Signedon stage: BAUSCH & LOMB OPTICAL CO.
Inscribedon arm: Pat. Oct. 3, 1876
Historical AttributesAccording to Dr. C. A. Cheever, "This microscope is described and illustrated on page 65 of the American Monthly Microscopical Journal, April 1884. It was made by Bausch & Lomb after designs of the Hon. J. D. Cox, F. R. M. S. of Cincinnati and described by him before the meeting of American Society of Microscopists at Chicago Aug. 7-10, 1883. See p. 190 [of the] Am. Monthly Micr. Journ., Oct. 1883."
Jacob Dolson Cox, Governor of Ohio, was the president of the American Microscopical Society in 1884.
Mr. Luther Forrester Elliott owned the microscope. He was born on May 12, 1857 in Reading, Massachusetts and died on September 22, 1930. He studied at Harvard (S.B., 1909). Cheever bought the microscope from Elliott's estate after Mrs. Elliott sent it to the Boston Society of Natural History to find a buyer.
There is strong evidence that this particular microscope was Baush & Lomb's prototype of the new design. The microscope was made before
1883--that is before it was formally introduced by Governor Cox and before the patent of the binocular eyepiece (which was February 12, 1884)--and is marked only with the patent date of the fine focus (1876). Moreover, it carries no serial number contrary to the B&L practice. Regular production instruments also had a better attachment of the fine focus to the arm.
Primary SourcesAmerican Monthly Microscopical Journal, October 1883, p. 190.
American Monthly Microscopical Journal, April 1884, p. 65.