A SMALL 3-ELEMENT MAGNIFIER
ENGLISH
c. Middle Third, 19th C.
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DESCRIPTION:
This is a very small device with a loop for attachment to a necklace or similar contrivence. It is made of brass with some silvered parts, especially the inside of the casing, and the support arm. There are three lenses, labeled 1, 2, and 3. These can be used separately or combined. Each screws into the other, and the middle lens sits inside the bracket of the magnifier screwing into the lens below it and having the third lens screwed on top of it. The top two can be removed by unscrewing from the bottom lens. The inside of the casing is silvered, as is the inside of the press-fit cover. The lens casings are 15 mm in diameter, while the outside diameter is 17.5 mm. The press fit cover stays in place surprisingly well.
HISTORY OF THIS MICROSCOPE
Small magnifiers which could be attached to a necklace or lanyard have been popular for hundreds of years. The types of lenses associated with this magnifier date to the 1820's when Gould invented the microscope associated with his name, using stacking lenses like this. This type of stacked lens arrangement continued to be used even after achromatic lenses were invented.
