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THE SCHIEK OR LEVER COMPRESSOR

ENGLISH, 2ND HALF 19TH C.

The lever compressor was first described by Schiek no later than 1836, but was copied widely in both England and France, especially in the 2nd half of the 19th century. As shown to the left, the bottom has a glass tablet let into the recess in the brass slide. The swiveling lever uses a coverslip as its glass, glued into a recess in the round top ring. The diameter of the coverslip is slightly larger than the tablet, allowing only the glass of the the top to contact the tablet glass. The gimbaled top ring allows the top coverglass to remain parallel with the surface of the tablet as the device is tightened.