Accession No
4086
Brief Description
microtome, rocking, by Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company Ltd., English, 1907 (c)
Origin
England; Cambridge
Maker
Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company Ltd.
Class
laboratory apparatus; biology; microscopes
Earliest Date
1907
Latest Date
1907
Inscription Date
Material
metal (iron, brass, steel, 2 types of white metal); rope (string); wood
Dimensions
length 360mm; breadth 200mm; height 110mm
Special Collection
Cambridge Instrument Company Collection
Provenance
Donated by the Cambridge Instrument Company.
Inscription
‘SCIENTIFIC INST CO LTD
CAMBRIDGE
NO 963
PATENT NO 8258’ (cast on base)
Description Notes
Microtome, rocking; made by the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company; circa 1907.
Black-painted rocking microtome.
Cast iron base. Cast verticals with knurled brass screw clamps for knife. Cast verticals for pivoting support for rocking arm. Supporting arm rests on threaded steel shaft with knurled brass screw at top; cog wheel at base moved by wooden handled brass arm. Arm is attached to rocking arm by string via pulley wheel (replacement string broken). Two heavy-duty springs from the base to the rocking arm and the support (detached). Locking stop (broken) for cog arm on side of base.
Condition fair; complete (but some parts in doubt - see notes).
References
Events
Description
A microtome is a laboratory instrument used to cut extremely thin slices of material, called sections. These are usually cut from specimens of human or animal tissue (embedded in a soft material like paraffin wax), and are produced for inspection under a microscope. The “rocking” type of microtome was designed by Charles Darwin’s son, Horace Darwin. Horace co-founded the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company with Albert George Dew-Smith in 1881, and the firm began manufacturing Horace’s microtome design from 1885. This design, with updates, continued to be produced well into the second half of the twentieth century. As a Cambridge Instruments sales catalogue boasted, “simplicity of operation makes it an ideal instrument for the use of students or for routine work and it has become the standard microtome for general use in laboratories all over the world.”
This particular model could cut sections between 0.002mm and 0.024mm thick.
14/03/2014
Created by: Joshua Nall on 14/03/2014
FM:43867
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