· Get a Cloudy Nights T-Shirt · Submit a Review / Article Click here if you are having trouble logging into the forums Privacy Policy | Please read our Terms of Service | Signup and Troubleshooting FAQ | Problems? PM a Red or a Green Gu… uh, User You are not logged in. [Login] Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar Equipment Discussions >> Classic Telescopes Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | (show all) actionhac Post Laureate Reged: 08/09/08 Loc: WA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: habsburg8]       #3811113 - 05/17/10 05:47 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I went over and bought this telescope today. No one else is interested, and for a lot of very obvious reasons. I can't stop thinking about it. It's not good timing for me to spend $500.00 but I just can't get the thing out of my mind. My original thought was a vertical transit for accurately locating ceiling objects in relation to floor objects in a large structure such as a turbine room, some repetitious job with a high ceiling. On the drive home I started thinking on a grander scale, how about stars in relation to objects on earth? map making, but we had accurate maps by the time this was built. Plate tectonics? I don't know. I'm no closer to knowing who made it or when, but I'm thinking seriously about the using stars to plot locations on earth idea. Robert Post Extras:       Nave Pooh-Bah Reged: 02/23/10 Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: actionhac]       #3811125 - 05/17/10 05:53 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Kudos! If I hadn't been so far away, I'm sure it would have similarly gotten under my skin. We look forward to your reports! Post Extras:       tim53 Postmaster Reged: 12/17/04 Loc: Highland Park, CA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: Nave]       #3811196 - 05/17/10 06:32 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Robert: Glad it went to a good home! Do let us know as soon as you've had a chance to try it out on the sky. I have a feeling I'm going to be buying a 16" f/6 Newt in the not too distant future, ...like I NEED another project! -Tim. Post Extras:       tim53 Postmaster Reged: 12/17/04 Loc: Highland Park, CA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: tim53]       #3811209 - 05/17/10 06:37 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Robert: Could there maybe be a maker's mark somewhere on the mount? Like hidden away, maybe even between castings? -Tim. Post Extras:       actionhac Post Laureate Reged: 08/09/08 Loc: WA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: tim53]       #3811531 - 05/17/10 09:36 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   A 16"f6 would be very nice to have. Would you put it on a EQ? does it come with one? I just finished going over everything a second time at home with my reading glasses and absolutely nothing. I again checked threads and it is US. Some hand written notes on the tube by the levels about the divisions on the level equal something arc seconds. And hand scribed on the ep faces 40, 15, 7.5 and two that are blank but look like around 25. Has a prism star diagonal and a unsilvered diagonal with a hole in the back that might be a Herschel wedge. All with no makers makings. Robert Post Extras:       tim53 Postmaster Reged: 12/17/04 Loc: Highland Park, CA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: actionhac]       #3811571 - 05/17/10 09:54 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   How strange. Well, it does at least seem as though it must be an astronomical refractor and not something else. The 16" Newt looks like it's on a 2" shaft Optical Craftsmen mount. Almost the main reason I'm interested in it. -Tim Post Extras:       actionhac Post Laureate Reged: 08/09/08 Loc: WA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: tim53]       #3811825 - 05/17/10 11:59 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   One of The unmarked ep's is a 5 that I noted earlier. Odd that the eye pieces are marked in metric, they are 1.25", someone could have done the hand scribing later. I found this site which is full of old catalogs, you can open them and go through page by page. Quite a few on telescopes http://www.sil.si.edu/digitalcollections/trade-literature/scientific-instruments/explore.htm I hope you get the 16" newt Tim I'd like to see that and a 2" OC mount. Robert Post Extras:       actionhac Post Laureate Reged: 08/09/08 Loc: WA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: actionhac]       #3813359 - 05/18/10 05:49 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   More catalogs. These old catalogs are really interesting. I will post the link for the good ones I find in my quest for the manufacturer of my new scope. Before I start making parts I want to make sure this was not a commercially made telescope. If I find it was commercially made I can try and reproduce the missing parts, if a ATM scope then I can let my imagination go wild and do what ever I wish. I'm actually hoping for the latter! Take a look at Zeiss 1933 in this group: http://www.astropa.unipa.it/biblioteca/Strumenti/Introduction.html Robert Post Extras:       tim53 Postmaster Reged: 12/17/04 Loc: Highland Park, CA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: actionhac]       #3813402 - 05/18/10 06:13 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   That's what I was thinking when I contemplated buying that scope. But I'm betting that the mount is a commercial unit, albeit a pretty obscure one! Somebody went to a lot of trouble to make patterns and cast/machine the parts for that, and it's got gussets and bracket bases in places that would suggest some planning, to me. It'd be so nifty if you found a catalog with that mount's brother in it! -Tim. Post Extras:       actionhac Post Laureate Reged: 08/09/08 Loc: WA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: tim53]       #3813458 - 05/18/10 06:43 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   The mount is the big problem. It's missing so many parts and will be impossible to find originals. Even if I just make parts to get it up and running I'm going to be spending hours, weeks at the lathe. If it is commercially made and I just had a picture of the complete mount this will be a huge help. Then I can just copy the parts right off the drawing or photo, no head scratching, designing. Robert Post Extras:       albert1 Carpal Tunnel Reged: 01/01/07 Loc: Southern New Jersey Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: actionhac]       #3813580 - 05/18/10 07:57 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   I've been enjoying following this thread. Congratulations on the scope Robert. I don't envy your task ahead but wish you the best. Those links you've posted are great. Post Extras:       actionhac Post Laureate Reged: 08/09/08 Loc: WA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: albert1]       #3813815 - 05/18/10 09:56 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   This is more than likely what my telescope was used for: http://www.europa.com/~telscope/califobs.txt Robert Post Extras:       actionhac Post Laureate Reged: 08/09/08 Loc: WA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: actionhac]       #3815021 - 05/19/10 12:01 PM Attachment (32 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   If this scope was made for, modified to do, coast & geodetic survey it was not a easy job. This photo could explain the chipped lens. Remember, the helicopter didn't exist and when the boss said "up there" you went. Robert Post Extras:       tim53 Postmaster Reged: 12/17/04 Loc: Highland Park, CA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: actionhac]       #3815081 - 05/19/10 12:22 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Hi Robert: All the zenith telescopes I was able to find pix of online were on beefy altazimuth mounts. On the other hand, the mount you have is intriguing because there appear to have been latitude and azimuth adjustment screws on it, which is pretty unusual for a GEM. (hint: more pics of the mount?) I would think a post to Peter Abrahams on ATSforums would be in order. I like this. It's getting more interesting all the time! -Tim. Post Extras:       tim53 Postmaster Reged: 12/17/04 Loc: Highland Park, CA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: tim53]       #3815088 - 05/19/10 12:27 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   The Herschel wedge makes sense for a surveying tool as well. When I took surveying as an undergrad in geology, we used the sun through transits to accurately locate ourselves in lat/lon. edited to add: We had to work fast, because the Earth was rotating and our transits were altaz mounted. A surveyor with a clock-driven scope would be at an advantage in this regard. -Tim. Edited by tim53 (05/19/10 12:28 PM) Post Extras:       tim53 Postmaster Reged: 12/17/04 Loc: Highland Park, CA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: tim53]       #3815207 - 05/19/10 01:14 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Also, if the refractor was used for some kind of surveying, it might NOT be desirable for the lens to be adjustable, once it's been assembled. -Tim Post Extras:       actionhac Post Laureate Reged: 08/09/08 Loc: WA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: tim53]       #3816198 - 05/19/10 08:58 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   This thing is one tough nut to crack. All I can say for certain is I have NO idea who, what, where, when. I take that back, I'm 80% sure it's US made, all thread pitch is US. And after researching Zenith telescopes this could possibly pass as a very crude one but this scope is nothing like a true Zenith or any of the surveying instruments. I did find quite a few EQ mounts that have fine adjust worm gears on azimuth and polar alignment but only a one or two year example from catalogs, appearance is not the same but a 10 year earlier or later version could be. I'll post detailed pictures of the mount in the next few days and disassemble it. I might luck out and find some letters or numbers inside. Robert Post Extras:       actionhac Post Laureate Reged: 08/09/08 Loc: WA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: actionhac]       #3817280 - 05/20/10 11:25 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   ATS is a good idea Tim. Peter Abrahams wrote most of the USC&GS articles I have found. Coast & Geodetic Survey ordered complete telescopes from commercial sources and also had shops of their own to build instruments, using finished lenses from outside. Like I stated earlier this telescope is not in the same class as the typical surveying tools used by C&GS. C&GS is still the strongest lead I have and wondering if it could be older than originally thought and possibly in the beginning they were basic astronomical telescopes and later found inadequate. Robert Post Extras:       actionhac Post Laureate Reged: 08/09/08 Loc: WA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: actionhac]       #3818380 - 05/20/10 08:08 PM Attachment (35 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   New pictures of the OTA. Post Extras:       actionhac Post Laureate Reged: 08/09/08 Loc: WA Re: 4.25" brass refractor, ID? [Re: actionhac]       #3818382 - 05/20/10 08:10 PM Attachment (40 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Finder is a generous 35mmf16 Post Extras:       Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | (show all) Previous   Index   Next   Threaded   Extra information 17 registered and 14 anonymous users are browsing this forum. 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