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Microscope Museum Collection of antique microscopes and other
scientific instruments |
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Microscope
285 (E A White
Limited; folding linen tester; early 20th century)
Edward
Albert (E. A.) White Ldt. was formed in 1894 and
was a manufacturer of chemicals and insecticides for gardening and
agriculture. The company was based at Paddock Wood, Kent, England. The firm
registered the trademark ‘ABOL’ in 1898 and, from 1900, the company formed
‘ABOL Ltd.’. The ‘Abol White’s superior
insecticide’ was available from 1903. The company traded into at least the
1920s. Microscope 285 is a folding linen tester, or linen prover, engraved
with ‘E. A. White LimTD, Paddock Wood,
Kent’ and ‘USE ABOL, WHITE’S SUPERIOR PLANT WASH’. The instrument should be
dated from the early 20th century and would be originally 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, but later versions have an
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. This specific
instrument was maybe a gift given by the E. A. White firm, a manufacturer of
chemicals for gardening and agriculture, to its customers at that time to
advertise their products (in this case, the ‘Abol,
White’s superior plant wash’). LAST
EDITED: 26.10.2022 |
