Acme oil microscope lamp
Datecirca 1880
Inventory Number1136a
ClassificationMicroscope Light Source
Subject
Maker
James W. Queen & Company
1853 - 1893
Owner
Clarence A. Cheever
1858 - 1946
User
Bussey Institution
1871 - 1936
Collector
Ernst-Lewis Collection of Microscopes
Cultural Region
Place of Origin
Dimensions39 × 9.4 × 18 cm (15 3/8 × 3 11/16 × 7 1/16 in.)
box: 40.6 × 21.9 × 16.8 cm (16 × 8 5/8 × 6 5/8 in.)
box: 40.6 × 21.9 × 16.8 cm (16 × 8 5/8 × 6 5/8 in.)
Material
Bibliography
DescriptionThis is an oil lamp known as "The Acme Lamp," furnished by James W. Queen & Co. It has a flat cast iron base painted with black enamel and gold trim. It has a brass post on which slides a moveable clamp. The clamp holds an adjustable brass rod ending with three brass spring clamps. The clamps support the glass tank of the lamp.
The tank is made of molded blue glass with the embossed word "NUTMEG." A brass wire handle is secured under the top lip. The fittings for the wick are brass and the lantern is clear glass. Three vertical steel wires hold a lamp shade consisting of a tin cylinder with a movable inner sleeve that rises to a peak. The insert is called an "extra shade" by Queen, who explains it is to cut of light to the eyes. The lower portion of the cylindrical shade has a bull's eye condenser to produce a beam of light from the flame. The shade is a silver-tone metal with black japanning remaining in spots.
There is a second lamp [1136b], which is missing the lamp stand.
The tank is made of molded blue glass with the embossed word "NUTMEG." A brass wire handle is secured under the top lip. The fittings for the wick are brass and the lantern is clear glass. Three vertical steel wires hold a lamp shade consisting of a tin cylinder with a movable inner sleeve that rises to a peak. The insert is called an "extra shade" by Queen, who explains it is to cut of light to the eyes. The lower portion of the cylindrical shade has a bull's eye condenser to produce a beam of light from the flame. The shade is a silver-tone metal with black japanning remaining in spots.
There is a second lamp [1136b], which is missing the lamp stand.
Signedon shade: THE ACME LAMP / JAS. W. QUEEN & CO. / PHILA.
painted on stand: QUEEN & CO. / PHILA.
embossed on brass wick adjustment screw: PAT. FEB'Y. 27. 1877.
Curatorial Remarks[note found curled up in lantern reads "Col. John M. Spencer / Dupont." Perhaps it belongs with 1136b.
ProvenanceDr. Clarence Alonzo Cheever, Bussey Institution, Harvard University, 1883-1884; gift to Ernst-Lewis Collection of Microscopes, Harvard Medical School, 1929.
Historical AttributesThis microscope lamp was owned and used by Clarence Alonzo Cheever (1858-1946), Bachelor of Agricultural Science in 1881 from Harvard's Bussey Institution and Harvard Medical School MD in 1883.
Cheever first became interested in diatoms as an undergraduate student of William Gilson Farlow at Harvard's Bussey Institute. He was a demonstrator of anatomy at the Bussey Institution between 1883 and 1884.
James W. Queen & Company
Date: circa 1890
Object number: 2007-1-0060
Charles Collins
Date: circa 1875
Accessories: case
Object number: 1250
Date: 1890-1930
Object number: RS0505
Sylvania
Date: late 19th-early 20th Century
Object number: RS0368
Heinrich Daniel Ruhmkorff
Date: 1860-1875
Object number: 1996-1-0531
John Browning
Date: circa 1880
Accessories: case
Object number: 1193
the Reverend John Prince
Date: ca. 1796
Accessories: box of lenses and slides (0044b)
Object number: 0044a
Zeiss-Aerotopograph
Date: circa 1950
Accessories: instrument is in original wood storage/carrying case. listed accessories: base plate, mirrors (2) and tubular holders (2), anchors (2), prism yoke, monocular adapter, lighting set with bulbs (3, one currently in lamp, its box in box of 2009-1-0002b), 2 monoculars (4 or 6 power) [6x24 (infinite) L or R Zeiss aerotopo logo), "fork"-shaped support (V rather), green filters (2) , dioptre lenses (2), strabismus-correcting lenses (2), photo holder, permanent magnets (8)
Object number: 2009-1-0002a
