236 replies to this topic

[Daniel Mounsey]

Lew,
Did Ralph know Robert Burnham Jr.?

[Glassthrower]

If you guys keep this up, I may have to pin this to the top of the forum for a while.

[Bonco]

It should be pinned and added to if other pictures are available. So much history here and not available anywhere else.
Bonco

[clintwhitman]

Well my fridays are tighted up for a while. Dan John put a super focuser on my Unitron yesturday !!!! cool

[JWW]

Dan John put a super focuser on my Unitron yesturday !!!! cool

What would that be? Have any pictures and/or more information?

-JWW:

[ngc2289]

OH! I hate needles! :rolling:

[Daniel Mounsey]

John can build anything and fix anything with scopes. He's been doing it for 54 years.

[Lew Chilton]

Here's another Charlton Flats memory. I took this the morning after the star party, when most people had packed up and left.

The last scope on the field was Frank Grow's 14-inch fork mounted Newt. which he transported on a homemade trailer behind his pickup and camper. In this shot the scope is ready for loading. Among those helping Frank to load the scope was Leif Robinson, seen at right wearing a white sports car cap, standing behind Jack Eastman's Renault. Robinson is editor emeritus of Sky & Telescope magazine.

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[Lew Chilton]

In this next shot taken at Charlton Flats in 1961 (looking west), the people helping Frank Grow load his scope are, from left, Ronny Thomas, Frank Grow, unknown, Leif Robinson (wearing white cap) and Jack Eastman.

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[mikey cee]

That 14-incher looked like a big cannon that just recoiled after letting loose with a round! Neat picture! :roflmao:Mike

[Steve_M_M]

Here is some information from Goto on production numbers for the 6".

This thread is amazing!

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[Lew Chilton]

Here's a picture of the Frank Grow telescope as it appeared on the cover of the August 1958 issue of Griffith Observer magazine, the publication of the Griffith Observatory and Planetarium in Los Angeles. Griffith's then director, Dr. Clarence Cleminshaw, is on the sidewalk; Frank Grow is on the ladder. When this picture was taken, the scope had a 16-inch mirror, but when it was donated to the Los Angeles Astronical Society in the early 1970s, after Grow's death, it had a 14-1/2 inch mirror.

This is the same mount design utilized by Clarke Harris and discussed in another forum thread, "Cave 12.5" F6 - Alika Herring Mirror," page 3.

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[Lew Chilton]

Back in 2001, John Pons took possession of the 6-inch Goto described earlier in this thread. Here's the Goto when it was owned by Joe Choate in 1960.

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[Lew Chilton]

In 2001, the Choate residence was in a dilapidated state and the new owner wanted to dispose of the dome and its contents, the 6-inch Goto. She offered the telescope gratis to Griffith Observatory, but the offer was declined because of the expense involved in dismantling the observatory and restoring the telescope.

Griffith Observatory, which had previously employed the services of Pons to refurbish its 12-inch Zeiss refractor and upgrade the planetarium's sound system, contacted him about the Goto offer. That is how Pons acquired that wonderful, old instrument and how it restoration to it original glory began.

The snapshots that follow show the state of the Choate house, dome and Goto refractor at the time Pons began the dismantling process.

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[Lew Chilton]

Here's the beginning of the teardown of the 6-inch Goto. The dome had leaked for years and corrosion and dirt had taken a toll.

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[Lew Chilton]

Another view...

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[Lew Chilton]

The Goto's new owner, John Pons, dismantling the historic refractor. John spent the next 4 years restoring this Goto to its former glory.

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[Lew Chilton]

Here's the way it looks today.

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[Lew Chilton]

And another view of the 6-inch Goto...

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[trainsktg]

That home looks like something out of the Addams Family. What a change in just 40 years.

Keith

[mikey cee]

Lew...The new owner must be redoing the home. I wouldn't think you would go to the trouble of stripping wallboard off the observatory interior. Any way you or Jon can find out what happened to the Choate family. Sounds like a good mystery to unravel. Must be a paper trail there somewhere in public records? ;)Mike

[Lew Chilton]

Mike,

I took your advice and did a little on-line research and believe I located Joe Choate, Jr. He's about Pons' age. I left a telephone message and hope he returns my call.

I also located the record of Joe Choate and his family's return from Tokyo on April 27, 1956 aboard Northwest Airlines. I'm attaching a copy of the air passenger manifest. I believe this was the trip when the 6-inch Goto was procured. I've found even more information, but it's not really relevant to this thread.

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[Daniel Mounsey]

Lew,

How in heavans do you find all this stuff?

[Lew Chilton]

Dan,

It's not that big a deal. It helps to be a retired investigator and an amateur genealogist.

[Rinaldo]

I'm movin to the west coast!