WWII No4T SCOUT REGIMENT TELESCOPE MKII – EXTRA EYEPIECE

[Son]

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There's five, a couple not mentioned above... These are just the Sct Regt, do you want the GS as well?

B& C co,
Taylor Taylor and Hobson
AOC
Ottway
Beck
Dallmeyer

These from my records and research back when I was buying and selling a few...

[Gil Boyd]

Yes many of those already famous for their production in binoculars of course. Photo number two, of the Broadhurst & Clarkson one looks like they did the etching by hand on some soft brass.

[Bindi2]

This is a very interesting thread. Scopes aint scopes Sol.

[Son]

I'll dig up markings pics for the GS scopes I have on file and post them here later.

Here they are, in order as above

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[Peter Laidler]

Both the Sct Regt (S-R) and GS telescope work on exactly the same optical principal of course. When you've had a load of Sct Reg eyepieces on your bench you'll find that there are two types.
1) There's one with a single internal thread that screws directly onto the draw. In doing so, it clamps the erector cell tightly into the drawer, between the eye piece and the rear end of the drawer.
2) There's a second sort that is a hybrid that fits the GS AND S-R scope. This has TWO internal threads. One thread acts exactly as 1) above to screw onto the drawer. The other thread accepts one or other of the separate low/high magnifying lenses.

So by default, if you have the DUAL internal threaded eye piece (at 2) above) then it will accept the two magnifying lenses of the GS scope. But that's not all. While they are all optically the same, they were not all manufactured to the same mechanical spec. So you mix mechanical/threaded components from the different manufacturers at your peril.

It is for this reason that the only spare parts that we had available were from B&C. And even then, threads didn't interchange! New parts always had to be accurately fitted and threads chased on a lathe with a thread file. It is because of this that only the B&C scopes were the norm.

Incidentally, the S-R scope was much different internally mechanically and far superior to the build of the GS scope. I won't go into it.

Added later...... While the eye piece was made sort-off interchangeable by accident (?), I can't think of anything else that was fully interchangeable between the S-R and GS scope. The erector cell sort-of was by default if you had the two threaded eye piece but the field lens assy wasn't. The OG lens from the S-R was adaptable to the GS counter cell housing (or the OG lens housing) if it was stopped down as I seem to remember.

Interesting.......

[Surpmil]

If you can find copies of the Scientific Instrument Manufacturers Association of G.B. handbook it lists a lot of useful information about the companies who were members in a given year. I have a 1952 copy I picked up by chance and have never seen another for sale anywhere. Astronomical or university libraries might be good places to look.

Almost nothing left of these companies now of course. Ottoway, (4th photo above) who claimed to be established in 1640, making them probably the oldest in the country are long gone, the site of their former Orion Works in Ealing is now a shabby looking "business park", still called Orion.

Some companies didn't bother to join the Association: Aldis for example, at least not that year.

Of those shown here, only Broadhurst, Clarkson & Fuller are still around, though only as a retail outlet, AFAIK. When I visited in 1987 they still had an older fitter/optician doing repairs, but even then he told me it was pretty much all finished.

Dallmeyer, Stanley, Taylor, Taylor & Hobson, R & J Beck, some going back to the 1700s, all p------d away.

Ironically some of the best optical sand in the world exists at Lochaline in Scotland. All that was missing was the will and vision to maintain the industry. That said, even before WWI the lack of scientific method in the control of glass manufacture and the lack of serious research on new glasses allowed the continental makers to take more and more of the market. There's a good book on Chance Bros. or Pilkington & Co. that lays all that out.

There were some G.S. or Signaller's telescopes made in Toronto in WWI by an outfit who marked their products "CONSOL", which I assume was short for something like "Consolidated Optical". My guess is it was an assemblage of smaller outfits who got together to bid for contracts. The quality seems to be very good from the few pieces I've seen.

About the only book on the subject is "The Optical Munitions Industry in Great Britain, 1888–1923", by Steven Sambrook. The Optical Munitions Industry in Great Britain, 18881923 (Studies in Business History) eBook: Stephen C Sambrook: Amazon.ca: Kindle Store

[Surpmil]

Here is the above book or the thesis it was based on, available for download: The optical munitions industry in Great Britain 1888-1923 - Enlighten: Theses

I see Pilkingtons was sold out to a smaller Japanese glass company in 2006! Pilkington - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Maybe the Panama Papers would have something on that.

[Surpmil]

Just saw another "Tel. Signaller's MkIII also G.S." by "Consol, Toronto, 1915" advertised for a ridiculous sum. Missing the objective shade, objective replaced (broken original included), sans case, sans leather, sans everything.

See also here: https://www.milsurps.com/showthread.php?t=17789

[CINDERS]

Just a pic of my scout scope (Maker?) the leather is in really good condition but I do have a question for you chaps the carrying case is this grey/blue color.
I read somewhere on this site it was the air force color applied is this true all replies are appreciated. TIA

[Roger Payne]

Surpmil, I was moved to buy a copy of Sambrook's book after reading your thread above. Most interesting, though a little dry for reading cover to cover! I would certainly advise anyone interested to download the thesis, as my paperback copy of the book was very expensive - I suspect printed to order. However, I'm a bit old fashioned & when I buy a book I like it to have pages I can turn!

ATB.