Help on identifying microscope parts

canonian · Post by **canonian** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 12:57 pm

I found this on an auction site. Believed it to be some sort of EPI extension. A Reichert 'opakilluminator' I was told, Nr. 1434/1444.
Beside the wonderfull build and craftmanship and a very nice price that made me bought it, I remembered that John Hallmén had various succes
with comparable objectives that came included with this illuminator.

Does anyone have any experience with these or worked with these?
Or can anyone tell me more about this object, how it was used and on what type microscope and at which tubelength?
Morfa's guess was it came from some sort of metallurgical microscope.
A search on Google gave me not much info.

These are the 3 objectives:

The smallest reads 'Fluor' and '60:1' in the baseplate and on the objective: 'C. Reichert Wien nr. 138 027 A=0,85 27
The middle one reads 'Epi 11:1' in the baseplate and 'C. Reichert Wien nr. 133 924 A=0,65 5'
The larger one reads 'Epi 32:1 in the baseplate and A=0,25 3 on the objective

Can I expect them to be good performers on a tube lens or bellow ( which I do not yet own, hence the question)

Charles Krebs · Post by **Charles Krebs** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 2:17 pm

Fred,

opak= opaque in English
And they are marked as "epi" objectives.

This is what is commonly called a "vertical illuminator". They are primarily used to illuminate opaque subjects that can't be illuminated by transmitted light from below. The illuminating light is directed through the objectives. Material science and metallurgy were (are!) two primary usages. These days much is used in the electronics industry (and in more sophisticated "fluorescent" set-ups in biological research). The two larger objectives are "BD" types (brightfield/darkfield. In German "HD" Hellfeld/Dunkelfeld). So I assume the illuminator is capable of both brightfield and darkfield epi-illumination. (Some were only brightfield).
(see: http://www.olympusmicro.com/primer/tech ... flect.html)

Other than that I don't know much about it. But if you like beautifully machined metal, you've got to love Reichert hardware from that era!

The engraved markings are confusing as shown. The dovetail mounts are engraved 32:1, 11:1, and 60:1. That certainly sounds like magnifications. But if "A=" on the objective is the numerical aperture it doesn't seem right. A NA of 0.25 would be typical of a 10X objective. A NA of 0.65 would be typical of a 40X objective (or possibly a "fast" 32X). I suppose it is possible that at some point in time those two were screwed into the wrong dovetail mount. So my guess is that you have a 11/0.25, a 32/0.65, and a 60/0.85 objective. If this is so (might not be!) then it is likely the only one that might have sufficient working distance on a bellows would be the 11X... and that's not sure thing either.

The "fluor" on the highest power objective is the term that was used to indicate better color correction by using "fluorite" glass or crystal in the lens.

EDIT:
they did make an 11/0.25:
http://www.microscopesfromnightingale.c ... ives%20set

they did make an 60/0.85:
do a Google search for "Reichert 60/0.85" and you will find a few mentions

and they did make a 32/0.65.See introduction text here:
http://mic.sgmjournals.org/cgi/reprint/138/9/1887.pdf

The only one that indicated a tube length was the reference to the 11/0.25, which gave is as 190mm. Whether these were infinity or not I don't know. Reichert (and American Optical) had some infinity microscopes long before they became commonplace.

Oskar O · Post by **Oskar O** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:11 pm

Looking at the pictures it seems that this gear would have cost serious money back in the day as new. Would even be nice just to put it in a display case to amuse visitors

canonian · Post by **canonian** » Sat Feb 19, 2011 3:15 pm

Oscar O: this was my first impulse to buy it, to display it in a show-case just for the sheer beauty of the machined object and its build quality.

Thank you Charles for your insight and explanations.
I'm fairly new to microscopy theory but I think I can get my head around it.
You gave me a couple more keywords to continue the search for this object.
I found an old catologue from Reichert were the very same illuminator is depicted and it starts to make sence to me now.

In another catalogue I found a later version of this object and it supposed to have an aperture iris diaphragm and illumination lens control, field iris diaphragm an a swing-in dark-field stop.
I checked this and it all there, it's also possible to slide the prisma inside and align the beam of light, done by slides and levers. In an object of 4 by 1 inch. They did know how to build these things in Vienna, back then. It is indeed a wonderful piece of machined instrument.

It could be possible that things got mixed up and I noticed that the objectives can be screwed loose from the dovetail base and fit in my Olympus nosepiece, making it standard RMS.
Nothing viewable though, I suppose it's not the right tubelength.

Mitch640 · Post by **Mitch640** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 4:25 pm

Now this is what craftsmanship is/was all about. I just love stuff like this. It has a whole other feel to it. They just don't make stuff like this anymore outside of Lawrence Livermore.

Choronzon · Post by **Choronzon** » Wed Feb 23, 2011 6:08 pm

Optical jewelry, those were the days.
Reichert instruments of that period have just amazing build quality. Very under rated, in my opinion. I wish there were some way to adapt modern optics to that old equipment.