Microscope Museum

Collection of antique microscopes and other scientific instruments

Abbe drawing apparatus by Ernst Leitz (1920s)

Abbe drawing apparatus by Ernst Leitz, probably dated to the 1920s (Figure 1). This type of camera lucida was invented by Ernst Abbe in the 1880's and is used clamped around the eyepiece of the microscope. This apparatus is made for the production of correct drawings of images seen through the microscope. It consists of a prism mounted to fit over the eyepiece and a large mirror placed a few inches from it. The prism is silvered but has a small clear aperture in its centre. The paper upon which the drawing is made is reflected by the mirror into the prism and in turn by the silvered surface of the prism into the eye. At the same time the object is seen through the clear aperture in the prism. Thus, the object is seen superimposed upon the paper and can be readily drawn. The microscope should preferably be used vertical, but if inclined, the drawing paper must be set in the same plane as the stage. In 1849, Karl Kellner founded the Optical Institute in Wetzlar, Germany, which in a few years had microscopes as the main product. The company hired an engineer named Ernst Leitz in 1865, who soon became a partner. Leitz took over the company in 1869 and renamed it Optical Institute of Ernst Leitz. Ernst Leitz died in 1920, and his son Ernst Leitz II became the sole owner of the business. During the 1970s, competition increased from several companies in Japan, especially Olympus and Nikon, which were producing modern microscope designs of excellent quality at relatively low prices. Several venerable microscope companies closed, merged, or were bought out in Europe and the USA. Wild Heerbrugg bought the majority ownership of the Leitz Wetzlar company in 1974, but Leitz continued to develop their new lines of compound microscopes. The last member of the Leitz family retired from the board of directors in 1986. At the beginning of 1987, Ernst Leitz Wetzlar GmbH and Wild Heerbrugg AG merged to form the Wild Leitz Group. The Wild Leitz Group was broken into smaller companies in 1988, and Leica Camera was split off. The merger of Wild Leitz Holding AG with the Cambridge Instrument Company in 1990 created the new Leica Holding B.V. group. The Leica name is now used for all microscopes and other scientific optical instruments.

Figure 1. Abbe drawing apparatus as pictured in Ernst Leitz’s catalogues from 1909 (top) and 1926 (bottom).