12 replies to this topic

[kjkociba]

Finally tracked one of these down!   2" Warner Swasey terrestrial prism, with box and mount, Pat 1903.  (For those of  you who have had the pleasure of reading "by starlight and moonlight with the Warner & Swasey "

This is the scope in the book.  I started cleaning it up,and fortunately the optics are not as bad as the rest of the scope looks!    Now if I can find someone with some 19mm (3/4") diameter eyepieces  

Album: 2” Warner and Seasey

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0 comments

 

[kjkociba]

Looks like the two eyepieces included give about 25x and 50x. Not bad for a little scope!

[The_Vagabond]

Nice find. 

You might be able to locate some microscope eyepieces that will do the job. If you're brave, you could also dismantle .965 or 1.25 eyepieces and reassemble them with .75 barrels (I've done this a couple of times). Curious to see how well this instrument performs. 

[kjkociba]

Just looked at my small micros (use them in some of my thrown together scopes). The small barrel microscope oculars that I own have a field lens element almost the same size as the barrel( my zeiss’s and AO’s do at least), but I think this deserves a deeper look into! Also I didn’t think of remounting .965/ small glass 1.25” elements Be interesting to see how precise my old lathe still is. Great suggestions, Thanks!

[SteveGR]

Finally tracked one of these down!   2" Warner Swasey terrestrial prism, with box and mount, Pat 1903.  (For those of  you who have had the pleasure of reading "by starlight and moonlight with the Warner & Swasey "

This is the scope in the book.  I started cleaning it up,and fortunately the optics are not as bad as the rest of the scope looks!    Now if I can find someone with some 19mm (3/4") diameter eyepieces

Wow, that is a classic!  I wouldn't imagine there are many of them floating around.

[kjkociba]

Agreed, I was very excited when I found it, even with the condition it was in. I normally like to leave the ota in “ as found” and just clean it up a bit but there was so much oxidation on the aluminum... had to do something to protect it. All I have to do now is make a new “tab” for the focus tube , as it was sheared off in pieces and bound up in the helical threads.

[Ken Launie]

I've gotten some nice views with mine, and I love how small and easy to pack it is. It fits even when the car is already fully packed. It originally was covered by a textured leatherette material that unfortunately is very fragile a century on. .

 

It's possible that the prisms and eyepieces were made by the John Brashear company. The small Warner and Swasey prism binoculars, made around the same time, had Brashear prisms and eyepieces according to their brochure, but that's not mentioned in my brochure for the telescope or in the By Starlight and Moonlight with the Warner and Swasey Prism Terrestrial Telescope book.

[kjkociba]

Ken, it’s great to know of at least one more of these are in use! I picked mine up as a last minute grab and go! I looked up mar 18 1902 patent for the Warner and Swasey company and found US Patent: 695,712, telescope, patentee Gottlieb Fecker - Cleveland, OH, which during that time I believe Fecker worked for Brashear. Any historians out there to validate?) Not definitive but adds credence to where our optics were made. Either way, they are nice little scopes!

[kjkociba]

We finally had some clear skies last night and I was able to take this out, although It looks like I have to clean the prisms, looks like I have a smudge on a surface. Astronomical views are surprisingly good! Stars are true dots, and Mars was a well defined disk, I’m bummed Jupiter and Saturn were hiding in clouds. I should get some better detail after I rebuild the helical, rather coarse focusing sliding the eyepiece in and out. More to come!

[kjkociba]

Couldn’t resist making a small EQ mount for it utilizing misc parts from the parts box. Test assembled to check clearance. Think it will serve its purpose. My plan is to mill a tripod head matching the latitude adjustment base, keep the brass alt az intact if I ever find the rest of the the tripod.

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[kjkociba]

Tried the Warner out last night on a small GEM (swift?), worked well although aiming was ballpark at best with the oversized clamshell. Really good views of the Orion Nebula. Not bad for 2” aperture!

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Edited by kjkociba, 15 December 2020 - 08:41 AM.

[oldscope]

Ken, it’s great to know of at least one more of these are in use! I picked mine up as a last minute grab and go! I looked up mar 18 1902 patent for the Warner and Swasey company and found US Patent: 695,712, telescope, patentee Gottlieb Fecker - Cleveland, OH, which during that time I believe Fecker worked for Brashear. Any historians out there to validate?) Not definitive but adds credence to where our optics were made. Either way, they are nice little scopes!

That is incorrect. Gottlieb Fecker worked first for George Saegmuller (who fired him for copying drawings late at night, ie. early industrial espionage) and a week later he was working for competitor Warner & Swasey. He headed up the optical shop and worked on telescope design. His son, J. W. Fecker who graduated from Case (if I remember correctly) also worked for W & S for a period and I think for Winchester for a short period (rifle scopes), and then had his own optical business prior to acquiring the Brashear Co. from the McDowell family in summer of 1926.

 

So it makes sense that Fecker's name is on the patent as he worked for the Warner & Swasey Co. at the time.

 

I believe that the optical parts are almost certainly by Brashear who was more or less the sole supplier at the time these were produced. I had one years ago and if I remember, I disassembled the cell and it was a flint in front doublet. A good smoking gun for Brashear. I think mine was larger though, more like 3"?

 

Bart F.

[WilD_Observatory]

Awesome find! I read up on this company from an Atlas/Craftsman lathe thread. It seems these gentlemen were into all kinds of manufacturing. I'm really curious what the "Styrofoam" brand material that was named on another thread with pictures I seen. I own a few lathes and happened onto a page ran by a gentleman that encourages making eye pieces from discarded binoculars and it works great! Clear skies!