Quote:
Originally Posted by MattT
There is another Oddie refractor at Canberra Grammar School. A 4.5" refractor that is sitting in a shed in storage according to a nephew that goes there. Wonder if it's worth making the school an offer to take it off their hands? What would a modern school do with an old bit of junk like that?:
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The 4.5" at Canberra Grammar is far from being junk. With a friend, I was responsible for restoring it to fully working condition in 1972-3. Initially we found the objective and some pieces in a chemistry lab, and after hunting around found everything except eyepieces, cleaned it all up and got it working. The drive was a weight-driven clockwork affair with a governor, basically a miniature version of the old 9" burnt in the fire at Stromlo. The school built a tall wooden tripod and a roll-off shed up behind the dormitories, which is I think what you're referring to; basically the front opens wide and the whole thing rolls back to reveal the scope.
It should be ready to use - roll the shed back, wind up the drive weight, release the governor and its ready to observe - assuming it is still polar-aligned (unlikely). Last time I saw it, it was a beautiful thing, the mount was polished yellow phosphor-bronze, the setting circles had incredibly fine inlaid silver steel Verniers allowing positions to be set quite accurately, gleaming white tube etc. We had added some cork sleeves in the draw tube to hold 1.25" eyepieces, too.
Optically it was perfect, though given it's current location its only suitable for looking at the planets and the moon.
I doubt they'd ever part with it, it was donated to the school by Oddie in the early 1900's and it has a signed Thomas Cooke f/15 objective, quite a valuable piece and worth several thousand as an antique alone. Oddie used it in Melbourne in the 1800's then in NSW (before the ACT existed) to do the site survey leading to his selection of Mt Stromlo for the 9" refractor.
