BRASS CULPEPER-TYPE MICROSCOPE

MAKER: GEORGE ADAMS (the Younger)

c. 1790

This microscope, unfortunately no longer in my collection, is a standard size brass Culpeper type microscope. It is signed on the stage: 'George Adams London'. The stage has a keyhole slot which would accept a fish-plate or stage forceps (not present). It came in a pyramidal wooden case. Extant accessories include three objectives, a Bonnani-type spring stage, a Lieberkuhn reflector on a sleeve that fits around the nosepiece, some bone sliders, an iron tweezer, and a 'talc box.'   The 'talc box' has a small screw-on cover at each end; one side contains mica cover slips('talcs"), and the other side, brass circlips to hold them in place on the sliders. Earlier versions of the Culpeper type microscopes have straight supports for the stage and sleeve for the body tube. In the oldest versions of the Culpeper models, there are separate straight supports for the stage and for the sleeve for the body tube. In the oldest versions, the upper supports are not directly in line with lower supports, revealing a staggered configuration. A smaller example of a Culpeper type microscope which is slightly earlier than the one on this page, and attributed to Benjamin Martin, is also on this site; it has straight continuous supports for the stage and optical tube sleeve.

George Adams senior died in 1773, when his business taken over by his son, George Adams the younger.