Here are some pictures of the telescope during it's restoration and reassembly, for those that could not make it to the Lab.

Here are the members of the Astronomy 101 class that helped with the assembly of the restored scope.

From left to right: Shereen Green, Zimier McCloud, Ralph Bornemann, and Travis Dubshinsky.

Here's a shot of the Observatory, looking northwest. Newly painted, thanks to the guys at Physical Plant. Someone had the unpleasant job of removing an old bird nest from high up in the shutter drive motor. No birds were harmed in this activity. I did some repairs on the weather-proofing a couple years ago while the birds were away for the season. Their nest was right over the telescope itself.

Which brings me to the nastiest job that had to be done. The "debris" from the birds and a coat of old paint had to be removed so the tube could be properly refinished. Here, Katie Merryfield, from a previous astronomy class, helped with that job. It really was hard work and she came back for more til the job was done. Then Roger Powers from the Auto Tech department helped by painting the tube with a durable flat-black finish. That way no stray reflections will bounce into the optics.

This is the new focuser I made to replace the sliding focuser. I added the old fashioned machined finish  to the copper base since a telescope maker in the twenties would have decorated their metal work that way. The old focuser will be restored for use with a future CCD imaging device. The new focuser needed to be brass, like most of the replacement parts, to prevent rust. Condensation forms repeatedly, since the dome  cannot be heated. This way, opening the shutter won't cause a large temperature change and helps the Primary mirror stay close to ambient temperatures. Those temperature changes can cause dew to form on the mirrors surface, or cause the mirror to depart from its precise shape.

The Diagonal tube, where the secondary mirror in its mount are set, had a unique feature. This end of the telescope could be rotated around its long axis for comfortable viewing. This does make it harder to keep the optics aligned if it doesn't fit well. The bakelite tube that it was fabricated from decades ago had actually shrunk, the tube would not rotate freely. Some relief slots were cut and brass bands were added to keep it from springing out of round. This also helps with the balance.

Above is the secondary reflector mounted in its "spider". Most contemporary Newtonian telescopes now use an optical flat that is aluminized, because they can be mass produced. "In the olden days..." solitary telescope makers preferred to use right angle prisms. These were challenging but rewarding to grind and polish by hand. Since they use the principle of "total internal reflection", they do not need to be "silvered", as they used to call it. As an added benefit, they can be reversed in the holder and  used for solar observation, where much of the heat of the Sun is dissipated inside the prism. In the background can be seen the mirror supports and tube counterweights.

The main tube sits ready for remounting into the cradle that will support it on the polar mount. The old steel straps were replaced with brass ones of a thicker gauge and brass draw-downs. These were lacquered and five-ply rubber pads were added.

These knobs will adjust the mirror cell inside the tube so as to space the optics properly and collimate them so they all point in the right direction. Again they were made of brass, and in this case, indexed with graduations for high precision. I used an indexing trick an old world machinist showed me that costs almost nothing to do on a home lathe.

This is the business end of the mirror cell before the mirror is inserted. It appears that almost all the main components of the telescope and mount were custom cast. The mirror cell is cast aluminum. The three alignment pillow blocks are visible with their brass spacers to align with the pillow blocks on the tube. The brass ring on top is a spacer/filler for the main tube which is actually made up of three sections of short tubes joined with brass sleeves.

The cell with mirror mounted.

Here we see the flotation pads and adjusters. It was customary to grind both sides of the mirror blank to ensure you ground the side that had the fewest pits, rocks and bubbles.

The mirror and cell is moved with three screws and lock nuts. This aligns the optic so the image produced is optimum.

Things starting to come together.

Fitting the new straps.

The finder is a small 7X telescope that will help point the big optics in the right direction.

The finder is mounted close to the eyepiece for convenience. The eyepiece is replaced here by a small camera to aid in the optical alignment and collimaiton.

The camera was built in lab and isn't the type of imager used for astronomical work. This is just a cheapo NTSC video CCD that will make it a lot easier to align things. Usually, you would adjust...run take a look through the eyepiece... adjust... look... adjust...and everything is upside down and reversed for extra fun.

You'll have to come to the lab, Galbreath Hall, room 131, or the observatory to see the completed instrument.

Here are some shots of the observatory where it will soon be mounted.y

Here is where the telescope is going soon. This is the restored equatorial mount. Some signs of rust are evident. The mount was restored several years ago but anything steel that hasn't been painted is rusting. I don't want to paint over the adjusting screws until the have been homed in. I'll probably replace all I can with brass.

Another view of the mount, looking northeast. The painted parts still look pretty good

A closer shot of the Right Ascension bearing and the clock drive. The synchronous clock drive motor, under the copper housing, is unique in that the armature is completely enclosed. I added the very "retro" looking switch and power lamp.

This is a close-up of the right ascension setting circles and clock drive worm gear. The setting circle is cast aluminum showing the hour angle indexing. The worm and vernier appear to have been cast from a brass alloy that had a lot of copper in it. You can see an LED illuminator I added to help read the setting circle.

The drive clock and gear are mounted on a seperate mount that can be adjusted for the best alignment and least periodic error. The mount castings are very robust and rigid.

I hope you'll come look through it some time.

J. Caretti