McPherson is a custom manufacturer of precision optical instruments and systems for measuring and characterizing spectra. McPherson instruments measure intensity vs. frequency in various regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. McPherson’s spectral test instruments are based on the dispersing properties of a diffraction grating and/or refractive prism.
The Company was founded as McPherson Instrument Corporation by Paul McPherson (1920 - 1972) and operated as a sole proprietorship2 until 1967 when it was sold to the now defunct GCA Corporation. It was operated as GCA/McPherson, a division of GCA Corporation, until 1981 when it was sold to D. M. Schoeffel. It has operated under various names: McPherson - Division of SI Corporation, McPherson Instruments, SI/McPherson, and McPherson, Inc. Currently, the company is simply called McPherson and remains a privately held company. It is headquartered in Chelmsford, Massachusetts USA.
Patents
Many McPherson instrument and system designs have been awarded US patents. Some of these include:
Optical Grating Spectral Dispersion System (US Patent No. 3,409,3743 This criss-cross Czerny Turner optical system is capable of operation from about 105nm to 10 micrometers in the infrared and features (patented) interchangeable gratings and a vacuum tight housing. This is a modern instrument and remains in constant production to fill a high demand.
Additional patents (3,026,435) (3,161,769) (3,490,848) (3,433,557)3 for easily exchangeable optics, ultraviolet light sources, and detectors have also been granted to McPherson.
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