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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope 252 (A. Franks; folding linen tester; late 19th
century to the early 20th century)
A. Franks Ltd was an optician and instrument maker which traded
between 1879 and 1950. Founded in the latter part of the 19th century by Louis
Aubrey Franks, they traded originally as 'L.A. Franks' from Manchester,
listed as a manufacturer of photographic apparatus, optician and scientific
instrument maker. Following a bankruptcy in 1879, a new firm was formed soon
after, an optician trading as A. Franks. Microscope 252 is a
folding linen tester, or linen prover, engraved with ‘A. FRANKS Ltd,
MANCHESTER’, and the words ‘BRITISH MADE’. The instrument should be dated
from the late 19th century to the early 20th century
and would be used for counting threads in fabrics (the number of threads per
unit of length provides evidence of a higher quality of cloth). These
instruments fold flat for storing and transport and form a 'C' shape when in
use. The earliest forms have a simple standard opening on the base (like
microscope 236), but later versions have this opening marked with
calibrations of some kind. These types of linen testers have been made and
sold by many companies since at least the early 19th century and
were rarely signed by their makers or retailers (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Folding linen testers engraved in the
catalogues of several companies: (A) Palmer (1840); (B) Negretti and Zambra
(1859); (C, D) William McAllister (1867); (E, F) Negretti and Zambra (1870s e
1885); (G) James Queen (1870 and 1872); (H) Ernest Goldbacher (1879); (I) B.
Kahn & Son (c. 1890); (J) Bausch and Lomb (1892); (K) Arthur Thomas
(1914); (L) Bausch and Lomb (1914); (M) A. Clarkson & Co (1920s); (N)
Emille Deyrolle (1931); and (O, P, Q) Gallenkamp (c. 1939) References LINEN
TESTERS (OR LINEN PROVERS), AND THREAD-COUNTING MICROSCOPES: 19TH AND 20TH
CENTURY (c. 1840- c. 1950) (https://www.microscope-antiques.com/linen.html), last accessed on 22.01.2022 FOLDING
LINEN PROVER MICROSCOPES: 19TH AND 20TH CENTURY (https://www.microscope-antiques.com/foldingprovers.html), last accessed on 22.01.2022 PILLAR TYPE
LINEN PROVER MICROSCOPE: 19TH CENTURY (https://www.microscope-antiques.com/pillarprovers.html#neill), last accessed on 22.01.2022 LAST
EDITED: 02.19.2022 |
