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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Mechanical stage from Beck
Mechanical stage from Beck, probably
dated to the 1940s. R & J Beck occupy an especially important place in
the history of the British microscope manufacturing with its beginning
established in London, by Richard Beck (1827 - 1866) in association with
James Smith (1800 – 1873), and later to be joined by his brother Joseph Beck.
Richard and Joseph Beck were nephews of Joseph Jackson Lister, who was a
respected British optician and physicist who experimented with achromatic
lenses and perfected an optical microscope. In commissioning the manufacture
of his improved microscope, Lister worked with James Smith, an employee of
the instrument-making firm of William Tulley, to
create the stand. James Smith went on to establish his own optical
instruments workshop in 1837. Through this relationship, Lister arranged for
his nephew, Richard Beck to be an apprentice under Smith in 1843. In 1847,
James Smith entered into partnership with Richard
Beck, and the company was re-named Smith & Beck. In 1854, the company was
renamed to Smith, Beck and Beck, as Richard Beck's
brother Joseph Beck joined the company in 1851. James Smith retired in 1865
and the company became R & J Beck and this name lasted for long time. In
1866, Richard Beck died at an early age of 39, and Joseph Beck carried on the
business. In 1895 the company became a limited partnership (R & J Beck
Ltd). By 1968, the company was a subsidiary of the Ealing Corporation of USA.
In 2019, Beck Optronic Solutions Ltd is a descendent of the former R & J
Beck Ltd. LAST
EDITED: 31.08.2021 |
