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'PETIT MODÈLE':

c. 1860

'NACHET ET FILS, A PARIS'

SERIAL NUMBER: NONE

DESCRIPTION HISTORY
Nachet Petit Modele Microscope
Nachet Petit Modele stage Nachet Petit Modele Signature
Nachet  Microscope Substage Nachet Petit Modele Stage sideview

DESCRIPTION:

Signed on the arm: 'NACHET ET FILS, RUE SERPENTE, 16, PARIS. The microscope sits on a uniquely-shaped solid foot which is blackened on top, and arises on a short pillar to a solid inclination joint. The substage mirror is gimballed to the end of a tube which slides inside the fixed tailpiece. The substage features a slide carrying two different apertures. The stage provides a sliding support for the specimen slide and rides on rails which ride in slots in the stage. Coarse focus is by push-pull, fine focus by continental screw, with the blackened knob having two diameters for changing the focus at different speeds. There is a triple-button objective and a single eyepiece. A bullseye condenser attaches to the optical tube via a dovetail fitting. The original fitted case accompanies the instrument, though its lock mechanism has been lost and there are no additional accessories.



HISTORY OF THE NACHET 'PETIT MODÈLE' MICROSCOPE

Nachet Catalog Entry for Petit Mode`le This model was pictured in many of the Nachet catalogs over the years, and its design changed slightly. Initially the design was as shown above. Over the ensuing years, as can be seen in the accompanying engravings from the Nachet catalogs, the sliding pair of substage openings was replaced with a wheel of apertures and the substage mirror became articulated. The length of the bullseye articulating arm was shortened. Soon the stage arrangement changed to simple stage clips. The foot also changed shape, eventually becomming the familiar horseshoe. These changes were not always linear however, as transitional models with seemingly later features are sometimes noted on what otherwise appear to be earlier models. For example a model with ordinary stage clips (not pictured in the catalogs until after the 1860's) can be found on one example of this microscope which is otherwise identical to the present one as seen on Alan Wisner's Website here. Nachet Petit Mode`le Engravings from catalogs