Compound achromatic reflecting microscope OD200

Description

This is an example of a very rare type of microscope, it uses a reflecting mirror instead of an achromatic combination of lenses. The design is by the well known optical engineer Albert Bouwers (1893-1972), the first director of the Optical Firm ‘De Oude Delft’ in the city of Delft, the Netherlands. Bouwers designed a number of mirror telescopes, various binoculars and this mirror microscope. Probably not more than a few hundred were ever made.
The foot of the microscope is a bent steel wire carrying a casting consisting of the circular stage with its two spring clips and a holder for the mirror and the eye tube. Below the stage a condenser lens with a revolving stop with three apertures. The microscope has a concave mirror.
Above the stage the concave mirror that can be adjusted for focussing. A second flat mirror reflects the image into the body tube, there is a correcting lens. The microscope uses standard eyepieces.
The specimen in the Utrecht University Museum has a resolving power of 1.6 micrometers.