Έτσι είναι οι σωστοί ρεφράκτορες!!!!

[giorgosgr]

Διαφωνεί κανείς;

[PapGeo]

Ωραίο διοπτρικό!

Ευτυχώς που δεν ρώτησες και για το τρίποδο. Όπως το βλέπω, μάλλον ερωτοτροπεί με το γρασίδι στα δεξιά του!

[dimpap]

1976 6" f/15 Cave Astrola Refractor

 

Archenbold

[vag_stephanou]

Η πλάκα είναι πως έχει βάλει και πολύ μακρύ ερευνητή ο τύπος!!

[giorgosgr]

Δύο έχει βάλει αν δεν το πρόσεξες Βαγγέλη

[vag_stephanou]

Α ναι, τώρα το είδα! Απλά ο δεύτερος είναι τόσο "θηρίο" που κρύβει το μικρό!

[Fred Ley]

Hi!

 

The large refractor in the image posted by Dimpap is the 26.8-inch f/21 Treptow Refractor at Archenhold Observatory in Berlin. It was restored in 1959 as it had sustained some damage from the war.

 

The first image is of a Cave Astrola 6-inch f/15 refactor. The objective lens is an achromat made by A. Jaegers in Lynbrook, New York. The instrument pictured here does not display the original dew cap and it was originally sold on a steel pier. Cave had a 4-inch model that was sold on a tripod.

 

My 1972 Cave 6-inch is original on the 6-foot steel pier. It is an excellent instrument and even though it is a doublet, the images of the Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are a sight to see. It has even performed very well on nights with lousy seeing conditions. I would not trade it for anything. Below is a few images of my unit.

Yes, I love refractors. Also big Dobs for looking at galaxies.-Yeah!

 

-Fred

 

This is a detail showing the 1.5-inch RA and 1.5-inch Dec. mount.

 

The steel pier has a height of 6-feet or 1,829 mm. The viewfinder is an old Unitron 1.6-inch (40mm) airspaced objective and the guide scope is an old Meade 2.4-inch (90mm) with a focal length of 700mm. The original focuser has been removed and is in stor

 

Here is the refractor in its original observatory in California.

[Βασίλης_Μ]

Well, Fred that's a hell of a refractor...

 

IMPRESSED!!!

[PapGeo]

Very nice! Fred, I didn’t know you have such a monster! Last October, during the 5th astronomical congress, we all had the opportunity to take a close look at your meteorite collection. Now this…

 

Also, very impressed!

 

George

[ngc4565]

Hey Fred,

Thats a really nice Cave 6in f/15 that you have.

 

Where do you presently have this telescope setup?

 

Personally for these classic long fl Refractors I think the pier is much better (and sturdier) than the field tripod -

 

Well done!!

[giorgosgr]

Nice classical refractor Fred!

[Fred Ley]

Hi!

 

The telescope is here in Athens. I wouldn't dream of leaving it somewhere else. In California I once took it to a star party, but it is heavy. The tube is easy, it is the mount and pier that are heavy. If ever have it installed in a permanent place, I would fill the hollow pier with sand in order to dampen out any vibrations.

 

This telescope actually has a history to it. This link below will take you to an article that Iakovos Stellas wrote about the telescope after asking me a whole bunch of questions. There are a few additional images of the instrument and its 8-foot case that I built for it. Oh yes, the article is in the Greek language. And the link is... http://hellas-astro.gr/article.php?id=176&topic=astro_history&subtopic=

 

The telescope is currently housed at a friends, otherwise I would be more than happy to make viewing through it available to anyone who might be interested.

 

-Fred

[giorgosgr]

Fred, I BEG you for a look trhough this telescope

I would like a 5" or 6" Unitron with a weight drive (am I nuts?)

I wouln't say no to a unitron model 160 4" either

 

Have a look at this site:

 

http://geogdata.csun.edu/~voltaire/classics/

[Fred Ley]

George,

 

You are more than welcome to take a look throught the telescope. It is just a matter nailing down a date, good weather-no clouds and setting it up.

 

Oh yes, Unitron. My first telescope was a 2.4-inch refractor named Polarex, they were called Unitron in the U.S. It initially was an altazimuth telescope and as time passed I acquired the equatorial, clock drive, rotary eyepiece holder, Herschel solar wedge, sun screen, astro camera, etc. I still have this telescope, my first one.

I also collect old catalogs from telescope manufacturers. I have quite a stack of catalogs. I have two different Unitron catalogs from the 1950's. I believe they are about the same age as I am if not slightly older.

As far as I know, Unitron does not sell their refractors anymore. They can be found on the internet, usually on EBAY or Astromart, as used instruments. I will post an image for you of my UNitron weight drive. I have never used it as it was bought when I had a 4-inch Unitron on an altazimuth mount. I was going to buy a Unitron equatorial mount for the optical tube assembly and weight drive, but the prices had gone up quite high and I decided against it at the time.

 

Here is an interesting bit of information. Unitron also had an 8-inch refractor. Not to many people know about it. There is a Unitron collectors group on Yahoo if you are interested-also for Cave too.

 

Yeah, the web site is a good one. I keep thinking of scanning my collection too. It will be big.

 

-Fred

[Στέφανος Σοφολόγης]

Γιώργο, οι αντικειμενικοί φακοί της εταιρίας στην οποία αναφέρθηκες πριν λίγο καιρό, http://www.dgoptical.com/ παραμένουν μιά πολύ καλή επιλογή για ένα παραδοσιακό (και εξαιρετικό) διοπτρικό. Ως συνήθως, ψήνομαι για ένα μεγάλο διοπτρικό αλλά δεν έχω καταλήξει σε σχεδίαση. Ένας φακός 6" f/12 ή f/15 της D&G (όχι παιδιά δεν είναι Dolce & Gabbana ) θα έφτιαχνε ένα υπέροχο όργανο, αλλά θέλεις και κατάλληλο αυτοκίνητο για τη μεταφορά σε καλούς ουρανούς αφού το μήκος του θα έφτανε τα 2m. Εκτός αν με μια έξυπνη κατασκευή ακριβείας διαιρεθεί ο οπτικός σωλήνας σε δύο κομμάτια. Η όλη κατασκευή δεν θα κόστιζε πάνω από 2.000 ευρώ μαζί με ένα γερό ξύλινο τρίποδο. Και για να είναι πιό ...καθαρόαιμο αφήνουμε στην άκρη το διαγώνιο κάτοπτρο

 

Αχ, και μετά ξύπνησα...

[ngc4565]

-

Here is an image of my Tasco 76.2mm 10TE Refractor -

 

This telescope is a 3in f/15.7 classic long FL refractor which was sold as the Tasco 10TE Planetary Refractor in the mid 1960' and early 70's.

 

I also have a 6in F/12 doublet Brass Refractor which was manufactured in Britain in the 1950's

 

I will have to take an image of the 6in f/12 and upload it for this group.

 

Enjoy!!

 

Tasco 10TE Planetary Refractor This is a 76.2mm f/15.7 from 1966 -

[Fred Ley]

Frank,

 

Neat refractor you have there. Ahh... talk about ultra-portability and you get nice views of the Moon and Planets too. Throw in a few Messier objects too, among others.

 

Below is my first telescope. The 2.4-inch Polarex (Unitron) bought in Athens, Greece in April of 1971 when I turned 14. It is an altazimuth model. I have since added the following accessories to it...

-Equatorial mount

-Electric clock drive

-Rotary eyepiece holder (for 5 .965 eyepieces and 1 1.25-inch eyepiece)

-40mm Unitron 1.25-inch eyepiece

-7mm Polarex .965-inch eyepiece

-Sun screen

-Herschel wedge

-Solar aperture diaphragm

-Unitron astro camera (takes 3.25x4.25-inch glass plates or plastic sheet film which I don't think can be bought anymore)

-Unibalance tube assembly

-Uniclamp camera bracket

 

The other two images are of the weight driven clock drive that was used on the 4-inch and 5-inch Unitrons. The 6-inch model had a weight drive that is quite larger than the one that I have.

 

I spent many days and nights back then making drawings of sunspots and night time objects from my balcony in Athens. I plan to get around to scanning some of them and posting them on my web site. One thing that is for certain, Athens had far better skies back then then it does now. I guess that every place had better skies that far back.

 

For example, in the summer of 1979 I was in Aghia Paraskevi observing variable stars with an old friend of mine, George Stephanopoulos, and with his 4-inch Polarex I was able to observe, using averted vision, a 12.5 magnitude comparison star in oder to make my estimate.

 

Anyhow, I'll stop here before this turns into a book.

 

-Fred

 

Polarex 2.4-inch

 

Unitron weight drive closeup

 

Unitron weight drive

[Fred Ley]

Here is an image of the largest Polarex/Unitron refractor made. It is the 8-inch (200mm) model with at f/15 (3,000mm) focal length. The guide scope is 4-inch f/15 (1,500mm) and the viewfinder is 2.4-inch (60mm) f/11.67 (700mm).

I was told years ago that an amateur in Japan owns one. This is the only image of one of these that I have ever seen.

 

Just thought you all would find this of interest.

 

-Fred

[ngc4565]

Hey Fred,

 

Unitron Telescopes were perhaps the pinnacle of perfection in their days.

For many Unitron set the Standard while others followed.

 

Your POLAREX 60mm from 1971 is actually a collectors item. The fact that you have added all the accessories actually make it unique. Congrats!!

 

I have seen and used a 3in Unitron and they are indeed extremely well built telescopes.

 

My first scope when I was 12 years old was a Towa Refractor. This scope had a 60mm Objective with a 900mm (f/15) see image below:

 

Towa 60mm f15 Refractor - my first telescope !!

[ngc4565]

A few years later in 1976 I found and bought a used 77mm Swift model 831 EQ Refractor from 1963 - This has a fl of 1000mm which makes it f/13 - color correction is very good and it has a Japanese lens.

 

It is actually a 79mm lens but has an effective diameter of 77mm.

 

Needless to say I was a happy camper !!

 

This telescope is well used - In 1978 I even brought it to Greece one summer while I was there on vacation.

 

I still have this Swift 77mm telescope and as it turns out these Telescopes are also quite rare.

 

See the article at the following link:

http://www.rca-omsi.org/news/gazette06/2006_07.pdf

 

Swift 77mm f/13 Model 831 Refractor -

[Fred Ley]

Frank,

 

Very nice scopes with lots of memories attached to them.

The Cave 6-inch comes with a Unitron focuser and for that instrument I have a Unitron 1.25-inch star diagonal, the 1.25-inch Rotary eyepiece holder and an additional Unitron astro camera and 40mm Unitron eyepiece.

 

The multiple eyepiece holder on your telescope must be rare too. I have seen them in literature, but never in person. I believe that Unitron had them in the early years prior to introducing the rotary eyepiece holder. Guess I better go look into a catlog to make sure.

 

-Fred

[ngc4565]

Fred,

The Unitron Rotary eyepiece holders were way ahead of their time.

 

I remember drooling over the catalogs of the 3in Unitron when I was much younger and could not afford it. The only thing was that these were setup for .965 eyepiece formats which were the standard back then and I believe they had one slot allocated for a 1.25" ... nevertheless they were (and are) extremely well made and sough after.

 

Fred hold on to that scope!!

 

Wonder why we have not seen any Chinese spinoffs of this wondeful Rotary design.

 

Here are some more images of different Classic long FL Refractors

 

Enjoy!!

 

Classic 5inch Alvan Clark Refractor -

 

This fellow did an amazing job restoring this Refractor - it probably looks nicer than when it was new!!

 

Another nice example of a classic Restored Refractor

 

Here our friend has an older brass classic 3in refractor with a Herschel Wedge.

[ngc4565]

Found this in my Archives ....

 

Looks Familiar?

 

No Electricity required.

[Fred Ley]

Hah! I know what that gizmo is.

 

Here is a couple of images from the 1987 RTMC showing a Unitron Model 160 with a weight drive.

 

Fred

 

4-inch Unitron weight drive, taken 1987 RTMC.

 

4-inch Unitron, taken 1987 RTMC.

[ngc4565]

-

Here is a link of a fellow who owns 3 Classic Unitrons.

 

Some of these images are quite interesting, there is one that clearly shows the weight drive setup on a pier.

 

http://www.vintagejukes.com/thestars/unitrontelescopes.html

 

Enjoy!!