Planox – Overview

While growing up, I’ve always known the Planox to be a major piece of furniture in the corner of my grandmother’s living room. In reality, it's not one single unit but it consists of three separate parts.

The top one, is the main stereoscope itself. This is originally designed to be a table-top viewer. [Incidentally, I’ve only ever seen another one similar to it, although a simpler version, that is on display in the War Cabinet Museum in London – Churchill’s headquarters – Which I assume was used to view aerial stereoscopic photographs.]

The second part is a base cabinet, which is specifically designed for the viewer to sit into. It provides two drawers with storage for 4 trays with slides each. The viewer and it’s cabinet are about a foot and half high.

Underneath that is a specially designed cabinet which consists of 8 pull-out drawers, each of which holds 6 trays. The top of the cabinet is cleverly built so that an embedded tray with a ring in the front, allows you to slide the whole steresoscope forward so that you can sit in front of it.

The bottom cabinet itself is about three feet high. The front of it is protected with two vertical doors. I don't know if this cabinet is standard part of the Planox, or if my grandfather had it made to order. I have not found any reference to such a piece of furniture, or anything else similar on the web. (please let me know if anyone out there knows?)

Both the planox and the base units seem to be made of mahogany wood and it’s been French polished to a darker colour.