Thread: Bausch & Lomb Thuringian Water Hone 10inch

I actually just found a reference to some of the Thuringian Water Hones which sometimes do appear with the wooden boxed. The boxes do include a bigger sized stone (10inch) plus a quite big rubbing stone.

Till now i found no information that the connection to Bausch & Lomb has been done before, so i wanted
to share that information with the community.

Bausch & Lomb (Headquarter Rochester) was founded in 1853 in the United States and was a seller of medical products and is now more focussed on eye health. They released a guidance about Microscopes, Micro tomes and colorimeters.

So here is a scan of one of the pages which shows that they had two types of Thuringian Stones in their Catalogue.

I'm amazed that the Belgian hone is so much more expensive than the same size Thuringan.

Originally Posted by JimmyHAD

I'm amazed that the Belgian hone is so much more expensive than the same size Thuringan.

Yeah...the prices for thuringians in general have always been very stable thruout the years and decades......

Any ideas on the on Code Words they used ? Was it for ordering by phone ?

Originally Posted by doorsch

Any ideas on the on Code Words they used ? Was it for ordering by phone ?

Thanks for the post Sebastian. As for the code words, perhaps this referred to orders placed by telegraph? In the American College Dictionary, 1953 ed., I read, under the third definition for the word, "code": a system of signals for communication by telegraph, heliograph, etc."

Not sure about the code words, but this was a common combo for honing microtome blades and scalpels from some of the old tomes I've read. Another was coticule to Black Hard (Surgical) Arkansas.

The code word is probably to receive the listed price rather than the regular price. Similar to how we use codes on websites for price reductions.

Or just a simpler way to order, but there is a cat number as well and a short 4 digit cat number is easier by telegraph than 6 letter codes.

Originally Posted by Brontosaurus

Thanks for the post Sebastian. As for the code words, perhaps this referred to orders placed by telegraph? In the American College Dictionary, 1953 ed., I read, under the third definition for the word, "code": a system of signals for communication by telegraph, heliograph, etc."

Sorry guys i should have checked this earlier :-)

Ok they write:
"Use Code words in telegraphing"

That would make sense. A code name and cat number working together would reduce the chance of getting the wrong product through a mis-tap.

Very cool, thanks for the info! I have a Bausch & Lomb microtome, it would be very cool to find one of these stones to go along with it.

Originally Posted by doorsch

Sorry guys i should have checked this earlier :-)

Ok they write:
"Use Code words in telegraphing"

Ha ha ha. ;-)