

On 28 May, 1999 Perkin-Elmer merged with EG&G, Inc to form PerkinElmer. A subsequent NASA investigation criticized Perkin-Elmer's management, noting that they had disregarded quality guidelines and ignored test data which showed the mirror to be faulty. NASA launched a repair mission that applied corrections to the secondary mirror, leaving the larger, faulty primary mirror in place. A problem that was not discovered until the telescope was in orbit. Technicians at the company miscalibrated a null corrector, resulting the creation of a primary mirror for the telescope that had significant spherical aberration. In the late 1970s Perkin-Elmer won a NASA contract to build the optical components of the Hubble Space Telescope, a job that became the company's most famous debacle. There is also known to be a Perkin-Elmer 680mm f/12 compact catadioptric lens.
PERKIN ELMER SERIES
These were identical to the OPCON-designed Vivitar Series 1 lenses that Perkin-Elmer manufactured.

Perkin-Elmer sold the 600mm f/8 and 800mm f/11 Catadioptric lenses under their own name as well. Most of Vivitar Series 1 lenses were manufactured by traditional Japanese lens manufacturers but two, the 600mm f/8 and 800mm f/11 Solid Catadioptric lenses relied on the advanced optical materials and designs that Perkin-Elmer specialized in. Perkin-Elmer was chosen to manufacture the more complex optical designs due to Betensky's past associations with the company. OPCON's first major project was as a design consultant to Ponder & Best to design their innovative Vivitar Series 1 lenses. Strange Perkin-Elmer lenses from this era are frequently found from military surplus vendors and online auction websites.Įllis Betensky worked for Perkin-Elmer as their senior optical designer prior to forming his own company, OPCON Associates. They provided lenses for the camera systems used in U-2 and SR-71 Blackbird spy planes including huge 36 inch f/4.0 lenses. After exposure, the film was jettisoned from the satellite in a reentry vehicle that returned the film to Earth for processing.ĭuring the 1960s - 1980s the company designed and built a variety of optical and lens systems for military use including weapons sighting systems, gun cameras, night reconnaissance gear, and camera systems. The satellites contained a film camera with a 1.5 m, f/3.0 telephoto lens and a secondary, lower resolution film-based mapping camera. Perkin-Elmer designed the optical systems for the classified KH-9 Hexagon reconnaissance satellites, commonly known as Big Birds, that were used by the United States from 1971-1986. Starting in 1954, the business operated in Germany as Bodenseewerk Perkin-Elmer GmbH. In 1944 the company also began working in the field of analytical instruments. the company was incorporated in New York in 1939. The two met in the 1930s and shared a common interest in astronomy, leading them to go into the optics business together. The collaboration between Farm and Perkin Elmer was a total product development success that pushed performance, precision, accuracy, and reliability to entirely new levels.Perkin-Elmer was an American optical design and consulting company founded in 1937 by Richard S.
PERKIN ELMER SOFTWARE
An "intelligent" recovery system comprised of a sensing head and proprietary software with the ability to anticipate possible faults in the system and formulate solutions to maintain throughput and minimize user interaction.Electronic calibration and motion control system that ensured sampling precision and positional accuracy within 0.006”.

PERKIN ELMER VERIFICATION
Farm's engineering team also assembled multiple pilot units and completed verification testing and agency prequalification to confirm reliability and safety. Multiple prototypes were fabricated and debugged and critical tolerance analysis was completed throughout the program to deliver a highly optimized solution. Our systems engineering team developed an entirely new robotic system that features our proprietary mechanisms, software and electronic design. The goal was to create a motion control system that was more sensitive, more accurate, and more precise in order to improve efficiency, increase throughput, and minimize user interaction.įarm accomplished these goals and optimized the unit for manufacturability, serviceability and reliability. Perkin Elmer, an innovator in analytical chemistry, collaborated with Farm in the development of a new line of high-performance differential scanning calorimeters devices that are used to measure material properties through thermal analysis.
