Co.
with the 930 Broadway N. Y. address dating from the same time period.
Benjamin Pike Senior
emigrated to the United States in 1804. He
established an optician's business in New York
supplying scientific instruments. His three sons,
Benjamin Jr., Daniel, and Gardiner carried on in the
business with the father and later on their own,
sometimes as partners and, at other times, as
competitors (see this and this).
The firm used the name and address engraved on this microscope during the years 1878-1883.
An advertisment from The American Journal of Microscopy and Popular Science, 1878.