Accession No
6524
Brief Description
Microtome, rocking, by Cambridge Instrument Company Ltd., English, 1957
Origin
England; Cambridge
Maker
Cambridge Instrument Company Ltd.
Class
laboratory apparatus; biology; microscopes
Earliest Date
1957
Latest Date
1957
Inscription Date
Material
metal (iron, steel); paraffin wax; rope (string); paint; plastic
Dimensions
38.5cm (l) x 16.5cm (w) x 16.5cm (t)
Special Collection
Provenance
Transferred by an individual from the Department of Engineering, University of Cambridge on or before 27/07/2012.
Inscription
[Maker’s plaque:] Cambridge
INSTRUMENT CO., LTD.,
LONDON & CAMBRIDGE
SERIAL NO. C619892 MADE IN ENGLAND
[Affixed plaque & engraved on side:] ARC: 380
[Embossed on slice thickness adjusting dial:] CAMBRIDGE MICROTOME 1 DIV. = .002MM
Description Notes
Microtome, rocking, by Cambridge Instrument Company Ltd., English, 1957.
Black-painted standard pattern rocking microtome, “ARC 380”. Painted cast-iron body with holder for straight-edge knife (missing), with adjusting holding screws. Cast iron rocking arm supported on lower fixed arm. Rocking arm holds orienting object holder at knife end, with coiled spring attached below. Pulley end of arm has pulley string leading to pulley wheel and plastic handle. Semicircular clasp on handle engages toothed ring with thickness adjustor ring below setting point of engagement. Adjustor ring inscribed “CAMBRIDGE 1 DIV. = .002MM MICROTOME” with 13 graduation lines.
Maker’s plaque on upper surface of body reads:
“Cambridge
INSTRUMENT CO., LTD.,
LONDON & CAMBRIDGE
SERIAL NO. C619892 MADE IN ENGLAND”
Affixed metal plaque & engraving on side reads: “ARC: 380”
Condition: good / incomplete (knife missing).
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 2 micrometres (0.002mm) and 24 micrometres (0.024mm) thick. Additional components for this model were available that enabled the cutting of specimens as thin as 0.025 micrometres (0.000025mm).
14/03/2014
Created by: Joshua Nall on 14/03/2014
FM:47033
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