[ATMoB-discuss] Re: Group 128 History: The 36-inch flat

[valleli at rcn.com]

John, Welcome back to Boston!
Thought the discussion list might be interested.
Re: the 36-inch
I was unaware that the Clark Sons actually made a Reflector.
Was it the one that was originally in the Observatory yard and then moved to Oak Ridge?  I first got to Oak Ridge in 1953 but don't remember it there - just in pictures. I do remember that the Jewitt-Schmidt octagonal dome was still there but have no idea where optics ended up. I know the tube and dome were made of cheap materials ( some early kind of sheet rock) and both disintegrated due to weathering. Circa 1935 to 1955 - that's a pretty short lifetime!

I am pretty sure the Bob Goff polished and figured the mirror.
Group 128 closed its doors in the summer of 1976. That was just before Schott ZeroDur came on the scene. Bob was an ATMoB member for a year or two, then moved to Texas, as he wanted to make much larger optics. He died of a heart attack quite a few years ago. 

The principal owner of 128 was an amateur TM from National Capitol Astronomers and trained in mechanical engineering. 
Senior moment - can't remember his name. He was member of the Competition Associates team that started with rebuilding and maintaining race cars and then switched to telescopes. Some moved on to Ealing/Diffraction Limited where I worked. He still lives in Lincoln and works on high precision weapons. He took the last 16-inch Group 128 Cass that was unsold and put it in his garage. John Gregory put a bid in for it and had it shipped to McDonald Obs. in TX.

Scott Milligan has the tilt frame from Diffraction that could flip up to 40-inch optics. He used part of it to polish Mario Motta's 32-inch Dilworth Relay Scope that is now set up in Gloucester. 

Be sure to make the Sept. 14th ATM meeting on Thurs. night. Jim Morris and his wife will be speaking about the authentic replicas he is making of Galileo's telescopes. He travelled to IMSS in Florence to get construction details from the Curators.

One set is for Adler, the other for Griffith. Rochester, 
NY Planetarium has two scopes but they are not constructed as Galileo did.

See ya soon,
Paul