Zieloptik J.D. Moeller Wedel, for Lafette MG34, circa 1936

Zieloptik (Pointing Optics) produced around 1936 by J.D. Moeller, installed on the Lafette of the MG34 (Machine Gewehr).

The optic, extremely compact and functional, was designed to comply with the extraordinary ballistic characteristics with which the MG34 was equipped, which had a graduated elevation up to 2000 meters, but the fire could be carried out beyond 3500 meters thanks precisely to the optic , which, equipped with a collimator and micrometric elevator, allowed the machine gunner to raise the lafette to the maximum range and carry out an extremely precise shot thanks also to the particular reticle with which the optic is equipped.

All mechanisms work perfectly smoothly and precisely.

Johann Diedrich Möller initially planned to be a professional artist. During his apprenticeship in Hamburg, Germany, he became curious about microscopes and sought assistance from the top optical worker in that city, Hugo Schröder. Möller was given access to Schröder’s workshop and learned how to grind lenses. At the termination of his art training, Möller worked for Schröder, decided that he preferred microscope-making to painting, and moved back to his family’s home in Wedel to establish a microscopy business. Initially, he manufactured lenses and other optical supplies for Schröder and other retailers, then branched into producing microscope slides of a wide range of subjects. Diatoms became a fascination, and it is for his diatom slides that he is best known to microscopy enthusiasts. Möller’s diatom mounts can be grouped into three classes: arrangements of diatom frustules into geometric designs; rectilinear arrangements that illustrate species from a geographic site or are used as test objects; and strews of mixed diatoms that are either rich in a particular species or specimens collected from a specific location.