Vintage Cooke Troughton & Simms Binocular Microscope, Broad Arrow, Watson Lens
Here we have a really nice example of a Cooke Troughton & Simms (CTS) of York binocular M2 microscope in brass/steel with black painted finish and chrome details. CTS were optical instrument manufacturers based in York, England and at one point a subsidiary of engineering firm Vickers.
This example of the larger M2 model is serial number M201515 and it dates from around the early 1950s, dating evidence is confirmed by Broad Arrow markings for May 1952 that can be seen on top of the upper frame. This example therefore appears to have been part of a military procurement contract in the early 1950s and interestingly it also appears to have spent part of its later life in a University setting.
Specifically, there are some markings on the main tube noting "LUZD", which could therefore possibly indicate Liverpool, Leeds or Leicester University and "ZD" will probably refer to zoology department. Neither of the former custodian's markings are particularly noticeable and essentially just add both interest and provenance to the piece.
Turning to the main technical details of this quality microscope, we have. Binocular eyepiece unit with two 8x magnification matched eyepieces, the binocular unit itself is 1.5x magnification and is adjustable for both focus and eyepiece separation. Main focus is by rack and pinion which has a reasonably smooth action through the twin chromed thumb-wheels - there's some evidence of wear to the thumb-wheel action, but travel and focus remain good. Fine focus is via vernier adjustment which also appears to have a nice smooth action. There are six objective lenses in total with a usable selection of progressive magnifications and a rotating 5-way turret: Bausch & Lomb 30mm - 3.5x - for initial positioning Cooke 16mm - 10x Unnamed objective - 20x Cooke 4mm - 40x Cooke 1.8mm - 95x (oil immersion) - untested In addition there's also a Watson 40x objective supplied in its period-correct Watson canister, thereby allowing the user to compare the optical performance of the CTS and Watson objectives at this 40x level of magnification. The fully mechanical stage is a CTS in-house design with refinished black painted surface and twin chromed thumb-wheel x-axis and y-axis controls, plus an adjustable sprung slide holder that's a joy to use and perfect for holding slides in place during active viewing sessions. The condenser is an Abbe-type CTS item on a rack and pinion height adjustable mount with left-sided thumb-wheel control. It also has a fully working iris and swing out filter holder for coloured or dark-field filters. Illumination is via a multi-adjustable plano-concave mirror with good silvering to both sides. The overall condition of this microscope is excellent and there is only minor chipping/wear to the black paint finish in areas where one would expect to see some signs of use for a vintage piece. The microscope also tilts and locks in position as required. There is no original case with this microscope. In summary, this is a superb vintage CTS microscope - the larger M2 model. It's supplied with a comprehensive range of objective lenses and superb CTS mechanical stage which is a must for high-magnification applications - anything over about 300x essentially needs the fine degree of control available with a quality mechanical stage for moving the specimen/slide around during viewing. This ia a large microscope, so owing to its weight it will be dispatched by insured courier upon receipt of cleared funds.Thanks for looking - please check out my other listings - mainly eclectic artworks and vintage optics, plus some other cool stuff. The item "Vintage Cooke Troughton & Simms Binocular Microscope, Broad Arrow, Watson Lens" is in sale since Saturday, January 4, 2020. This item is in the category "Antiques\Science/Medicine\Scientific Instruments".
The seller is "arcboutant" and is located in Glasgow. This item can be shipped to United Kingdom, Antigua and barbuda, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Australia, United States, Bahrain, Canada, Brazil, Japan, New Zealand, China, Israel, Hong Kong, Norway, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Bangladesh, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Barbados, Brunei darussalam, Cayman islands, Dominica, Ecuador, Egypt, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Grenada, French guiana, Iceland, Jersey, Jordan, Cambodia, Saint kitts and nevis, Saint lucia, Liechtenstein, Sri lanka, Macao, Monaco, Maldives, Montserrat, Martinique, Nicaragua, Oman, Pakistan, Peru, Paraguay, Reunion, Turks and caicos islands, Aruba, Saudi arabia, South africa, United arab emirates, Ukraine, Chile, Bahamas, Colombia, Costa rica, Dominican republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Kuwait, Panama, Philippines, Qatar, El salvador, Trinidad and tobago, Uruguay, Viet nam.
- Period: 1951 to Present
- Sub-Type: Microscopes
- Material: Brass
- Type: Microscope
- Modified Item: No
- Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom