Accession No
1376
Brief Description
microtome, rocking, by Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company, English, 1885
Origin
England; Cambridge
Maker
Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company
Class
laboratory apparatus; biology; microscopes
Earliest Date
1885
Latest Date
1885
Inscription Date
1885
Material
metal (cast iron, brass, steel); wood (ebony); rope (string)
Dimensions
length 355mm; breadth 245mm; height 250mm
Special Collection
Provenance
Inscription
‘CAMBRIDGE SCIENTIFIC
INSTRUMENT COMPANY
1885’ (on a brass plaque on the base)
Description Notes
Microtome, rocking; made by the Cambridge Scientific Instrument Company; 1885.
Cast iron base with splayed feet; grey finish painted over the original finish; cast vertical with knurled brass screw clamps for knife (missing); cast verticals for pivotting support for rocking arm; steel axis; brass black (no clamp for support); supporting arm rests on threaded steel shaft (top knurled screw missing) with cogged wheel at the base, ebony topped handle with sprung steel cog moving the wheel; attached from the base to the rocking arm and the support.
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:44087
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