Refracting telescopes
The refractors in the Orrery Collection are particularly interesting on account of their size and early date; not many telescopes have survived from this period. Two [1, 2] have pasteboard tubes covered with vellum with gold tooling, and one of these [2] has been signed by John Marshall, who also made the microscope on the top shelf. The object-glass in one of the wooden telescopes [3] is signed by James Wilson, the likely maker of the pocket microscope on the middle shelf, and the eyepiece micrometer [5], used for measuring angular distances within the field of view, could be fitted to the longer telescope [4]. It is probably the earliest surviving eyepiece micrometer.
Other narratives:
- Inventory no. 29666 - Internal Exhibition Label Text 'English Telescopes'
- Inventory no. 29666 - Former Display Label
- Former Display Label - The Orrery Collection of Scientific Instruments
- Former Display Label - The Principal Makers of Instruments in the Orrery Collection
- Orrery Collection: 1731 Inventory
- Orrery Collection in print
- Accession Record : Extract from Annual Report for 1925
Related Objects:
- Inventory No. 23976, "Refracting Telescope, English, c. 1690" [1925-43]
- Inventory No. 29666, "Refracting Telescope, by John Marshall, London, c. 1715" [1925-43], Marshall, John
- Inventory No. 29920, "Refracting Telescope by James Wilson, London, c.1700" [1925-43], Wilson, James
- Inventory No. 18872, "Refracting Telescope, English, c. 1720" [1925-43]
- Inventory No. 22318, "Telescope Micrometer Eyepiece, English, c. 1710" [1925-43]