User:TCMemoire/sandbox/William Wales (optician)

William Wales
William Wales
Born	c. 1838; England
Died	September 15, 1907; Englewood, New Jersey, United States
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Objective lens manufacturer and inventor

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William Wales (c. 1838 – September 15, 1907) was an English-American optical instrument inventor specializing in the manufacture of objectives for use in microscopes. Wales's objective inventions were used frequently in contemporary microscopes and many examples survive in private and museum collections today.

Life[edit]

Wales was first employed with the London-based optics firm Smith & Beck. There, he ground lenses for use in microscopes.^[1] He immigrated to the United States from England in 1862, settling in Fort Lee, New Jersey, and quickly opened his own business manufacturing objectives.^[2] In 1864, Wales entered a partnership with W. H. Bulloch under the name William Wales & Co., although this dissolved in 1866 when Bulloch moved to Chicago.^[3]

Although he did not manufacture microscopes as a whole device,^[4] Wales's optics were used frequently in microscopes sold across the United States.^[5] Wales assisted with John Leonard Riddell's invention of the monobjective binocular microscope, constructing the objective in such a way that it could illuminate itself rather than needing to be separately lit.^[6]

On February 21, 1865, Wales filed an application for a patent on a microscope. This invention used two or more oblique lenses that could allow natural light to pass through; previous microscopes had to be manually shifted to accommodate lighting.^[7]

Wales was also involved in the Grand Lodge of Good Templars and was elected to their New Jersey board in 1878.^[8]

On October 18, 1889, he was elected President of the New-York Microscopical Society pro tempore^[9] and continued to be on its committee on admissions between 1889 and 1891.^[10]

Death[edit]

On September 13, 1907, Wales and his family returned home to Leonia Heights, New Jersey after a trip to Europe. That night, Wales attempted suicide by cutting his wrist and throat and was discovered by his wife. He was transported to the hospital in Englewood, where he died of his injuries on the afternoon of September 15. The New York Times cited "insane jealousy" over his wife as his motive, although Wales himself did not provide a reason before his death.^[11] Wales was survived by his second wife and four children.^[11]

Legacy[edit]

Contemporary microscopists regarded Wales's objectives as exemplary.^[1]^[12] One early edition of The American Naturalist described his inventions, "With no equal power of Powell & Leland's of London, of Hartnack of Paris, of Tolles & Grunow of this country, or of Gundlach of Vienna, various objectives of each and all of which makers I have examined, have either, I myself, or other microscopists of my acquaintance been able to effect this".^[13]

Microscopes that include objectives supplied by Wales are in collections at various institutions, including Harvard University,^[14] East Carolina University,^[15] and the United States Army Medical Museum.^[16]

Publications[edit]

Wales, William (1885). "The Proper Care and Use of Microscope Lenses". Journal of the New-York Microscopical Society. 1 (5). New-York Microscopical Society: 113–116. Retrieved April 13, 2024 – via Google Books.
Wales, William (1892). "C. A. Spencer's Use of Fluorite in 1891". Journal of the New York Microscopical Society. 8 (20). New York Microscopical Society.

References[edit]

Citations[edit]

^ ^a ^b West 1886, p. 166.
^ Padgitt 1975, p. 139.
^ Blackham 1882, pp. 46–47.
^ Hagen, Hermann August. Ueber die Mikroskope Nordamerikas [About the Microscopes of North America] (in German). p. 221. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
^ Gage 1964, p. 35.
^ Gage 1964, p. 74.
^ United States Patent Office (1867). Annual Report of the Commissioner of Patents (Report). United States Patent Office. p. 144. Retrieved April 14, 2024.
^ "The Grand Lodge of Good Templars". Monmouth Democrat. October 17, 1878. p. 2. Retrieved April 18, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ New-York Microscopical Society 1890–1891, p. 24.
^ New-York Microscopical Society 1890–1891, pp. 12, 42, 104, 154, 194, 266, 306, 318.
^ ^a ^b "William Wales a Suicide". The New York Times. Englewood. September 16, 1907. p. 5. Retrieved April 18, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Gage 1894, p. 135.
^ Higgins, J.J. (1871). "Natural History Miscellany: Microscopy". The American Naturalist. 4: 254–255. Retrieved April 18, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
^ "Newton & Co. large compound microscope". Collection of Historical Scientific Instruments. Harvard University. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
^ "Miller Brothers Student Microscope". East Carolina University Digital Collections. East Carolina University. Retrieved April 15, 2024.
^ Curtis 1867.

Bibliography[edit]

Blackham, Geo. E. (1882). "President's Address: The Evolution of the Modern Microscope". Proceedings of the American Society of Microscopists. 4 (Fifth Annual Meeting): 25–47. doi:10.2307/3220511. Retrieved April 14, 2024 – via JSTOR.
Curtis, Edward (1867). Catalogue of the Microscopical Section of the United States Army Medical Museum (Report). Washington: Government Printing Office. Retrieved April 15, 2024 – via HathiTrust.
Gage, Simon Henry (1894). The Microscope and Microscopal Methods (Fifth ed.). Ithaca: Comstock Publishing Company. Retrieved April 15, 2024 – via HathiTrust.
Gage, Simon Henry (1964). Richards, Oscar W. (ed.). "Microscopy in America (1830-1945)". Transactions of the American Microscopical Society. 83 (4 (Supplement)). American Microscopical Society: 1–125. doi:10.2307/3224849. Retrieved April 14, 2024 – via JSTOR.
"Journal of the New-York Microscopical Society". Journal of the New-York Microscopical Society. 6–7. New-York Microscopical Society. 1890–1891. Retrieved April 13, 2024 – via HathiTrust.
Padgitt, Donald L. (1975). A Short History of the Early American Microscopes. London: Microscope Publications. ISBN 9780904962048.
West, Charles E. (1886). "Forty Years' Acquaintance with the Microscope and Microscopists". Proceedings of the American Society of Microscopists. 8 (Ninth Annual Meeting): 161–173. doi:10.2307/3220480. Retrieved April 13, 2024 – via JSTOR.