======================================================== The Telescope in Ireland: Obscure makers & marks. Irish telescope makers and Irish signatures on telescopes. By Peter Abrahams The primary purpose of this list is to identify Irish telescope makers. A secondary purpose is to provide information about inscriptions found on telescopes, and therefore some of these names are retailers only. When it is known that a name refers to a retailer and not a manufacturer, that information is provided, but typically this is not known. For example, Belfast had very little instrument manufacture but there are quite a few telescopes signed 'Belfast', presumably indicating retailers. John Alment, Dublin. Circa 1767-1787. Gregorian telescope 356mm in length, removeable eyepiece with red glass accessory, in oak case with label: 'John Alment Optician at ye Sign of ye Spectacles in Marys Abbey Dublin. Makes Optical Philosophical & Mathematical Instruments. Viz Spectacles, Concave Glass, Telescopes, Microscopes, &c Reading & Opera Glasses, Air Pumps, Electrical Machines, Barometers, Thermometers, With Variety of Drawing & Surveying Instruments', with illustrations including a reflecting telescope and a three draw spyglass. (Mollan, Inventory Ex0499, Ex0500) Died in 1787, age 47. Thomas Bennett, Cork. Patrick Street, Dublin; working dates 1810-1867, taken over by Reynolds & Wiggins. Advertised as an optician & manufacturer of optical instruments, also improved instruments. Three draw spyglass, mahogany tube, 170-370mm in length, signed 'Bennett, Cork'. Circa mid 19C. (Mollan, Inventory Ex 0641) Charles Edward Burton, 1846-1882, was a mirror maker who worked for Dunsink & Greenwich Observatories and for the third Earl of Rosse. He lived south- east of Dublin, and was taught how to grind and polish metal specula by Lord Rosse. Burton made silvered glass mirrors of six to fifteen inches in diameter reputed to be of very high quality, and operated his personal observatory with eight and twelve inch mirrors. With Howard Grubb, he designed an improved form of Karl Littrow's 'ghost micrometer', where the lines of a reticle are images of lines, to avoid diffraction off the scribed line or wire, and to allow dark or light lines, depending on the background. Burton designed a binocular spectroscope for observing the zodiacal light (which is too dim for visual spectroscopic observation). This was fabricated by John Spencer & Son of Dublin, with parts by Howard Grubb. Spencer's instruments used a chain drive for focus, as does the binocular spectroscope, and a Spencer card is on its case. Burton observed with the spectroscope for ten nights, until problems developed with the cement securing the prisms, and it is now kept at the Science Museum, London, as number 1900-141. Patrick Cahill, Dublin. Three draw spyglass, circa 1900, signed: 'Cahill Optician 13 Wellington Quay, Dublin'. At this address 1898-1904. (Mollan, Inventory Ex 0564) Cahill recorded in business 1876 (17 1/2 Wellington Quay) to 1922. Edward Clarke, Dublin. Registered as an optician 1810-1821 with addresses at 10 and 18 Lower Sackville Street, and at 83 Dame Street 1823-1832. Partnership with Richard Spear 1815-1817. Edward Marmaduke Clarke, circa 1806-1859 in Ireland; then worked for Watkins & Hill in London, later forming his own business in the Strand, which he sold to Horne, Thornthwaite & Wood. (BSIS #26, 1990, p13) Refractor, two piece barrel screws together to 1829mm length, signed Edw'd. Clarke, Dublin; finder scope, mount has vertical worm drive and horizontal worm drive with spring held engagement to release for slewing and control rods, mahogany tripod with three stabilizers, restoration revealed card hand written 1817. (Mollan, Inventory Ex 0220) Dixon & Hempenstall, Dublin. Spyglass. Probably a retailer. W.A. Hackett, 38 Patrick St., Cork. 19th century. One inch aperture, four draw spyglass. (Mollan, Inventory Ex 0354) Thomas Hunt, 118 Patrick Street, Cork, circa 1800, continued by sons Thomas (d. circa 1835) & Henry; Henry Hunt name used 1844 to 1884, then Hunt & Son until closing in 1895. In the 1852 Exhibition, Hunt showed an achromatic telescope 3 1/2 feet in length, with vertical and horizontal rack & pinion motion. Three draw spyglass signed 'H. Hunt, Cork', Egestorff Collection to the National Museum Dublin (Mollan NMD 287). (V & M). J. & B., Belfast. 18th century. 2 inch aperture, single draw spyglass, wood barrel is 'polygonal'. (Mollan Inventory Ex 0474) John Knox, Ulster, retired 1816, active in astronomy, watchmaker, advertisement of 1809 'Optical Instruments, Telescopes....' (V & M) Joseph Lee, Belfast. 1835-1868, Lee & Son began in 1850. (Mollan Inventory Ex 0363) Brass single draw spyglass signed 'Lee of Belfast'. J. Lizars, Belfast. A manufacturing optician, but telescopes were probably imports from Lizars based in Glasgow. Belfast branch 1894-1921. Refractor, 2 3/4 inch aperture, rack & pinion focuser, pillar and tripod mount, signed 'J. Lizars Belfast'. (Mollan, Inventory Ex0362) James Lynch, Dublin. James Lynch I instrument maker 1767-1772; James Lynch II at 26 Capel Street 1784-1807, d.1833; James Lynch II and III 1826-1839; James Lynch & Co. 1845-1846; Lynch & Co. 1841-1842. James Lynch II invented, manufactured, and sold instruments; lectured at the Royal Dublin Society for 34 years; and circa 1785 to 1833 was a lecturer in natural philosophy, including astronomy, at Trinity College, Dublin, and the leading supplier of instruments (not astronomical instruments) to Trinity. (V & M) Repairs to Dunsink Observatory circa 1800. Terrestrial telescope, in Tebbutt Observatories, Australia. Circa 1841- 1842, signed 'Lynch & Co., 36 Westmoreland St, Dublin, Day or Night'. (Mollan, Inventory Ex0146) Thomas Mason, Dublin. Seacomb Mason (1745-1804) began the family instrument business circa 1780, advertising telescopes & opera glasses for sale in 1787. Seacomb's great-grandson was the second Thomas Mason, who apprenticed & was employed at Negretti & Zambra, returning to purchase the family business in 1887, and helped found the Irish Optical Society. The family business celebrated its bicentennial in 1980. Refractor, 2 3/4 inch aperture, brass, rack & pinion focuser, folding steel tripod, signed 'Thos Mason Dublin', referring to Thomas Mason II (1840- 1913), business name used 1866-1922. (Mollan, Inventory Ex0491, Ex0371) Refractor, 3 inch aperture, rack & pinion focuser, folding cast iron tripod, signed 'Thomas Mason, 5 Dame St., Dublin', 1900-1916. (Mollan, Inventory Ex0370) Sharman D. Neill, Donegall Place, Belfast. Sharman was a descendent of Robert Neill, who in partnership with Henry Gardner, advertised 'Telescopes' in 1810. Brass refractor on pillar and claw stand with iron legs, engraved with misspelling: 'Shurman D. Neill, Belfast'. 1884-1909, after which the business was a Limited Company. (Mollan, Inventory Ex0386) Neills Opticians, Belfast. Refractor, 1 3/4 inch aperture, brass, rack & pinion focuser, pillar and tripod mount, cabriole legs, early 19th century. (Mollan, Inventory Ex0484) Pollock. Probably a retailer. Single draw spyglass, brass, tapered body, signed 'Pollock & Co. Ltd., Dublin'. (Mollan CIL 003) Another is signed 'Pollock & Co. (Ireland) Ltd., Dublin, Made in England'. Abraham Prince, Waterford. Brass three draw spyglass, leather case, circa 1839, signed A. Prince, Waterford. (Mollan, Inventory Ex0129) Optician and mathematical instrument maker. Job Rider, Belfast, in 1791 'commenced business at the sign of The Reflecting Telescope', clockmaker who also made optical instruments. (V & M) James Robinson & Sons, Dublin. Probably more of a retailer than a manufacturer, since Robinson's earliest entry in the Dublin directory is in 1845, when his business was a 'Museum of Curiosities', followed in 1846 by 'Philosophical Artist and Optician, Polytechnic Museum and Gallery of Curiosities', and later by 'Optician, Polytechnic Museum and Photographic Gallery, 65 Grafton Street, Dublin' 1845-1910. (Mollan, Inventory Ex0396) (V & M) 1 5/8 inch aperture, six draw spyglass, tube covered with belline, signed Robinson, Dublin (circa 1845-1884). M.E. Solomons, Dublin. 1 inch, three draw spyglass, circa 1856-1905. (Mollan, Inventory Ex0398) 19 Nassau Street, Dublin. Optician and patentee of spectacles; instruments were probably retailed products of Elias Solomons of London, who advertised in 1856 that his improved telescope could be purchased at Nassau Street, Dublin. Richard Spear, Dublin. Partnership with Edward Clarke 1815-1817. Single draw spyglass, 1 1/2 inch aperture, achromat, 4 element eyepiece, tapered mahogany barrel, 25" to 31" in length, signed 'R. Spear, Instrument Maker to His Majesty's Crown of Customs in Ireland', circa 1791-1837. (Mollan, Inventory Ex0497) Three draw spyglass, mahogany covered barrel, signed R. Spear, Dublin, in the National Museum, Dublin (Mollan NMD 041). Gabriel Stokes is not known to have made telescopes, but was a mathematical instrument maker, surveyor, and map maker in Dublin during the mid 1700s. His invoice, dated 1715, to Trinity College Dublin, for repairs to a telescopic quadrant is the first known Irish instrument invoice, and includes fees for re-dividing the graduation, cutting a new rack for the pinion, and a new eyepiece and 'upper part' for the telescope. This work was judged highly skilled and exact. Trinity had acquired in the 1680s this important telescopic quadrant (one quarter of a metal disc, with a telescope secured so that the objective is at a pin through the apex of the quadrant and the eyepiece travels along the graduated circumference, to read out degrees of arc). Using the quadrant, the latitude of the college was determined by observing the sun at the meridian. It is likely that this was an example of the quadrants that Robert Hooke designed and had fabricated. These were quite important as part of the current debate over the merits of telescopic sights, and also because they were designed to be mounted on his pioneering clock driven equatorial mount. Hooke shipped a telescopic quadrant to Henry Osborne in Ireland, an instrument that disappeared after 1656 and could be the Trinity instrument, which is not known to have incorporated Hooke's innovations but in broad description is similar. Hooke engineered extensive and advanced features for his equatorial quadrant, such as Hooke's conical pendulum for continuous driving force, an alt / az orientation driven through a universal joint ('Hooke joint'), a pair of telescopes with superimposed images allowing simultaneous view of the object and the divided scale, cross hairs, the newly invented bubble level, and micrometer screws. However, an instrument incorporating all of this engineering was never built, and it is intriguing to speculate on the features found in the Dublin quadrant and on the work done by Gabriel Stokes. Edward Sweeney, 27 Patrick St., Cork. 1798 advertisement: 'Makes and Sells...Telescopes, Opera Glasses,... Family business from the mid 18th century to the early 19th century. (V & M) James Watts. Refractor, late 19C, signed 'J. Watts, 29 Eden Quay, Dublin'. Barometer signed James Watts, Dublin. (Mollan PRI 119) James Waugh, Armagh. Family of clockmakers. Waugh made a transit instrument for Armagh circa 1793, and assisted Robert Hogg in making an astronomical quadrant with a 35 inch radius (Hogg later an assistant astronomer at Armagh). The Yeates family. Samuel Yeates (1762-1834) apprenticed to Seacombe Mason, and the two families intermarried over several generations. Samuel was the first in the family to be described as an 'optician', which meant instrument maker; and circa 1790 established the shop on Grafton Street, on the corner of Nassau Street, which the Yeates company occupied for over 100 years. Samuel's second son, George Yeates (1796-1882) designed improved surveying instruments such as a clinometer, level, rangefinder, and theodolite; and George's seventh child Stephen ran the business after 1865. Samuel's third son Andrew (1800-1876) worked with Edward Troughton in the early 1820s, and in 1833 repaired instruments at the Greenwich Observatory under Troughton's supervision. He wrote 'On the notches, Y's or bearings for the pivots of transit instruments' MNRAS 25 (1865) 214-215. Andrew ran an instrument business in London from 1837 to 1873, and married the daughter of Cornelius Varley (Andrew Yeates FRAS, obituary MNRAS 37 (1877) 159-160). The Yeates family manufactured a very large variety of scientific instruments, and circa 1880 their catalogs listed over 2,000 items, including telescopes such as a 'walking stick telescope'. Many items were noted as 'improved' by Yeates. Most of the instruments were probably made by Yeates; although a Grubb equatorial telescope was also sold. Yeates was by appointment the instrument maker for Trinity College. Dublin hosted the International Exhibition of 1853; and again in 1872 when Yeates displayed an astronomical telescope. Yeates & Son remains an ophthalmic business, although the Yeates family has not been connected to it since the 1940s. A Yeates & Son equatorial mount, on an iron stand with three leveling screws, with declination circle, hour circle, and tangent screw adjustment, is at Clongowes Wood College, County Kildare (Mollan CWC 057). St. Patrick's College in Maynooth has a Yeates & Son equatorial refractor, with brass declination and hour circles, finder scope, and an oak base (Mollan MAY 311). University College, Cork, owns a small Yeates & Son telescope on a brass stand, with a rotatable optical wheel, possibly for polarizing. University College, Dublin, has a 3 inch refractor on a pillar and tripod stand, signed 'Yeates & Son, Dublin'. University College, Galway, owns a 'split telescope' on a stand, with what seems to be a polarizing device, signed 'Yeates & Son, Dublin'. ----------- Bibliography. Burnett, J.E. and A.D. Morrison-Low. Vulgar and Mechanick: The Scientific Instrument Trade in Ireland 1650-1921. Dublin: Royal Dublin Society, 1989. Burton, Charles & Howard Grubb. On a New Form of 'Ghost Micrometer'. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 41 (1880) 59-63. Burton, C.E. Refractors and reflectors compared. Astronomical Register 10 (1872) 289-290. (Burton) Charles E. Burton. MNRAS 43 (1833) 159-160. (Burton) The Late C.E. Burton. Astronomical Register 20 (1882) 173-174. Author: W.E. (Wentworth Erck?) Mollan, Charles. Irish National Inventory of Historic Scientific Instruments. Dublin: Samton, 1995. Mollan, Charles et al., ed. Some People and Places in Irish Science and Technology. Dublin, 1985. More People and Places in Irish Science and Technology. Dublin, 1990. pp72-73: A.D. Morrison-Low, 'Yeates & Son, Opticians and Mathematical Instrument makers to the University'. Mollan, Charles. The Mind and the Hand. Instruments of Science 1685-1932. Dublin: Samton, 1995. Yeates, Andrew. Obituary. MNRAS 37 (1877) 159-160. .pdf. Yeates, Andrew. On the notches, Y's or bearings for the pivots of transit instruments. MNRAS 25 (1865) 214-215. .pdf. ---------- ================================ home page: http://home.europa.com/~telscope/binotele.htm Revised 07 September, 2002.