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HISTORY OF THE FIRM OF HENSOLDT

FOUNDER: Moritz Carl Hensoldt(1821-1903)

1852-1968

Moritz Carl Hensoldt, a machinist by trade, started his own business in Sonneberg in 1852. He soon moved to Wetzlar where the firm remained thereafter. The firm was renamed to Moritz Hensoldt & Sohne, Wetzlar AG in 1896. The founder died in 1903. The firm apparently did well until about 1928 when Zeiss purchased a 54% share of the company. By 1968 Zeiss was sole owner. At this time, the Hensoldt trademark was used only for military contract work, the Zeiss trademark used on all other products.

A catalog dating May 1922, shows the modernized stands of Hensoldt. The stands range from Stativ I to VII, I being the top of the line at the time. It featured a calibrated draw tube, triple nosepiece, round stage with centering, rack & pinion coarse focusing to the tube and the substage, an achromatic condenser with rack & pinion to offset it from center, and a clamp to fix the inclianation. Fine focus was the standard modern type, controlled from the side. Stands I to IV included fine focus control. In the 1922 catalog, it states the Tami microscope was introduced in 1920 and that the patent was applied for. The newest Tami microscope, with built-in inclination was introduced in the early 1950's, mentioned in the periodical Microtechic of 1952, and is pictured in 100 Jahre M. HENSOLDT & SOHNE OPTISCHE WERKE A.G. 1859-1959.  

The trademark of the Hensoldt microscope prior to WWII has a dot on each side of the word .WETZLAR. Following WWII, the dots were no longer used. This may be potentially useful in dating Hensoldt instruments to before or after the War.

It should be noted that Hensoldt made a wide variety of optical instruments including telescopes, binoculars, and surveying equipment.