October 15, 2019

My Zeiss Standard 16 Microscope

I bought this one as part of a lot at a surplus auction. For whatever reason, the morons at Zeiss didn't think it worth their trouble to put any kind of model number on this instrument. This makes it a significant bit of detective work to find out just what I have.

After considerable searching and comparing images, I conclude that this is a Zeiss Standard 14 -- which was sold in a multitude of configurations. However, more searching yields this comment, so if whoever made the following statement knows what he is talking about, I have a Standard-16.

The model number is in the part number: 47 09 16-9904/38. The 47 09 16 indicates it is a 16.
So apparently I have a "Zeiss standard 16". Maybe. Since I am having trouble identifying what I have, many other people have probably had the same difficulty. So much of the information available online may be misinformation.

Description

Eyepieces are 12.5x and are labeled CPL 12.5x/12.5 with an "eyeglasses" symbol to indicate high eye relief suitable for use with eyeglasses. Between the eyepieces, the mechanism holding the eyepieces is marked 1,25x

The optical path behind the eyepieces is arranged with first surface mirrors, rather than prisms. This, along with plastic barrels for the eyepieces, suggest that this is a "budget" model.

The turret will hold 5 objectives. Four are installed, and are marked as follows:

3,2/0.07  160/-
10/0.22  46 04 00 - 9904
40/0,65  160/0,17
100/1.25 Oil  160/-
There are markings on the bottom of the scope as follows:
074426 (apparently a serial number)
47 09 16 - 9903/28

Motagesatz T-UL (this is apparently the illuminator)

Resources

LED illuminator

One fellow says:
There are a lot of LED replacement ideas and LED power supplies on the internet.
It's a project rather than a quick fix.

All the replacement requires in terms of Koehler illumination is placing the LED in exactly the same position as the original lamp filament,
and having a single-chip LED with a sufficiently large chip.
The commercial LED replacement (for $485) yields 20 Watts. The original tungsten yields 10 Watts, so this is extra bright. The commercial gadget claims to use a Cree 5000K LED.


Have any comments? Questions? Drop me a line!

Tom's microscope pages / tom@mmto.org