Note: All items pictured on this website are in the personal collection of Frank W. Reiser. Please contact me if you wish to discuss displaying the collection at your institution or need additional information about the topic.
They (Palmer Bevel-Edge Slides) create great beauty in the finished object, making them the most elegant slide yet introduced, and their beveled edge allows them to easily glide under the spring clips on the stage of a microscope.
G. S. Woolman
A Palmer Beveled Microscope Slide was used by Mary Ann Booth for an exhibition at the Microscope Society’s public soirees.
The Palmer Slide Company began the commercial manufacture of standard-sized microscope slides. Purportedly, Palmer was the first in the U.S. to do so. The company conducted its sales and correspondence from offices in Geneva, NY. The factory manufacturing its products was in Cleveland, Ohio. Palmer made microscope slides, coverslips, mounting media, slide cabinets, and other laboratory supplies. To round off its inventory, it also imported microscopy items from England. In an editorial column written in the St. Louis Medical and Surgical Journal, Frank L. James announced that the manufacture of ground-edged slips for mounting microscopic preparations was, but a few years ago, entirely in the hands of foreigners — English, French, and German being the only ones to be procured.
In addition to manufacturing standard-sized microscope slides, the Palmer Slide Company introduced an upscale glass microscope slide of their design. They made the new slides from glass a millimeter thicker than that used for standard slides while keeping all other dimensions equal. The additional thickness enabled an angled edge to be ground along the top of the slide’s four sides. The slides cost more than standard ones, but their target market was microscopists wanting to give their prepared mounts a quality look. The company advertised the slides in several microscopy publications for prices between $4.00 and $6.00 a gross, or about three to four cents a slide, which was not cheap in 1886. They were marketed as the Palmer Bevel-Edge Slide and made available with the slide’s angled edge, either polished or frosted.
Angling and polishing an edge along a microscope slide creates a razor-like edge, making such a slide challenging to handle without cutting oneself. Additionally, thin edges chip easily, increasing the likelihood of damaging the slide each time it is used, making it unsightly for exhibition. The Palmer Slide Company’s design stopped grinding the bevel nine-tenths of a millimeter above the slide’s bottom surface. Doing so left a perpendicular face around the base. Even though Palmer Bevel-Edge slides can be handled without fear of cutting oneself, they remain vulnerable to edge chipping compared to standard slides. The Palmer Slide Company mailed examination slides to editors of various microscopy journals, hoping for the publication of positive reviews about the slides in the journals – a marketing technique still commonly practiced. Romyn Hitchcock (1851-1923), the editor of the American Monthly Microscopical Journal, received a promotional set of the Bevel-Edge slides from the Palmer Slide Company. In the editor’s monthly column titled “Notes,” Hitchcock reported to his readership that these slides are certainly very attractive in appearance and are well adapted for ornamental preparations.
Hitchcock observed that Palmer’s glass remained remarkably color-free, even when viewing the slides edge-on. Hitchcock stated that, when he questioned Palmer about the source of such a high-quality glass, he was informed that the company imported Chance’s Crystal Plate or Chance’s flat crown glass stock from England. Hitchcock also commented on several bevel-edged slides submitted for review that had their undersurface flashed with color, and that this could make them especially attractive when used for making opaque mounts.
Colored Palmer Bevel-Edge slides have yet to find their way into this collection, so it is not confirmable what Hitchcock meant by “flash” coloring. Most likely, it is the same process of painting glass used for coloring the outside of the Victorian period’s cranberry glassware. Such an inexpensive coating on glass that it can be scratched off by careless handling. A problem that could occur with frequently repositioning a colored microscope slide on a microscope’s stage. Actual flashing would require dipping a clear glass slide into molten colored glass. Such a process provides the slide with a colored glass covering over its clear glass interior. Following this process by grinding an angle along the slide’s top edges would create a beautiful slide indeed.
How to footnote this page: Reiser, Frank W. (2021, October). Palmer Slide Company – Beveled Slides. Searching an Invisible World for Its Tiniest Things. https://wp.me/PaLJ0g-tl