Edmund Scientific Corporation, based in Barrington, New Jersey, was founded in 1942 as a retailer of surplus optical parts like lenses. It later branched out into complete systems like telescopes and microscopes, and in the 1960s, a wide variety of science toys and kits. Through the 1970s and 80s they were best known for their mail order sales and associated catalogs, although they also maintained a retail presence at their factory store. In 1984, the company split into Edmund Scientific and Edmund Industrial Optics, the latter taking over their optical manufacturing. Later known simply as Edmund Optics, the commercial side of the company continued to expand and now has a multinational presence. In 2001, the two companies were purchased by Boreal Science, which was in turn purchased by VWR International. Many of the science toys and kits are currently offered by the online retailer Scientifics Direct. Among the company's best-known products were the Astroscan reflector telescope and their inexpensive bimetallic jumping disks. History Origins In 1942, amateur photographer Norman W. Edmund (1916–2012) found it hard to find lenses he needed for his hobby. He found that the military was happy to sell off less-than-perfect optics for next to nothing and began using these. Buying in bulk, he began to sell his own surplus through advertisements in photography magazines. It was so successful he founded "'Edmund Salvage Corporation'" in 1942. Working from a card table in his home, the company soon had so much stock that they had to rent space in more than 30 separate garages. Post-war The business continued in the post-war era and owned so much stock that when the Korean War started the military came to him for the optics needed to repair war-era systems. One official told him, "Gee, you have more optics than the Army!" In 1948 they completed a new building and warehouse in Barrington and opened a retail store at the front. Among its displays was a complete periscope from a WWII Japanese submarine. The core of the company in this era remained surplus lenses. These were single-element lenses, shipped in coin envelopes, with the approximate diameter and focal length stenciled on them. Reflecting their salvage and surplus origins, available diameters and focal lengths did not fall into regular progressions. In addition to optics, the company soon branched out into various kits and plans for optics-related systems like telescopes and microscopes. It soon