Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

      

Microscope 463 (Wild Heerbrugg; microscope M11; 1960s)

 

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Wild had its origins in 1921, when three Swiss men (Heinrich Wild, Jacob Schmidheiny, and Robert Helbling) founded the company Heinrich Wild, Werkstätte für Feinmechanik und Optik in Heerbrugg. The first major product was the Theodolite Wild T2. In the early 1930s, Wild left the company and moved to Zurich. His old firm became Wild Heerbrugg in 1937. In 1987, the company merged with the optical firm Ernst Leitz GmbH of Wetzlar and was renamed Wild-Leitz AG in 1989. In 1990, the company became part of the Leica holding company. From 1996, Leica was divided gradually again into smaller units. Leica Camera AG was developed in 1996, Leica Geosystems AG in 1997, and Leica Microsystems AG in 1998. Microscope 463 is engraved on the body with “WILD, HEERBRUGG, SWITZERLAND” and “M11-43623”, and on the binocular head with “WILD, HEERBRUGG, SWITZERLAND, 29415”. The instrument should be dated to the 1960s. This microscope was first produced in about 1954, and was described in Wild’s catalogues as a field, course, and laboratory microscope, capable of being built up into a versatile and sophisticated piece of equipment (Figure 1A). The instrument contains an attachable mechanical stage C (Figure 1B), also engraved with the name of the company. The illumination in this instrument is by use of a plano-concave mirror and mirror carrier with gimbal (Figure 1C), or of an electrical ‘Socket lamp P, 6V/5W’ and step transformer ‘4, 5, 6V/6VA, prim. 110-250V’ (Figure 1D). The metal hood of the instrument is missing.

 

Figure 1. WILD M11 microscope (A), attachable mechanical stage C (B), plano-concave mirror and mirror carrier with gimbal (C), and socket lamp P, 6V/5W and step transformer 4, 5, 6V/6VA, prim. 110-250V (D), as featured in a 1960s catalogue of the firm.