Accession No
4087
Brief Description
microtome, rocking, by Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company Ltd., English, 1912
Origin
England; Cambridge
Maker
Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company Ltd.
Class
laboratory apparatus; biology; microscopes
Earliest Date
1912
Latest Date
1912
Inscription Date
Material
metal (iron, brass, steel, 2 types of white metal); rope (string); wood (ebony); wax; paper
Dimensions
length 360mm; breadth 190mm; height 100mm
Special Collection
Cambridge Instrument Company Collection
Provenance
Donated by the Cambridge Instrument Company.
Inscription
‘THE
CAMBRIDGE SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENT CO LTD
CAMBRIDGE ENGLAND
1729’ (cast on base)
Description Notes
Microtome, rocking; made by the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company; 1912.
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 ebony-handled brass arm. Arm is attached to rocking arm by string via pulley wheel (string broken). Rocking arm still carries brass specimen holder. Two heavy-duty springs from the base to the rocking arm and the support (detached). Locking stop for cog arm on side of base.
Label reading ‘from Southland College - to be serviced’.
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:43868
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