American Artifacts
19th Century American Microscope Makers
other articles

James W. Queen - Microscope Maker

Queen, born in 1813, began working for the McAllister Brothers, in Philadelphia, as a boy, around 1825. From 1836 to 1852 he was a partner in the McAllister business, leaving finally to start his own company to sell optical instruments. While Queen & Co. sold a great variety of microscopes by other makers, their catalogs and other literature emphatically suggested that they also made microscopes. I have a Queen's "Large Family Microscope", unsigned, but unmistakably illustrated in their catalog of the early 1870's. If I hadn't seen it in their catalog, I would assume that it was of English origin - as is likely the case. Whether or not Queen actually made large stands, the company certainly was a powerful influence on the developing American microscope trade. Queen died in 1890 and the company continued into the 20th century, offering all sorts of scientific instruments, magic lanterns, and ophthalmic apparatus.


IMAGES

Use your browser's "back" button to return to this page after viewing an image.

Queen & Co.'s Class Microscope
Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society, 1885

Acme No.4 Stand
Microscopical Bulletin, 1886

Acme No.4 Stand
Behrens The Microscope in Botany, 1885

Acme No.5 Stand with rack focus
Microscopical Bulletin, August 1887

Acme No. 5 New Laboratory Stand
Microscopical Bulletin, August 1887

Acme Continental Stand
Microscope, 1891


19th century journal reprints

J.W. Queen's Microscope for Students
From The Journal of the Franklin Institute, 1855

James W. Queen & Co.
From the Scientific American, April 28, 1888


other microscope makers

© 1997, 1999 American Artifacts, Taneytown, MD.
Contact: Richard Van Vleck smma@americanartifacts.com