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New article Cave-astrola / The Wilmington Cave Telescope

Discussion in 'Vintage Telescopes & Equipment' started by Turk, Oct 26, 2015.

New article Cave-astrola / The Wilmington Cave Telescope

Started by Turk on Oct 26, 2015 at 5:24 PM

8 Replies 4176 Views 5 Likes

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  1. Turk

    Turk Well-Known Member

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    Turk, Oct 26, 2015
    #1
    Bomber Bob, AstroLife, StaringAtStars and 2 others like this.
  2. BillP

    BillP Well-Known Member

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    BillP, Oct 27, 2015
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    Absolutely AMAZING story!! Well done sir!
     
  3. AstroLife

    AstroLife Active Member

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    AstroLife, Oct 30, 2015
    #3
    Excellent write-up Turk! Thanks for taking the time to write all this up in such great detail for others to enjoy and learn from!

    Harry D.
     
  4. LewC

    LewC Well-Known Member

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    LewC, Oct 31, 2015
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    Thanks Turk, I enjoyed the article too! Got me to thinking about my memories of Tom Cave. Didn't he use the Wilmington telescope in any of his catalogs or advertising?

    I was looking for his business card (it's laying around here somewhere - just saw it but can't find it now). However, here's a picture of Tom in his backyard observatory. I believe this came from the Long Beach Independent-Press Telegram newspaper sometime in the 1950s. You may notice that he did not use an Astrola mount for his personal telescope. The mount shown here may have been made by Bill Shaffer and the focuser appears to be a Sky Micro Giant, as then sold by Telescopics in Hollywood, California. (Cave sold a number of Telescopics products and probably got them from the same source.)

    CAVE, TOM & his 12-inch.jpg
     
  5. Bomber Bob

    Bomber Bob Well-Known Member

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    Bomber Bob, Oct 31, 2015
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    I salute you for taking on this restoration & preservation, and so many others, and the way you stick with these projects through all kinds of difficulties. Even though I don't own a Cave, I have the website bookmarked, and I visit it regularly. Brings back memories!
     
  6. LewC

    LewC Well-Known Member

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    LewC, Oct 31, 2015
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    Even though I knew Cave and visited his store a number of time, I never owned a Cave telescope - couldn't afford one. However, my 8-inch mirror was figured by Cave Optical and used in my homemade reflector, as seen here. MURRAY-SCOPE-1small.jpg
     
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  7. Turk

    Turk Well-Known Member

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    Turk, Dec 9, 2015
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    The mount is actually a Cooke mount from the 40's. Here is the info I found and a link to the observator story on my cave website:

    http://cave-astrola.com/history/thomascave/caveobservatory/index.html

    Editors note: While reviewing this article, Larry and I discovered that what he thought was a schaefer mount in the Cave observatory, it now turns out it may be a Cooke mount from the 40's. The following discussion occurred:

    One thing I was not able to find out is whether the mount Tom had at his observatory was built by Bill Schaefer. When I talked to Tom he said that they used several Schaefer mounts over the years and that Bill had built one that he (Tom) used in his observatory. When I asked him where that mount was today he said "I'm still using it.". Now the only telescope he had in use when I went over to his house two weeks later was the one you see in the photographs. Part of it looks like a Schaefer mount, but some definitely does not. I think your information about the Cooke mounting clears the mystery up. The polar axis adjustments and the extension of this axis definitely look more like something that could have been purchased in the 40s, not something made by Bill. Tom was obviously very ill when I spoke to him, and, although mentally acute, could well have misunderstood my question. I always felt bad about not being able to talk to him again.
     
  8. LewC

    LewC Well-Known Member

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    LewC, Dec 9, 2015
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    Turk,
    In 1958, a junior high school friend and I started a school astronomy club. One of our guest speakers was Tom Cave. Soon after, he invited my friend and me over to his home in Long Beach to attend a meeting of the Excelsior Telescope Club. Even though I can't remember it, we must have adjourned to Tom's backyard observatory, as was the custom following those meetings. I'm now of an age that I'm starting to forget a number of those old fond memories.

    If you're interested in knowing more about Tom Cave's Excelsior Telescope Club, I think I can put you in touch with a former member who is now retired and living in a rural area of California.
     
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  9. Turk

    Turk Well-Known Member

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    Turk, Dec 9, 2015
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    Please do Lew. I would love to talk to him.
     

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