Accession No

3375

Brief Description

optical bench outfit, by Carl Zeiss, English, 1920 (c)

Origin

Germany; Jena

Maker

Carl Zeiss

Class

optical

Earliest Date

1920

Latest Date

1920

Inscription Date

Material

metal; (brass, steel, copper and one other); glass; plastic; ceramic; wood (mahogany and two others)

Dimensions

wooden base breadth 348mm; length 1420mm; height 62mm box of parts length 580mm; breadth 295mm; height 277mm

Special Collection

Provenance

Purchased from Tesseract, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, USA; Catalogue 11 (Fall, 1985), no.63, 08/06/1986.

Inscription

‘CARL ZEISS
JENA
Nr. 5435’ (plaque screwed into base)
‘CARL ZEISS
JENA’ (on various of the stands)
‘Germany’ (on some of the objects)

Description Notes

The optical bench is a triangular steel rail in two sections, mounted on a steel beam within a mahogany-framed wooden platform. Eighteen stands for mounting on the rail equipped with various optical components: two lenses on pivoting stands, two lenses in long cylindrical mounts, two iris diaphragms, one double iris diaphragm, two single lenses, one adjustable slit; two combination iris diaphragm and lens systems, iris diaphragm and lens, multiple prism and lens arrangement, two holders, one stand (purpose unknown) and a spring-wound apparatus driving a reciprocating shutter in the optical path, controllable by hand or by selenoid. Additional components include a light source, an analyser, mirror, diffusion screen, angled mirror, two components on wooden stands, six further lenses, attachment with articulated arm (purpose unknown), three further mounting attachments, various holders, handles, two liquid cells and four unidentifiable objects. Also bag of nuts and bolts, etc.

Condition: good (steel is rusty); complete

References

Events