In 1920, Ernst Leitz died, and his son, Ernst Leitz II (1870-1956) became the sole owner of the business. It is today known as the 'UR-Leica Prototype.' In 1913, Barnack invented the 35mm camera using the new lens system. He mathematically designed the first Leitz camera lens, a 50mm anastigmat. Max Berek (1886-1949) joined the Ernst Leitz company after he had finished his studies in mathematics and mineralogy in Berlin. In 1911 Oskar Barnack (1879-1936) was hired by Ernst Leitz with the idea of designing an easily portable camera. By 1910, the Leitz company was producing 9000 microscopes per year and had a workforce of 950 people. This production method became the industry standard and made microscopes more reliable for scientific research.īetween 18, the Leitz company introduced still projectors, cinematic projectors, binoculars, and other optical equipment to their line of goods.Ī sales office was opened in New York City in 1892, and later became known as E. One innovation he made was to ramp up production and quality by switching away from the slow, labor-intensive manufacturing by hand to serial manufacturing. Even so, he was able to ride the wave of an expanding market for microscopes. With the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, Leitz had a rough time his first year. Leitz took over the company upon Belthle's death in 1869, and renamed it the Optical Institute of Ernst Leitz (Optischen Institut von Ernst Leitz). In 1865, Belthle hired an engineer, Ernst Leitz (1843-1920), who became his partner a year later. The company became known as the Optical Institute Kellner and Belthle. In 1855, Kellner died at age 29 of tuberculosis and his partner Friedrich Christian Belthle took over the workshop. Telescopes were the main product of the early company, but in the 1850s, microscopes became the principal product. The earlier Leitz trade catalogues give the date of establishment as 1850 but by the early twentieth century, Leitz publications put the date at 1849. The company of Ernst Leitz had its origin in the Optical Institute founded by Karl Kellner in Wetzlar, Germany.

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