Yet another 3" Fullerscopes refractor on a MkIII mounting. This one has the optional cast tripod base with the long wooden legs fitted. Note the height of the eyepiece. No grovelling on your knees with this one. Not like the "modern" refractors which assume you are a dwarf or have a dry moat dug around your mounting. The combination of black wrinkle paint and polished brass would look good in a drawing room. Yet it would be be very easy to carry it outside to examine a bright planet, the Moon or even the Sun when fitted with a safe solar filter over the objective lens. Eyepiece solar filters are extremely dangerous and may explode when exposed to the focussed heat of the sun. If the shattering glass of the filter does not instantly blind the observer then the focussed beam from the objective falling on the unprotected retina certainly will.
A general view of the instrument on its sturdy MkIII mounting and tall, braced tripod.
Look at the beautiful proportions! The length of the dewshield is appropriate and will offer protection on a night of heavy dew. The main tube is of classical length rather than the stumpy examples common to more modern instruments.
The all brass finder and focussing mount are classical touches. Note the excellent stand-off from the main tube of the finder in its tall, cast finder rings with centring thumbscrews. No squinting along the tube with your nose or cheek pressed against freezing cold metal required here. A glance at any of the fine refractors made by the greatest makers show similar finder rings. Many modern instruments could learn much from studying this instrument and others from a bygone age.
The original bronze slow motion wormwheels and steel worms are provided with flexible wands to allow easy centring of an object in the field of view from the eyepiece. The sturdy MkIII mounting would offer very stable viewing at the highest magnifications this instrument can manage. It is probably capable of upwards of 150x or 50x per inch of aperture.
The all brass focussing mount is furnished with an internal rack and a beautiful brass focussing wheel in classical refractor style reminiscent of instruments made one hundred years earlier. A star diagonal is fitted into the brass focussing tube for comfortable viewing at high angles of altitude.
The original black wrinkle paint is in superb condition. This particular MkIII even has its own model and the manufacturer's name resplendent on the polar casting. Letters also appear on the tripod base. My guess is that it also reads "Fullerscopes".
The three inch aperture, long focus, achromatic objective in its brass or gunmetal cell. A lens with a classical focal ratio will offer sharp images almost free of false colour.Despite its age this instrument is still very desirable and would make an excellent solar telescope when fitted with a full aperture solar filter. The star diagonal will offer sharp, upright views but mirror reversed.
Once again I must thank Richard at Skylight Telescopes for these superb images.
www.skylightelescopes.co.uk
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2 comments:
Hi
I recently purchased a second hand fullerscope 3" similar to the one shown here. I bought unseen but when I received it the lenses had been removed and packed separately for posting. Do you know how the objective for the 3" was mounted, eg was it air spaced? does it have the same objective mounting as the 4" shown on your page? The 4" objective end you show is different to the brass 3" objective end that I have
All I have with mine is the brass end piece with an internal thread to which a black threaded ring screws internally, do you think there is something missing?
Also mine came with the same star diagonal and orion eyepiece as your picture, would this have been a standard configuration?
regards
Steve
Hi
I've worked out how it was mounted and the correct orientation (there are matching notches on the crown and flint) but still wondering did these lenses have spacers to create an air gap between the two lens components?
Steve
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