Edmund Scientific Corporation

Last updated

Edmund Scientific Corporation, based in Barrington, New Jersey, was founded in 1942 as a retailer of surplus optical parts like lenses. It later branched out into complete systems like telescopes and microscopes, and in the 1960s, a wide variety of science toys and kits. Through the 1970s and 80s they were best known for their mail order sales and associated catalogs, although they also maintained a retail presence at their factory store.

Contents

In 1984, the company split into Edmund Scientific and Edmund Industrial Optics, the latter taking over their optical manufacturing. Later known simply as Edmund Optics, the commercial side of the company continued to expand and now has a multinational presence. In 2001, the two companies were purchased by Boreal Science, which was in turn purchased by VWR International. Many of the science toys and kits are currently offered by the online retailer Scientifics Direct.

Among the company's best-known products were the Astroscan reflector telescope and their inexpensive bimetallic jumping disks.

History

Origins

In 1942, amateur photographer Norman W. Edmund (1916–2012 [1] ) found it hard to find lenses he needed for his hobby. He found that the military was happy to sell off less-than-perfect optics for next to nothing and began using these. Buying in bulk, he began to sell his own surplus through advertisements in photography magazines. It was so successful he founded "'Edmund Salvage Corporation'" in 1942. Working from a card table in his home, the company soon had so much stock that they had to rent space in more than 30 separate garages. [2]

Post-war

An Edmund lens envelope. Edmund001b.jpg
An Edmund lens envelope.
An Edmund chipped lens. Edmund002c.jpg
An Edmund chipped lens.

The business continued in the post-war era and owned so much stock that when the Korean War started the military came to him for the optics needed to repair war-era systems. One official told him, "Gee, you have more optics than the Army!" [2] In 1948 they completed a new building and warehouse in Barrington and opened a retail store at the front. Among its displays was a complete periscope from a WWII Japanese submarine. [2] The core of the company in this era remained surplus lenses. These were single-element lenses, shipped in 2.5-by-4.25-inch (64 mm × 108 mm) coin envelopes, with the approximate diameter and focal length stenciled on them. Reflecting their salvage and surplus origins, available diameters and focal lengths did not fall into regular progressions.

In addition to optics, the company soon branched out into various kits and plans for optics-related systems like telescopes and microscopes. It soon changed its name to Edmund Scientific and made its name with ads in publications like Scientific American . Its advertisements caught the attention of hobbyists, amateur astronomers, high school students, and cash-strapped researchers. [1] The company also began publishing a series of pamphlets on telescopes in a do-it-yourself fashion that was popular in contemporary magazines like Popular Mechanics. These were later collected into book form in 1967, "All About Telescopes", which contained many plans for telescope systems that became a best seller and was republished repeatedly into the 1980s. [3]

Heyday

Edmund Scientific's factory store in Barrington, New Jersey in the mid-1970s which carried many items not listed in the catalogs. Edmund Scientific Surplus.jpg
Edmund Scientific's factory store in Barrington, New Jersey in the mid-1970s which carried many items not listed in the catalogs.

Following Sputnik, Edmund was able to capitalize on a growing national interest in science and astronomy. They expanded their business into a full line of telescopes and telescope kits as well as equipment, parts, and supplies for other scientific fields such as physics, optics, chemistry, microscopy, electronics, and meteorology. They continued to grow as a supplier to teachers and schools with demonstration devices and kits which covered most fields of science.

Edmund's catered to the 1960s generation by expanding and highlighting their line of projectors, color wheels, black lights, filters, and other optical devices which could be used by rock bands and in psychedelic light shows. Other items catering to the counterculture were eventually added to the catalog covering the fields of Biofeedback, ESP, Kirlian photography, Pyramid power, and alternative energy.[ citation needed ]

In 1971, in the Whole Earth Catalog of items "relevant to independent education", Stewart Brand noted:

"Edmund is the best source we know of for low-cost scientific gadgetry (including math and optics gear). [In this category,] many of the items we found independently... turned up in the Edmund catalog, so we were obliged to recommend that in this area we've been precluded." [2]

The company became briefly famous in 1973 when Comet Kohoutek approached Earth and the company sold out of telescopes, a fact that made national news. [2] Neil deGrasse Tyson would later comment that "The Edmund Scientific catalog was a geek's paradise. At a time when no one had access to lasers, they had them for sale." [2]

Some sources claim that certain of the original polyhedral dice used in the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game system were obtained from Edmund Scientific. [4]

Restructuring

Norman W. Edmund retired in 1975 and left the company to his son, Robert. The company continued on as before into the 1980s, but the original business model began to wane. Robert split the company into Edmund Scientifics and Edmund Optics. [2] Edmund Scientifics marketed to consumers and specialized in science-themed toys, vaguely high-tech household gadgets, and "science gifts." Edmund Optics did not have a public showroom like Edmund Scientifics, although the two organizations shared the same building. The large back room of Edmund Scientifics still sold military surplus from World War II and other wars well into the 1980s and into the mid-1990s. Some of the items in the surplus room were from German and other non-American militaries. None of these items were in the mail-order catalogs. They also sold other surplus wares of interest to hobbyists, including specialized motors and other miscellaneous electronics, parts from toys, and other household items.[ citation needed ]

Acquisition

In 2000 Edmund Scientific was purchased by Science Kit and Boreal Laboratories, a western New York based science supply company. Science Kit and Boreal Laboratories is part of a group of companies that provide science supplies to elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as colleges and universities. This group falls under the unofficial umbrella "VWR Education", and its constituent enterprises are owned by VWR International, a multi-national conglomerate with offices in India, China, Europe, Canada, and the United States. They are no longer affiliated with Edmund Optics Inc.[ citation needed ]

Beginning in 2000, Edmund Optics offered a variety of experimental grade and stock clearance items via a print catalog and online under a separate business named Anchor Optics, but this operation ceased in 2016, and the current Anchor Optics web site now redirects to a page at Edmund Optics listing clearance items. [5]

In 2001, the Barrington, New Jersey, store closed after Edmund Scientific was acquired by Science Kit and Boreal Laboratories.[ citation needed ]

As of 2009, online sales made up the bulk of Edmund Scientific's revenues. The company was still selling telescopes (including an updated version of their Astroscan Telescope), microscopes (mostly they have carried the Boreal brand, manufactured for their parent company Science Kit LLC), surplus optics, magnets, and Fresnel lenses. They continued to sell many of their old favorites along with new items such as the Impossiball and hand boilers as well as other science-themed toys, novelty items, gifts, and gadgets.[ citation needed ]

As of 2017, Edmund Optics continued to offer brand-new stock optics, as well as offering custom and specialized optics to corporations and higher education institutions.[ citation needed ]

Edmund Scientific has provided items used in television shows such as House , MythBusters , 24 , Modern Marvels , and motion pictures such as Star Trek , and the 1975 version of Escape to Witch Mountain . Wah Chang, the artist who designed and built several props in the 1960s for the Star Trek television show, used moiré patterns found in the Edmund Scientific Educator's and Designer's Moiré Kit for the texture used in the Starfleet communicator props. [6]

In the Simpsons episode "Two Bad Neighbors", Bart Simpson releases locusts from a box labeled Edmund Scientific. [7]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microscope</span> Scientific instrument

A microscope is a laboratory instrument used to examine objects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye. Microscopy is the science of investigating small objects and structures using a microscope. Microscopic means being invisible to the eye unless aided by a microscope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Optical microscope</span> Microscope that uses visible light

The optical microscope, also referred to as a light microscope, is a type of microscope that commonly uses visible light and a system of lenses to generate magnified images of small objects. Optical microscopes are the oldest design of microscope and were possibly invented in their present compound form in the 17th century. Basic optical microscopes can be very simple, although many complex designs aim to improve resolution and sample contrast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Zeiss</span> German optician and optical instrument maker

Carl Zeiss was a German scientific instrument maker, optician and businessman. In 1846 he founded his workshop, which is still in business as Carl Zeiss AG. Zeiss gathered a group of gifted practical and theoretical opticians and glass makers to reshape most aspects of optical instrument production. His collaboration with Ernst Abbe revolutionized optical theory and practical design of microscopes. Their quest to extend these advances brought Otto Schott into the enterprises to revolutionize optical glass manufacture. The firm of Carl Zeiss grew to one of the largest and most respected optical firms in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carl Zeiss AG</span> German optics company

Carl Zeiss AG, branded as ZEISS, is a German manufacturer of optical systems and optoelectronics, founded in Jena, Germany in 1846 by optician Carl Zeiss. Together with Ernst Abbe and Otto Schott he laid the foundation for today's multinational company. The current company emerged from a reunification of Carl Zeiss companies in East and West Germany with a consolidation phase in the 1990s. ZEISS is active in four business segments with approximately equal revenue in almost 50 countries, has 30 production sites and around 25 development sites worldwide.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angular resolution</span> Ability of any image-forming device to distinguish small details of an object

Angular resolution describes the ability of any image-forming device such as an optical or radio telescope, a microscope, a camera, or an eye, to distinguish small details of an object, thereby making it a major determinant of image resolution. It is used in optics applied to light waves, in antenna theory applied to radio waves, and in acoustics applied to sound waves. The colloquial use of the term "resolution" sometimes causes confusion; when an optical system is said to have a high resolution or high angular resolution, it means that the perceived distance, or actual angular distance, between resolved neighboring objects is small. The value that quantifies this property, θ, which is given by the Rayleigh criterion, is low for a system with a high resolution. The closely related term spatial resolution refers to the precision of a measurement with respect to space, which is directly connected to angular resolution in imaging instruments. The Rayleigh criterion shows that the minimum angular spread that can be resolved by an image forming system is limited by diffraction to the ratio of the wavelength of the waves to the aperture width. For this reason, high resolution imaging systems such as astronomical telescopes, long distance telephoto camera lenses and radio telescopes have large apertures.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ernst Abbe</span> German physicist, entrepreneur, and social reformer

Ernst Karl Abbe was a German businessman, optical engineer, physicist, and social reformer. Together with Otto Schott and Carl Zeiss, he developed numerous optical instruments. He was also a co-owner of Carl Zeiss AG, a German manufacturer of scientific microscopes, astronomical telescopes, planetariums, and other advanced optical systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eyepiece</span> Type of lens attached to a variety of optical devices such as telescopes and microscopes

An eyepiece, or ocular lens, is a type of lens that is attached to a variety of optical devices such as telescopes and microscopes. It is named because it is usually the lens that is closest to the eye when someone looks through an optical device to observe an object or sample. The objective lens or mirror collects light from an object or sample and brings it to focus creating an image of the object. The eyepiece is placed near the focal point of the objective to magnify this image to the eyes. The amount of magnification depends on the focal length of the eyepiece.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LOMO</span>

LOMO is a manufacturer of medical and motion-picture lenses and equipment based in St. Petersburg, Russia. The company was awarded three Order of Lenin decorations by the Soviet Union.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Catadioptric system</span> Optical system where refraction and reflection are combined

A catadioptric optical system is one where refraction and reflection are combined in an optical system, usually via lenses (dioptrics) and curved mirrors (catoptrics). Catadioptric combinations are used in focusing systems such as searchlights, headlamps, early lighthouse focusing systems, optical telescopes, microscopes, and telephoto lenses. Other optical systems that use lenses and mirrors are also referred to as "catadioptric", such as surveillance catadioptric sensors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Gilbert Baker</span> American astronomer

James Gilbert Baker was an American astronomer and designer of optics systems.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Dollond</span>

Peter Dollond was an English inventor of optical instruments. He was the son of optician John Dollond. He is known for his successful optics business, and for the invention of the apochromat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of optics</span>

Optics began with the development of lenses by the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, followed by theories on light and vision developed by ancient Greek philosophers, and the development of geometrical optics in the Greco-Roman world. The word optics is derived from the Greek term τα ὀπτικά meaning 'appearance, look'. Optics was significantly reformed by the developments in the medieval Islamic world, such as the beginnings of physical and physiological optics, and then significantly advanced in early modern Europe, where diffractive optics began. These earlier studies on optics are now known as "classical optics". The term "modern optics" refers to areas of optical research that largely developed in the 20th century, such as wave optics and quantum optics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">VWR International</span> U.S. chemicals company

VWR International is an American company involved in the distribution of research laboratory products, with over 1,200,000 items to more than 250,000 customers in North America and Europe. The U.S. division is headquartered in Radnor, Pennsylvania. VWR ranked #91 in 2006, and #77 in 2005, in Forbes list of largest American private companies. Suppliers include Applied Scientific, 3B Scientific Duracell, Kimberly-Clark, Bel-Art Products, and Welch Allyn. VWR primarily serves the government, biotechnology, life science, education, electronics and pharmaceutical sectors. In 2010, the company maintained operations in 25 countries and processed approximately 50,000 order lines daily from a logistical network, which includes 25 strategically located distribution centers.

Questar Corporation is a company based in New Hope, Pennsylvania. It manufactures precision optical devices for consumer, industrial, aerospace, and military markets. Its telescopes produced for the consumer market are sold under the brand name "Questar".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chance Brothers</span> Former glass manufacturers in Smethwick, England

Chance Brothers and Company was a glassworks originally based in Spon Lane, Smethwick, West Midlands, in England. It was a leading glass manufacturer and a pioneer of British glassmaking technology.

A scientific equipment optician is a skilled professional responsible for the fabrication and calibration of various optical instruments, distinct from the role of a traditional optician who specializes in crafting and fitting eyeglasses. The primary focus of a scientific equipment optician involves the precision manufacturing and fine-tuning of optical components used in diverse scientific instruments, such as telescopes, microscopes, and other specialized optical devices.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Astroscan</span>

The Astroscan was a wide-field 4⅛" clear-inch (105mm) diameter reflecting telescope, originally produced by the Edmund Scientific Corporation, that was for sale from 1976 to 2013.

Charles Gorrie Wynne FRS was an English optics designer, a significant figure in optical lens design.

Zemax OpticStudio, also known simply as Zemax, is a software program used for designing and simulating optical systems. It runs under Microsoft Windows. It can be used in the fields of optics and photonics to design and analyze lenses, cameras, telescopes, microscopes, and other optical systems. It is used for the design and analysis of both imaging and illumination systems. Since 2021, it has been owned and developed by Ansys.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Optical cage system</span> Mounting system for optics

An optical cage system is an optomechanical system that is used to mount optical elements such as lenses and mirrors together in a rigid assembly. Optical systems built this way can be more compact than can be achieved using an optical table, and the system provides more flexibility than an optical rail. A cage system allows optical engineers and researchers to make self-contained instrument-like systems, without having to machine any custom parts. They are useful for education and research, and for making quick prototypes of new optical designs.

References

  1. 1 2 "Edmund Optics Mourns the Loss of Founder, Norman W. Edmund" (Press release). Edmund Optics. 2012-01-17. Archived from the original on 2012-01-22. Retrieved 2012-01-23.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Miller 2012.
  3. Brown, Sam (1976). All About Telescopes. Edmund Scientific Company.
  4. Contrarian (2008-03-05). Blog posting in RPGnet Forums: Where'd the first d20's come from?, dated "03-05-2008, 10:21 PM". Retrieved on 2016-03-05 from https://forum.rpg.net/archive/index.php/t-382854.html.
  5. "Anchor Optics". Archived from the original on 2016-05-04. Retrieved 2017-07-23.
  6. herocomm.com - The Details... A Moiré Story
  7. "[3F09] Two Bad Neighbors". The Simpsons Archive . Archived from the original on 1997-07-10. Retrieved 2013-08-16.

Bibliography