Field Glasses
date: label: date made
content: late 19th century
name: label: maker
content: Voightlander & Sohn
notes: label: Description
content: Frederick William Voigtländer took charge of the family business in 1839 and renamed it Voigtländer & Sohn. The field glasses that he introduced around 1840 were essentially larger and more robust versions of the binocular opera glasses that his father, Johann Friedrich Voigtländer, had been making since 1811, and for which he had received a patent from the Emperor of Austria, Franz I, in 1823.
label: Description
content: This example was probably made in the Voigtländer factory in Brauschweig, Germany. The body is aluminum with a black finish. The barrels are covered with black leather. The objective lenses are 46 mm diameter, and the optics are cloudy. The eyecups are marked “VOIGTLÆNDER & SOHN.” The case is dark leather lined with blue silk. The BENJ. PIKE, JR.” inscription in this case indicates that this instrument was sold in the United States.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Physical Sciences
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
label: See more items in
content: Optics
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Jane and Mary Henle
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: PH.336787
label: catalog number
content: 336787
label: accession number
content: 1978.2216
objectType: label: Object Name
content: field glasses
physicalDescription: label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 3/4 in; 12.065 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall in case: 4 5/8 in x 5 3/4 in x 2 1/2 in; 11.7475 cm x 14.605 cm x 6.35 cm