VOL. 3 The Showa Microscope: Collaboration between Marketer and Manufacturer
The Showa GK biological microscope and the GK biological microscope were released in 1927 and 1946 respectively.
In the 1920's, a biological microscope named the Heiwa was already available. This microscope, equipped with an oil immersion objective lens (a microscope requiring a drop of oil between the specimen and the objective lens for observations), allowed total magnification of over 1000 x, but in terms of quality, the Heiwa failed to achieve the standard of microscopes made by German and other manufacturers. The foreign-made microscopes, while offering superior quality, were too expensive for ordinary researchers and doctors.
Requests for an affordable, high quality, practical oil immersion type microscope came from Seikichi Iwasaki, the first president of Iwasaki Microscopes Co., Ltd. (the present Iwaken Co., Ltd.), a distributor of Olympus microscope. Takachiho Seisakusho thus undertook development of a new microscope with the cooperation of Iwasaki Microscopes Co., Ltd. With the enthusiasm and unwavering efforts of marketer and manufacturer, working together closely to support the development, the new model was named after Showa, Japan's new chronological period.
The Showa GK microscope was, at that time, at the pinnacle of domestically produced microscopes. For Olympus, it was one of its milestone products, driving the future evolution of its microscope business.
After a period of production suspension due to the war, Olympus resumed production of the Showa, renamed the GK series. The GK series became an extremely long-term seller, remaining in production for 46 years until 1972.
