Description

Background to J Swift from Antique Microscopes’ website:

James Swift were microscope makers trading from London and were founded in 1853 by James Powell Swift, who was the son of the watchmaker Thomas Swift. Before founding his company, James Swift was apprenticed to the well-known microscope maker Andrew Ross. In 1881 Swift brought in improvements to microscope design, including replacement of straight rack and pinion focusing with diagonal/helical cut components along with a new type of fine focus mechanism.  In 1884, Mansell James Swift, son of James Powell, joined the company and the firm’s name was therefore changed to J. Swift & Son. 
Captain Scott was supplied with Swift microscopes for use on the RRS Discovery for his 1901-1904 Antarctic expedition, which were named in the catalogue of the time as the ‘Discovery’ model.  In 1903, Mansell Powell John Swift, grandson of the founder, joined the company.  In 1906, the founder of the company, James Powell Swift, died.  In 1912, the company was incorporated as a limited company and the firm’s name changed to J. Swift Ltd.  In 1942, both Mansell Powell and Mansell James died. In 1946, ER Watts and Son Ltd took over the company, mainly due to the association between the Watts and Swift families in earlier years.  In 1949, they employed John H. Basset who, in 1968, took over the company.

This example of a late Edwardian Swift instrument is in truly amazing cosmetic condition for its age and presents superbly with lovely gleaming brass-work details, bright lacquer finishes and I can’t find any age-related patination or signs of use/wear anywhere on it, which is astonishing.  It’s survived incredibly well over the last 114 years or so and the lacquered brass-work catches the light beautifully as I hope the listing photos demonstrate. The look and feel of this Swift is of a substantial instrument, with a build quality that’s just not found in modern microscopes in that’s it’s fashioned from solid brass, with exquisite attention to detail and amazing levels of micro-engineering.  This amount of engineered brass gives it a weighty solid feel, with umpteen adjustment mechanisms and every component machined to fantastically tight tolerances.  It’s also quite large with an imposing presence when extended for use with coarse focus and triple draw-tubes fully racked out.

Technical details – the construction is a large heavy brass tripod foot with a design reminiscent of the Crouch-type, with twin uprights supporting a pivot and an elegant Lister-type upper limb.  The design of the limb gives a good range of coarse focus travel that should allow objectives of up to 3 inches to achieve focus.  Coarse focus is by rack and pinion with brass thumb-wheels which have a really nice tactile feel.  The rack is the newer-style diagonal cut, which has quite a smooth action and holds in position as it should through its working range.  Fine focus is via a second set of brass thumb-wheels located on the limb, being a vernier screw and lever/cam mechanism, which also works well.

In terms of its optics, this microscope is fitted with a graduated brass mechanical eyepiece draw-tube with single-sided thumb-wheel, plus two graduated manual draw-tubes both in brass, which all hold position on adjustment and give up to 300mm overall tube length as demonstrated in the listing photos.  The instrument is supplied with two standard-size 23mm eyepieces, which work well giving nice bright images and are 8x and 10x magnification.

It’s also got good a selection of low/medium/high power objective lenses and a triple turret with good smooth rotation and a positive feel as the objectives align with the optical axis.  The objectives are as under:

– 2 inches Argus – 3x magnification – W. Watson & Sons Ltd in brass canister
– 6x magnification – Carl Zeiss “A” – with brass canister
– 40x magnification, 4.2mm – Carl Zeiss “D” with brass canister
– 90x magnification, 1/12th inch HI – Carl Zeiss with brass canister

The magnification range available with its current set of optics is therefore around 24x to 900x with the use of appropriate immersion techniques for the high-power objective.  I’ve tested the optics with various antique slides and the images are perfectly acceptable when using good illumination.

The instrument tilts for inclined viewing and holds in position through its working range as it should and it can be tightened if required.  The circular all-brass specimen stage rotates, although not through a full 360 degrees, with just the right amount of damping so that it holds position well on adjustment without any slippage.  The stage can be centered and also locked in place with thumb-screw mechanisms.  The stage top-plate is fully mechanical with x/y adjustment thumb-wheels on the right-hand side that move nice and smoothly, with the y-axis having a tension lever to prevent slippage on inclination.  There’s vernier scales for both axes as well as a system for holding slides comprising two slide holder arms in a dove-tail channel, with the left-hand arm capable of being locked in place.  There’s also a plain circular rotating stage in the case that’s fitted with slide clips that can be substituted as an alternative to the mechanical stage. The plain stage will rotate through a full 360 degrees.

The technical sub-stage comprises a ring-mount with centering that’s fitted with a top-loaded Abbe-type condenser with iris and 35mm swing out filter carrier.  The ring mount has a rack and pinion system for height adjustment with single-sided thumb-wheel control.  Lighting is via a plano-concave mirror in a brass carrier and gimbal mount with a very good range of swing and rotation adjustment and excellent silvering to both sides. 

The instrument has been very lightly lubricated where necessary with non-hardening grease, so that the controls operate smoothly.  This example displays incredibly well having quite a presence measuring around 18 inches in height when fully extended for use, with its pristine paintwork and bright lacquer finishes highlighting the lovely brass-work detailing.  Overall, this example of a late Edwardian Swift while being very usable as is, should also make an imposing display piece, perhaps in a library or home office type of setting, especially when set up with an appropriate antique slide. 

There’s also the original storage case with this instrument which is in good age-appropriate condition, with lovely deep sheen to its exterior finish.  It’s fitted with internal racking, a brass carry-handle and it’s also nice to see it’s got a working lock & key.

Owing to the weight and delicacy of this antique microscope and its case, it will be partially dismantled, carefully wrapped for shipping and dispatched by insured courier upon receipt of cleared funds. 

Thanks for looking.