Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

 

      

Microscope 498 (Olympus; stereoscopic microscope, model JM; c. 1970)

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Olympus was founded in Japan, in 1919, by Takeshi Yamashita and Shintaro Terada. The name of the company at that time was Takachiho Seisakusho. The trademark Olympus was registered in 1921. In 1942, the company was renamed Takachiho Optical Co. Ltd. After the World War II, in 1949, the company became Olympus Optical Co. Ltd. In 2003, they were again renamed to Olympus Corporation. Microscope 498 is a stereoscopic microscope engraved with “OLYMPUS, TOKYO” and the serial number 220419. This stereoscopic microscope, model JM, should be dated to c. 1970 (Figure 1A). This model was mostly used in Japan by jewellers to distinguish between counterfeits and genuine articles. The instrument was developed to the Zen Nihon Houseki Kyokai (now the Gemmological Association of All Japan) specifications by Olympus and was launched in 1967. The microscope used the same head as the SZ stereo microscope (Figure 1B). The illumination system featured a darkfield/brightfield illumination device as well as a focal illumination device.

 

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Figure 1. Olympus’s stereoscopic microscopes: (A) model JM, as featured in a 1973 Olympus manual; and (B) model SZ, as featured in a 1973 Gallenkamp catalogue.